Adios Amigos

The Morning Joe Rebuttal for November 12th, 2009

Observations:

1) So there you are with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Maria Bartriromo, Becky Quick and Erin Burnett on your show, and it just slips your mind to make them go on record with solutions for domestic job growth? Instead, you allow Maria to wallow comfortably in the “lower taxes solve everything / lets kill health care” tallgrass like any other capitalist waiting for the next opportunity to broadcast good news from Davos. You show ARS’ book cover how many times, yet no connection with domestic job growth or any of the contents of that book for that matter? Becky is interviewing Warren Buffet, a chief DOMESTIC capitalist, Erin is reporting on jobs numbers and the journalistic might of Morning Joe coalesces around “I hope this news trickles down to the good guys one day”. Somewhere out there God and Goldman Sachs are snickering at your oversight.

2) Polls are the great siren’s song of our generation, leading smart person after smart person to the desolation of non productivity on a seemingly hourly basis. The 48-44 generic congressional poll can be looked at and spun from so many angles, and thus is proof positive of nothing. I commend JS for making that direct point later in the show, but the overall effect of the way the show parades daily polling figures around makes any media bias claims made by that show a wee bit hypocritical. Maria makes an accurate point that the polling reflects anxiety for imminent change. Obama is leading us somewhere with his agenda, to a new level of security or to a high cliff depending on whom you voted for in 2008 (not last week). I’m in the “Darkest Before The Dawn” camp looking at poll numbers as pre change anxiety, and that once the change is in place and the next phase strategy of the 2010 jobs program is in full swing, courage will be rewarded and party of no politics will be punished. There is great risk in my line of thought, as it could turn out to be the “we will be greeted as liberators” perceptional mistake of this presidential cycle, but I’m willing to take a risk for health care access. Morning Joe though as an ensemble are a siren song trumpeting poll numbers as a path towards paralysis.

3) The amount of bravery being exhibited on all sides of the Afghanistan issue is astounding. The ambassador is brave for standing up to status quo in Kabul, the generals are brave for breaking protocol to get their message seen, the president is brave for not accepting a plan his heart won’t allow him to sign. No amount of criticism or polling will sway this agenda as captured in the Ken Malek line “politics stop at the water’s edge”. Foreign policy is a trust issue between the president and the international community. Your show bravely gave that fact a voice today in an odd comment from Frances Osborne that outside of the American internal echo chamber, Mr. Obama is improving our relationship with the world, and quite possibly our internal turmoil will be seen by history as an episode straight out of “Lord Of The Flies”. That perspective is fully understood by this White House and will trump noise in the media for the foreseeable future. Ken Malek knows that, Liz Cheney knows that, they are just doing what anyone out of power would be, looking for weakness or a vacuum to fill.

4) Yesterday, I asked JS to identify his core positions on top national topics. Today I was made to feel a bit naïve as Lou Dobbs, who had a printable position on everything, was run out of town. If poker playing leaves you in a position of strength to not get swept out with the tide, I guess I get that added perspective. But Dobbs is so, so wrong on so many fronts, not that controlling the borders or protecting domestic jobs aren’t solid values, but the extent to which he creates demons out of Mexican immigrants or CNN advertisers, that just couldn’t possibly help his higher agenda. Mika should really find a free second to back up “Adios, Amigos” with a statement or risk being badly mis interpreted. I’m for one curious as to what the background is there.

That’s it for today, score yet another victory for Bill Karins in the small talk wars, and see you tomorrow.