Many of us have had a good laugh listening to the ravings of talk show hosts Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. Their zany crusades against President Barack Obama have constituted nothing more than rumors and innuendo. The more extreme opponents of Barack Obama have also made themselves open to ridicule, accusing the president of being a foreign-born Nazi, communist and Islamic terrorist who seeks to destroy freedom, liberty and America itself.
The vast majority of Americans find these people to be an insane fringe group of the population. The coverage and characterization of these groups, however, has angered Republicans who feel they are being unfairly labeled and attacked. They think George W. Bush’s critics are guilty of the same extremism but escaped the media assault. Their memory of history, however, is not exactly perfect.
This view that the media hounded George W. Bush and his critics were widely praised, leaves out some very important details, namely the first six years of the Bush presidency. After the Sept. 11 attacks, a prohibition on public criticism of President Bush was an unwritten rule. And anyone who criticized Bush or America’s policies was deemed a traitor.
Remember, Bill Maher criticized America’s foreign policy tactics after 9/11 and received universal media condemnation. Those who have become upset at White House Communications Director Anita Dunn’s critique of Fox News would do well to remember Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer’s words after Maher’s statement. “They’re reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do. This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is,” he said. If Robert Gibbs said that about Glenn Beck, conservatives would, rightly, lose their minds.
Public criticism of President Bush didn’t really begin until 2006. It was justified in the aftermath of the twin disaster of Iraq and Katrina, not to mention all the other more minor scandals in the administration. The media works much like a weathervane. Instead of investigating the Bush Administration, they merely began to castigate them after public opinion already had turned, and media figures that had sought ratings by defending Bush now sought them by attacking him (see: Matthews, Chris). Even though the circumstances are different, those who are in the majority now should remember their past and not treat Republican critics as unpatriotic, for the mere fact that they disagree with the President.
Free speech is a delicate balance, critics of Obama need to resist extremist language, which some like Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachmann have sometimes failed to do, and supporters of Obama should not begin to squash reasonable dissent in the name of patriotism.
Nick Field is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and a liberal columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
