Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Sabotage!

OK, Sean Wilentz gets the award for biggest douchebag of the week.

In this week's Newsweek he likens Barack Obama to... (wait for it) Jimmy Carter.

Jesus, these Clintonites are spoiled brats!

The assumptions and criticisms in this incredibly stupid piece are really too petty (and in some cases just too ridiculous) to dive into one by one. And Wilentz (whose book, The Age of Reagan, I am reluctant to admit I liked) takes out a number of insurance policies: "As a lifelong Democrat who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the primaries, I would like to see him succeed in fulfilling his promise," he writes.

And then proceeds to trash everything about Obama -- including the fact that he was right about the Iraq war... (Obama is dismissed by Wilentz as a mere state senator at the time of the vote, and his antiwar speech didn't warrant a mention in the Chicago Tribune. Well, I'll take Obama's more humble perch if it's a voice and a vote against that stupid adventure, thank you very much.)

Towards the end, Wilentz takes out another insurance policy: The press didn't do their "professional duty" by not raking Obama over the coals during the primary.

Whatever.

I seem to remember a hell of a lot of stories about Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko and all the rest from late last year until now. If Wilentz really thinks that these weren't issues that the Obama campaign didn't overcome than Wilentz really wasn't paying attention.

Of course, Wilentz is free to say what he chooses. But if he really thinks that this kind of article is "helpful" to the Democratic Party (and that he's just asking the questions Obama needs to answer) he's stupider than I know he is. We should call this what it is: a political hit job for his buddies, Bill and Hillary.

Second place for douche of the week goes to the always-good-for-an-angry-Max-Gross-rant Joe Lieberman.