Chris Matthews on a successful presidency? Journalists can make a president better by being tough but fair

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Chad Rubel

I'm not one to defend Chris Matthews. His Hillary Clinton bashing was over the top and, yes, sexist. The Jon Stewart interview of Matthews is on autoplay in my brain. And quite often, his sense of corporate media overshadows the need to hunt down the truth.

But this time, he's right, though predictably, the right-wing herd is shrieking for all the wrong reasons.

But let's look at the words:

Chris Matthews: "I want to do everything to make this work, this new presidency to work."

Joe Scarborough: "Is that your job? You just talked about being a journalist?"  

Chris Matthews: "yeah that is my job, my job is to help this country... to make this work successfully because this country needs a successful presidency more than anything right now."

The right-wing frenzy has dumped on Matthews, tying him to wanting an Obama presidency to succeed. But Matthews never said that.

You might think, "well, Obama is the only president-elect we have. Who else are we talking about?"

The question left unasked is "Would Matthews have said this if McCain had won last Tuesday?" The right-wing cyclone would say, "NO," but I say, "Yes, he would."

What was brutally honest is that Matthews, without actually saying it out loud, is saying the Bush presidency was a disaster on multiple fronts. And the MSM played its part in making sure the Bush presidency received little, if any, scrutiny. Much of the damage stems from underreporting or lack of reporting on vital issues, domestic and foreign.

After eight years of a Bush presidency, all Americans, regardless of party division, should root for a successful presidency.

The ironic part is that what the right-wing scream-a-thon is accusing Matthews of doing, even before Obama becomes president, is exactly what they did for George W. Bush in 2001, and did for eight years.

This doesn't mean Matthews will lay down for Obama. Again, I have my differences with Matthews, but I will absolutely guarantee that Matthews will be tougher on Obama in his first 6 months than the right-wing media and the corporate media was on Bush for 8 years.

Because here's the funny part: if Matthews thinks it's his job "to make this work successfully because this country needs a successful presidency more than anything right now," then he will be tough on Obama to make sure things do go well.

This is what FOX "News" and the rest of the right-wing media never learned about covering a Republican president: you can make a president better by being tough.

The ladies on "The View" asked Keith Olbermann Monday morning about what would he do now that Obama will be in office. "They could easily screw up," said Olbermann. When asked would he call it out when that would happen, Olbermann said "Yes."

I do disagree with Matthews that journalists should make a successful presidency for the president's sake. I do agree that making a successful presidency is something journalists can do by speaking up, making sure the leaders respect democracy, and working diligently to make sure the truth comes out.

The MSM did that job in spades when Clinton was in office, and magically disappeared when Bush took the oath. Now that Obama will take the helm, we don't fear that the MSM will ignore any and every little thing the Obama Administration will do. But the better question is whether the MSM will be fair to a President Obama, yes, tough, but fair.

Tough but fair should be the standard for the MSM against any president, but the last time that likely happened was the Carter Administration. And perhaps it's not a coincidence as to where the country has gone since then.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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