What with the rest of the progressive blogosphere constantly beating up on him, I usually stay away from commenting on David Broder. But today's column includes an assertion that is so stupid I have to join the fray. Broder:
History suggests that 90 percent or more of what is written now about the White House hopefuls will be forgotten once the first real votes are cast next January. Do you recall the Howard Dean boom of 2003? It existed mostly in the minds of political reporters looking for something to write about -- and it collapsed once voters became engaged.
This is... how to put this... precisely backwards. The Dean campaign seemed like an unstoppable force when it was based only on people power. But once the first primaries and caucuses finally arrived, the media became deeply involved. Then Dean screamed, and the rest was history. To suggest that it was the reverse doesn't simply display astonishing ignorance of history, it displays a specific type of astonishing ignorance.
When the people were the ones creating the story, Broder gives all the credit to the media. But when the media finally forced its way into the process and took control of the narrative, the results for Dean were all the people's fault. All the good things that happened with the Dean campaign belong to the media, while all the bad belong only to the people.
Just how out of touch is Broder? Later in the column he praises Joe Biden for playing the crowd at a recent campaign event "like a virtuoso," while Obama, by contrast, never varies "from a conversational monotone."
If I had a million dollars I'd be willing to bet it that Broder is the only man in America who finds Biden a more compelling public speaker than Obama. And that's including Joe Biden himself, for god's sake.
Please, Mr. Broder. It's time to retire. For your own good. Please?
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