Kelly McParland: The nastiest man in Ottawa, er, Washington
Posted: October 22, 2009
Quick now, who does this sound like to you?:
A government leader who manipulates the press to his own ends, ignores those he considers hostile in favour of those he considers friendly, bypasses the traditional press pack in favour of local reporters and carefully utilizes new means of communication to get out his preferred message while bypassing the establishment media and subverting its monopoly on the national agenda.
A leader who surrounds himself with partisan and ultra-loyal aides and advisors who work relentlessly to undermine the opposition, targeting and disparaging influential critics through regular public attacks even though such tactics add to the bitter divisions that are already a focus of much public complaint.
A leader who travels regularly, raising record levels of money at expensive fundraisers peopled by the wealthy, to be put to use in furthering his agenda and undermining those of his opponents, who uses his office as a tool against his enemies, who seeks to emphasize his differences with opponents to enhance appreciation of his legislative record against regular attacks.
It's Stephen Harper, right? Mr. Nasty. The ultra-partisan prime minister. The guy who has made Canada an embarrassment on the world stage, where we're no longer taken seriously because we're government by a Conservative rather than a Liberal.
Nope. It's Barack Obama as described in
this report by Politico, the all-politics web site in Washington. It's the first of a two-part look at the White House campaign to kneecap its opponents. Politico describes how the Obama administration: "is working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party, setting loose top White House officials to undermine conservatives in the media, business and lobbying worlds."
"With a series of private meetings and public taunts, the White House has targeted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest-spending pro-business lobbying group in the country; Rush Limbaugh, the country’s most-listened-to conservative commentator; and now, with a new volley of combative rhetoric in recent days, the insurance industry, Wall Street executives and Fox News.
Obama aides are using their powerful White House platform, combined with techniques honed in the 2008 campaign, to cast some of the most powerful adversaries as out of the mainstream and their criticism as unworthy of serious discussion."
Read the rest. It's highly illuminating. It also makes the Harper PMO, target of endless wailing and bitterness in Ottawa, look like a bunch of pussycats. How do the Liberals and NDP keep up the charade about Harper the Evil when the president they venerate is playing the same game?