Matthews' opening remarks are somewhat intriguing. He claims himself to be a "political person" and he believes "no politician ever really retires from politics" and that he doenst think the Clintons ever "retired." He goes on to talk about his fascination by the merging of these great "political families" within the Obama Adminstration. Meaning, the merging of all these super loyal Clinton Administration Alumni such as Rahm and Podesta into the Obama Administration.
They then go on to analyze why Obama chose to fill his Administration with so many "Clintonites" and staff from Bill Clinton's presidency. Their analysis which seems obvious to me, is because Obama doesn't really have "people." He was a State Senator, not a Governor or anything like that, so he didn't have a staff to pick and choose from, so the obvious place to look is the last successful Democratic Administration.
But before we all jump on our defenses and bash Matthews (as I know we all want to do!) he goes on to say that the merging of the Clinton and the Obama is why this Administration is so successful. Saying the merging of the great forces of Hillary and Barack completely united the party. He goes on to praise Hillary saying "she has made no mistakes" and has been "absolutely fabulous" at doing her job. Hmmm... I like the sound of this.
Ah, but not too fast. Matthews then reproved he doesn't have a clue when it comes to Hillary Clinton. He said that come next year, if the economy doesn't turn around, Bill and Hillary are going to be critical of Obama. Claiming that they have Hillary's 18 million votes behind them... huh? really? doesn't that JUST contradict everything you just said, Matthews? Thank GOD he has some decent people on his show! His guest shot that theory down immediately.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
5 comments:
I saw his show this evening, sometimes he pays her a really nice compliment, but then he has to get a dig in there somewhere. He sucks sometimes, well most of the time.
How did I miss this? I turn on every news channel/show and never find anything on Hillary besides a 2 second little thing! ARG!! Thanks for posting though :)
Sarah- I think you are right as to why there are so many Clinton people in Obama's White House- Bill Clinton was the last Democrat in the Oval Office and many of his people (not all) were quite young all things considered and they certainly gained experience after his two terms. Had another Dem been in office, their admin. would likely have been a source from which to pull people.
Completely aside from the fact that Mathews is a sexist ass, I think his political analysis, more often then not, is usually a day late and a dollar short and maybe I am just projecting this onto him, but I can't help but feel like his Hillary coverage at this point is part guilt (if he even has that in him and b) part self-serving- if he ever hopes to have big name Clinton people on his show (let alone Hillary herself) he better get an attitude adjustment. On every issue- Iraq, torture, now Hillary and Obama, he (and the rest of the MSM) wait until it is totally safe to run with their stories/analysis rather than doing so before it was common knowledge or conventional wisdom- the best way I can think of to illustrate this is with the current torture broohaha- important? Yes, very. But a lot of this has been known for sometime now, even during the Bush years, but Mathews and others were so busy kissing Bush and Cheney's ass and being "patriotic" that they were afraid to question the obvious for fear the admin. would punish them with lack of access, etc. So they waited until that admin. is out of office and public opinion has made it "safe" to criticize Bush, the war, etc. That's not journalism.
And while I would like to think Mathews has had a change of heart, ask yourself this, if it were Hillary in the Oval Office right now doing some of the things Obama has been doing, do you think Mathews would be labeling her a "success"? I still don't think he could get past his bias.
fyi- Hillary is testifying before the Senate twice today at 9:30am and 1:30pm and I am betting both will be covered live on cspan2.
good analysis Stacy-- he always has to get a dig in there somewhere tho... and i think you really are on to something with the day late dollar short political analysis.
thats why i dont watch his show. he isnt coming up with anything new or interesting really in his analytical reporting or whatever you wanna call it.
he plays it safe, not wanting to be out of step with what is popular with the current administration. prez bush is the perfect example. he will digg at hillary for her vote for the iraq war but lets not forget how fucking head over heels he was for bush for sooo long.
and this is exactly what i love to hate him :)
Post Your Comment Below: