White House Changes Its Tune On The Value Of Keith Olbermann

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by Tommy Christopher | 1:19 pm, September 29th, 2010

» 37 comments

While President Obama‘s response to a Rolling Stone reporter’s question about Fox News is generating a lot of heat in this news cycle, an arguably more remarkable media angle has gone underreported. The President’s views on Fox are really nothing new, but the White House’s positive name-checking of liberal fire-breather Keith Olbermann represents a significant shift from just a few months ago, when Mediaite asked Robert Gibbs if the administration was worried about losing his support. The question here isn’t “Why the shift?” but rather, “What took so long?”

When I asked Gibbs specifically about Olbermann and Jon Stewart in mid-June, Gibbs seemed to suggest that the influential pair mightr be out of touch with “real Americans”:

Since then, Gibbs has also agitated the President’s base with his comments about the “professional left,” and his observation that there were enough seats in play for the GOP to re-take the House in November. While they played out like gaffes, Gibbs’ provocations did, in some measure, address the Democrats’ biggest disadvantage in the mid-term elections: the energy of the base.

Now that the White House has their attention, the courtship has begun. The majority of that Rolling Stone interview is about making the case that the President, and the Democrats, have largely fulfilled what the base elected them to do, with a little tough love thrown in:

Some of it, also, has to do with — and I joke about it — that there’s a turn of mind among Democrats and progressives where a lot of times we see the glass as half-empty. It’s like, “Well, gosh, we’ve got this historic health care legislation that we’ve been trying to get for 100 years, but it didn’t have every bell and whistle that we wanted right now, so let’s focus on what we didn’t get instead of what we got.” That self-critical element of the progressive mind is probably a healthy thing, but it can also be debilitating.

When I talk to Democrats around the country, I tell them, “Guys, wake up here. We have accomplished an incredible amount in the most adverse circumstances imaginable.” I came in and had to prevent a Great Depression, restore the financial system so that it functions, and manage two wars.

Then, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton volunteered kind words about Keith Olbermann to reporters during an Air Force One briefing, which the progressive figurehead lapped up on last night’s Countdown:

Briefing Transcript:

Q Does he feel that too many Americans don’t appreciate or recognize these things that you guys have accomplished?

MR. BURTON: No, I don’t think that that’s his point. The President doesn’t travel the country thinking about whether or not people are appreciating what he’s doing. He’s doing the hard work of being President because he feels like there are certain policies that need to be enacted, there are certain things that need to be reversed in order to get our economy — keep our country on the right track.

So what the President is doing is making sure that people know, whether you’re on the left or the right, that we’ve done a lot, we’ve got a lot more to do. And if you’re on the left, if you’re somebody like Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow or one of the folks who helps to keep our government honest and pushes and prods to make sure that folks are true to progressive values, then he thinks that those folks provide an invaluable service. But at the same time, we need to focus our energy and our efforts on the choice that Americans have this fall.

All of this would seem to be in service to energizing the Democratic base, and thus neutralizing the GOP’s Tea Party-fueled edge in enthusiasm during the midterms. In case anyone doubts this, the President made it pretty clear when he went back to the Rolling Stone reporter, after the interview had ended, to offer this valediction:

One closing remark that I want to make: It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we’ve got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.

The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.

Everybody out there has to be thinking about what’s at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we’d better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527s that the Roberts court says can spend with impunity without disclosing where their money’s coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one.

We have to get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard — that’s what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we’ve got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place.

If you’re serious, now’s exactly the time that people have to step up.

Bill Burton, fox news, Fox News vs. White House, Jon Stewart, keith olbermann, President Obama, Rolling Stone, White House vs. Fox News

Corvax

Yes aligning with Olbermann is a very smart move…
http://www.youtube.com/cmdrgmh cmdrgmh

Yes It Is!
musiccityvic

Great plan Obama….demonize Fox and align with Olbermann…just par for the course for the incompetents in the white house. trying anything to demonize and blame someone/anyone for the mess they created and no one is buying it…November can’t get here soon enough
felixw

If you needed confirmation that the White House has given up on moderates and independents and instead needs to fire up the kool-aid drinkers for election day, well, here is proof positive.
ImJustThatDamnGood

The White House is crawling back to ‘We Liberals’ good move.
LibsFailAtLife

i hear miss precious perfect is back to wearing her obama logo’d “rear gear” again too!
http://www.reargearstore.com/ it hides the brown eye!
writer

Olbermann supports Obama? His reporting is so straight-down-the-middle, I never guessed.
Corvax

ImJustThatDamnGood said:
The White House is crawling back to ‘We Liberals’ good move.

I agree, the election results will show what a ‘great’ move it is.
Moderate

“I agree, the election results will show what a ‘great’ move it is.”

Without us moderates, he does not have a chance.
Corvax

Moderate said:
“I agree, the election results will show what a ‘great’ move it is.”

Without us moderates, he does not have a chance.

Nor should he.
senoj_nav

Nice…

Grabbing votes 42 viewers/voters at a time.
jk76

he insinuates that the Supreme Court allows 527s to spend and not disclose….can you get any more untruthful? What a fuckin liar. The more he talks the less he does. I may have disagreed with him and dismissed his campaigning as hoopla, but for god’s sake can we get someone who works and doesn’t take hours everyday to bitch and moan? He really should’ve just been a governor and left it at that, it would’ve given him all the latitude and closeness he strives for.

so much for bipartisan, it’s everyone else’s fault. Oh and here’s a list of things i don’t like…wahh wahhh wahhh wahh.
FearMonger

Corvax said:
Yes aligning with Olbermann is a very smart move…

ditto dat
tatboy

Advise to Obama… When your sinking don’t grab a rock.
Rusty Shackelford

Was David Korn in some type of horrific accident that resulted in the removal of his lips?
David

If Olbermann is convinced can the county be far behind?

