Once upon a time I would look forward to the Gene Lyons column in my local paper. Now his latest column bashes Obama and Obama's speech on race in much the same way Krauthammer did.
On the other hand, I am apparently on the side of Dowd and Russert in opposing Hillary's nomination. This in spite of the fact that I was a strong Gore supporter while those two were awarded several silver stars in the media's "War on Gore".
Here's Lyons' latest
http://www.unitedfeatures.com/ufsapp/viewFeature.do?id=160Playing dumb helps no one
In 2000, Democrats were outraged that, due to the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore, not all of Florida's presidential votes counted. In 2008, advanced thinkers supporting Sen. Barack Obama have persuaded themselves that fairness dictates none of them should count. Nor Michigan's, either. Better that the voters of two critical swing states comprising close to 10 percent of the electorate be disenfranchised than Obama's inevitable nomination be delayed.
Except the fact is, if Hillary withdrew from the race there'd be no reason for anybody to object to seating both Michigan and Florida. Instead she wants to claim them as victories, when she was on the ballot in Michigan and Obama was not, and when a no-campaign rule in Florida is bound to help the candidate with the highest name recognition. This she wants to pass off as "respecting the will of the voters". Sorry, I'm not buying it.
Finally, he closes with several broadsides against both Wright and Obama.
"Cosseted and protected all his life, Obama's speech shows he understands the Wrights of this world do as much to keep blacks down as white racism does. All this self-pitying obsessing over the sorrows of history leads nowhere. So how come he's been sitting there for 20 years pretending he doesn't get it?"
Which seems to me as ridiculous a statement as anything Wright ever said. "The Wrights of this world do as much to keep blacks down as white racism does." Say what? I don't see a "self-pitying obsession" as much as a call to action and demand for justice.
It's quite sad when a Hillary supporter who makes his living as a writer can not seem to write about Hillary's positives, but instead hyperbolically attacks Obama and Wright with RNC talking points. What's next? Is he gonna join Rush Limbaugh in calling Wright and Jesse Jackson 'poverty pimps' or 'racism pimps'? Does he really think it will strengthen the party if he tears down black leaders? In this case, playing Clinton attack dog does not help no one - it helps the RNC.