When so-called public intellectuals leave the lecture hall to comment on the world outside their podium, they display a disconnect to the world the rest of us live in. A trio of these sages shared their advice for the president with Julie Mason [1] of The Washington Examiner:
- “The 2008 campaigning Obama is back,” said, a Boston University [2] political scientist Graham Wilson told Mason. “Certainly the days of Obama being a punching bag for the Republicans seem to be over.”
- Drake University [3] political scientist Dennis Goldford described Obama’s earlier political style as “based on the notion that we should all come and reason together. “Politics just isn’t like that.”
- “The public needs to see a different side of him, because the poll numbers have been plummeting for a while,” University of South Florida [4] political scientist Susan MacManus said. “In tough times, people want to see strong leadership with soft touch.”
Perhaps these worthies may have missed:
- The closed-door White House negotiations over health care to which everyone but Republican office-holders seemed to be invited;
- The disparaging of Tea Party activists and attendees by White House officials from the president on down; and
- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ gratuitous dig at Sarah Palin.
The former Alaska governor may have gotten the best line on this one. She explained that she jotted down notes for a speech on her hand because, “It’s kind of a poor man’s teleprompter,” a none-too-subtle jibe at the chief executive’s seemingly constant companion.
Accuracy in Media [5] and Michelle Malkin [6] have more information on all of the above and more at their respective web sites. Malkin won the Reed Irvine award for investigative journalism that AIM bestows annually, named after the media watchdog’s founder.
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia [7].