I expect the Dums to now increase majorities in both Houses.

On the other hand, if Olbermann’s last minute endorsement doesn’t swing it from Middle America (unlikely, but you never now with these wascally wepublicans) I expect this is how Countdown to No Ratings will go..

NOVEMBER 3

Worst Persons in the World

1. The American people and Bill O’Reilly

2. John Boehner and Bill O’Reilly

3. Joe The Plumber and Bill O’Reilly
dcmediasux

PUMAS like me will never forgive Olberman or you either Tommy…
dcmediasux

obamas re-elect number is now at 38.

THIRTY FRIGGIN EIGHT!
Cecelia

Glad to see you up and running and stumping for your guy, Keith Olbermann, Tommy!

If Olbermann can’t fan the flames of liberal moral outrage and self-righteousness, and get those cats out to the polls this Nov., no one can!
David

My guess…

Nov 2, Countdown…

tonite with stand-in hosts CRAZY LARRY and DIRTY RACHEL…

Either that or the clean-up crew will be standing by for the night Olbermann’s fat head finally explodes live, on air.
The Real Royal King

Rusty Shackelford said:
Was David Korn in some type of horrific accident that resulted in the removal of his lips?

Maybe that Wild Gang of Lesbians that chased Bill-O through D.C. a couple of years ago started wielding knives and cut off Maher’s ears, McConnell’s chin and Righter’s cajones.
David

The value of Keith Olbermann??

If they put Olbermann for sale on eBay, bet he wouldn’t meet the reserve of 99 cents.
The Real Royal King

David said:
My guess… Nov 2, Countdown… tonite with stand-in hosts CRAZY LARRY and DIRTY RACHEL… Either that or the clean-up crew will be standing by for the night Olbermann’s fat head finally explodes live, on air.

I wouldn’t be overly confident. We’re going to bring in hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Canadians to vote . We already have the buses chartered.
Azarkhan

The fact that the White House supports Keith Olbermann should end any speculation about whether or not Pres Obama is a left-wing lunatic. The answer is yes.
David

“I wouldn’t be overly confident. We’re going to bring in hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Canadians to vote . We already have the buses chartered.”

Yeah, fortunately those buses are being driven by selected members of the studio audiences for Jon Stewart and Bill Maher.

They’re due to arrive in Chile on Nov1.
David

Rolling Stone — ah, yeah the hip swinging pad for all those old wrinklies, 70 year old ex-groupies with names like Eleanor Digsme, and guys with thinning gray hair (if any) pulled into a tight pony tail.

Old Crock The Vote!!! You got that demo, Prezzie.
TfT

NBC must be so proud that the President openly counts them as his guard dogs. HAHA

Yup, the job of the news media today is to protect the President from the people, not the other way around. Bizzarro world.

Oh Glynnie – I hope you are watching Beck. He is kind of snickering out loud at you, without exactly mentioning you. (PS: You deserve it).
writer

Robert, going by that Charles Manson glare of yours, I’d guess you know a lot about cutting people.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Constantly-Amazed/100001036755175 Constantly Amazed

“But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place”

Gee I think we’ve all heard that one from a jilted lover before, I recognize the tone too and it always sounds the same, “YOU NEVER LOVED ME!” (LMAOROTF)
dcmediasux

again…

obamas re-elect number is now at 38.

38.

and thats b4 we lose the congress.

hes done.
writer

“The ‘value’ of Keith Olbermann.”

Nah. I don’t even know where to start.
felixw

Let’s see if Olbermann attacks Obama for moving the Afghanistan war across the border into Pakistan. When Nixon did this in Cambodia during the Vietnam War, the Left went ballistic. Same when MacArthur planned to do the same in Korea. Something tells me, though, that Obama will get treated with kid gloves on this by the Left — whereas if Bush had done the exact same thing, the brain-dead drones at MSNBC would have been indignant and accusatory for weeks on end.
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Mangan/100000213524770 David Mangan

Yeah, Obama did the math, alright. Fox NEWS watchers vote for the Repubs [and now most moderates & lotsa Dems watching cable news watch Fox] and Mess-NBC viewers and CNN dudes and HLN watchers vote for Demonrats. Obama must have calculated that equation with the abacus he learned how to use in his Indonesian madrasa schooldays!
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Mangan/100000213524770 David Mangan

Olbermann is a sycophantic suck-up with Obama and a stupid bully-boy trash-mouth moron against Obama’s opponents. Silly agitprop stooges like this Quisling against Democracy make Mess-NBC the worst channel on cable news or any news outlet on either the networks, cable, or whatever. K Overbite sucks with a Capital “S!”
aceshigh121

musiccityvic said:
Great plan Obama….demonize Fox and align with Olbermann…just par for the course for the incompetents in the white house. trying anything to demonize and blame someone/anyone for the mess they created and no one is buying it…November can’t get here soon enough

The mess they created? What planet are you on man? Like the two unpaid wars or the tax break for top 2% that nearly bankrupted this country…those messes?

I think I really like this website, there is a lot of laughs here!

Yeah Nov. should be fun if the neocons get back in there, it’s been a while since I’ve heard politics from a third grade reading level!
aceshigh121

Can’t wait to see all that fiscal responsibility in action!

Great fun to be had by all!!!
aceshigh121

Ya know I actually heard a lady the other day say that 911 happened on Obama’s watch too! Just proves how smart people get watching the likes of Glenn Beck and Fox News!