Today's Akron Beacon Journal front page broadcasts an article from the Village maiden of the AP, Jennifer Loven. The article is entitled….."One Comment Works Against Administration." Yep….clumsy and kind of stupid sounding…..but even worse, above and to the left of that title is the word "Analysis."
Of course, the Loven piece isn't actually an "analysis"….rather, it's purely opinion. The Loven article would have been a better fit on the opinion page, because that's what it is…..opinion, speculation, conjecture…..but what it isn't…is "analysis." Today's Beacon opinion page is full of political cartoons…so that may be the reason Loven's "analysis" is on the front page.
Opening paragraph of Jennifer Loven's "analysis"…..
The Obama administration claim that "the system worked" after a failed aircraft bombing wasn't quite as jolting as President George W. Bush's "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" while New Orleans sank under deadly Hurricane Katrina. But both raised disturbing questions about presidential response in a time of crisis.
What neutral and professional writer sets out to "analyze" the similarity of presidential responses to entirely different and unique situations? Who does that….and why?
Reviewing…..Katrina, you know, the hurricane and subsequent flooding,…..ummm…..actually happened. It resulted in a tragedy for thousands. Hundreds and hundreds of Americans died. In the midst of that actual tragedy which actually killed a bunch of Americans, in the midst of that actual event during which the Bush administration, incomprehensibly, did not sense the urgency……George W. Bush congratulated FEMA director, Michael Brown…."you're doing a heckuva job, Brownie."
The Detroit airline bomb attempt on Christmas day…….was an attempt that failed. No one was killed, thousands of residents were not displaced, rescue workers from all over the U.S. were not called in…..in fact, other than the burns the would-be suicider suffered, there were no injuries. The two "events"….Katrina and the failed Detroit underwear bomber….are not similar, not at all. One was a disaster, one was not.
How does Jennifer Loven assert that these two entirely different events are similar?
"But both raised disturbing questions about presidential response in a time of crisis."
Why does the Villager, Loven, go down this path? In spite of the unfolding drama Christmas day in Detroit…..I don't see how someone can call what happened there, "a time of crisis"….and I certainly cannot comprehend how someone could call what happened in Detroit "a time of crisis" similar to the aftermath of Katrina…..which is a necessity for Jennfer Loven's "analysis" to work.
Here's Loven's analysis of comparing totally unequal events….
Amid those questions, administration officials' repeated statements that "the system worked" were jarring. They made it sound like the administration doesn't get it, like it is paying too much attention to political fallout and too little to public fears.
That's not "analysis"…that's bias. To whom does "it sound like the administration doesn't get it?" To Ms. Loven,….perhaps to Fox, Palin, etc.
What does Ms. Loven suggest is the reason for the Obama people not "getting it?" They are "paying too much attention" to politics and not enough time on quelling people's "fears." What "fears?" Seriously, Americans have adapted to the post 9-11 craziness just fine….Americans do not live in constant fear in spite of the concerted effort by Village media and neo-conservative members of the Cheney cult who warn us that we should be very afraid, all the time.
But Jennifer Loven, too cute by half, is revolving her entire "analysis" around the comment early on over the Detroit underwear bomber guy made by Janet Napolitano…when she said these words…"the system worked."
Note that President Obama did not say "the system worked." Unlike George W. Bush, who actually did say, "heckuva job Brownie."
But Janet Napolitano did….and to Loven, that's close enough to declare the two phrases over two separate and non-similar events, one made by a president during a genuine tragedy, one made by a Homeland Security Director after a near-tragedy was averted…..equal.
Now, to the context of Janet Napolitano's "the system worked." This is where the truly outrageous "analysis" by Jennifer Loven evaporates like so much foul smelling methane.
Bush's comment to Mike Brown during a tragic event which killed hundreds was seen and understood as Bush congratulating Brown and FEMA for doing a good job when is was obvious that Brown and FEMA failed miserably in their responses to Katrina.
Napolitano's comment, seen here in its original form, followed a near-tragic event, but one in which no one was killed or injured…..and it's clear from Napolitano's words that she is only talking about the response to the Detroit underpants bomber guy event when she said "the system worked." The "system" of Homeland Security DID work after the Nigerian underpants bomber "event" happened.
The federal "system" did NOT work, after the Katrina hurricane happened.
Napolitano spoke the truth…..not slobbering disingenuously, over any one official, as Bush did with Mike Brown. Also, Napolitano was not speaking about how it was that the underpants bomber happened to make it onto that Amsterdam to Detroit flight. After the would-be bomber was outed because of his own incompetency or stupidity….then "the system worked". That's what Napolitano said. She was correct.
None of this even matters to the Villager, Jennifer Loven. She was on a mission to force square pegs into round holes and she wore herself out jumping from misguided conclusion to distorted interpretation.
I'll leave you with this bit of "professionalism"…..
Phrases do matter. Sometimes they come to take on a life of their own, with context and nuance forgotten, representing broader beliefs or fears.
…..…rumblings keep resurfacing about emotional distance, even coldness. Whether it's Wall Street bonuses or terrorist near-disaster, people wonder whether he feels as they do or ever acts out of passion. The comment may well stick.
This "analysis" is nothing other than wishful thinking by Villager Loven. Take special note of Jennifer's inclusion of, "with context and nuance forgotten." That's exactly what Loven did in her article,… jettison context and forget nuance….as well as the facts. She, as most Villagers desire, wants Obama to fail, to be brought low….like they wanted Clinton to be brought down. What's the connection?
They were/are both Democratic Presidents…..and when we have a Democratic President, you know, there's always the "resurfacing" of those pesky "rumblings" whether or not a Democratic President "feels" like we do or ever "acts out of passion."
We end 2009 as we began it……with the same rotted, predicable, corporate media we began the year with.
