MCCARTHYISM ALIVE AND WELL IN KASS WORLD
I love reading John Kass's Tribune columns about local bad guys in Chicago politics. Whether dissecting Governor Deadmeat (A.K.A. Rod Blagojevich) or State Senator How You Doin'? (A.K.A. James DeLeo), Kass is as entertaining as he is informative.
Sadly, he just can't seen to get over our 2008 Presidential election of Barack Obama, a transformational figure, who just happens to come out of Chicago politics, by way of Harvard. In his March 15th column "Some Blago missteps criminal; some just stupid" commenting on Governor Deadmeat's own transformation into Prisoner Deadmeat, Kass gave inordinate attention to his pet project of denigrating Obama by guilt through association, a trait made famous by Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy at the height of the Red Scare sixty years ago. The real theme of the column was how Blago was a corrupt politician who was stupid and went to jail, while Obama was a corrupt politician who was smart, and went to the White House. True, Kass writes "I'm not accusing the president of corruption", but in a slick McCarthyite pivot, he immediately completes the sentence with "although he and Blagojevich shared a friendship with the same influence peddler Tony Rezko".
Kass then completely misinterprets the nature of Obama being a reformer by explicitly writing that "The young Obama played the reformer (emphasis mine) for an adoring media. Obama would never dare challenge the alphas of Illinois". What Kass doesn't understand, or refuses to see, is that Obama doesn't play at being a reformer for an adoring media, he governs as a reformer as President. Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell, is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Credit Card Accountability Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Dodd-Frank Wall Street & Consumer Protection Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Requiring no pay birth control for needy women is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Affordable Health Care Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. And that is just in the first three years!
Kass ends his defamatory and innuendo-filled attack on the President with one last link to the corrupt Blagojevich. "Obama walked quietly along the Chicago Way and became President. And Blagojevich didn't, and now he's gone." And up in the Political Great Beyond, Tail Gunner Joe is smiling and saying "Nice job, John."
Sadly, he just can't seen to get over our 2008 Presidential election of Barack Obama, a transformational figure, who just happens to come out of Chicago politics, by way of Harvard. In his March 15th column "Some Blago missteps criminal; some just stupid" commenting on Governor Deadmeat's own transformation into Prisoner Deadmeat, Kass gave inordinate attention to his pet project of denigrating Obama by guilt through association, a trait made famous by Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy at the height of the Red Scare sixty years ago. The real theme of the column was how Blago was a corrupt politician who was stupid and went to jail, while Obama was a corrupt politician who was smart, and went to the White House. True, Kass writes "I'm not accusing the president of corruption", but in a slick McCarthyite pivot, he immediately completes the sentence with "although he and Blagojevich shared a friendship with the same influence peddler Tony Rezko".
Kass then completely misinterprets the nature of Obama being a reformer by explicitly writing that "The young Obama played the reformer (emphasis mine) for an adoring media. Obama would never dare challenge the alphas of Illinois". What Kass doesn't understand, or refuses to see, is that Obama doesn't play at being a reformer for an adoring media, he governs as a reformer as President. Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell, is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Credit Card Accountability Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Dodd-Frank Wall Street & Consumer Protection Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Requiring no pay birth control for needy women is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. Passing Affordable Health Care Act is not playing reformer, it's governing as a reformer. And that is just in the first three years!
Kass ends his defamatory and innuendo-filled attack on the President with one last link to the corrupt Blagojevich. "Obama walked quietly along the Chicago Way and became President. And Blagojevich didn't, and now he's gone." And up in the Political Great Beyond, Tail Gunner Joe is smiling and saying "Nice job, John."
posted by Walt Zlotow at 4:29 AM
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