Soledad O'Brien: You Know, All My Friends Say That The Poor Economy Isn't Obama's Fault

Okay, she doesn't say "my friends." She says "many economists we called this morning."

It's very odd that they never bother to call up Greg Mankiew.

John Nolte gets annoyed at Soledad spinning like a ratings-basement top. Or I guess, "bottom." But that's not a thing.

If Mitt Romney doesn’t come forward with a better plan, many economists we spoke to this morning would say, "You know, the President is not to blame and that anybody in the same position would have the same challenging numbers. It's really going to be incumbent upon the Republicans to say 'Well, here's what we would do better and provide a convincing argument if they expect to take the White House'".

There's a very obvious bias here which they apparently believe is subtle enough to get away with.

It's a very live question whether voters should treat this as a "referendum" or "choice" election. Time and time again analysts have noted that if it's a "referendum" election -- a referendum on Obama's performance -- he loses, and badly. If it's a "choice" election -- Obama's plan vs. Romney's plan -- he could, possibly, win.

Obama's big economic speech from three weeks ago repeated the refrain that the country faced a "choice." Meanwhile, Romney sticks to his basic campaign like that Obama Isn't Working so it's time to jettison him.

Now, given that that's the basic ur-structure of the political argument, that should be left for voters to decide, and candidates and surrogates to argue.

But CNN, and Soledad O'Brien, aren't respecting that. They are siding completely with Obama on this major, major point, declaring, on their own authority, that this is a choice election, and that voters can only select Mitt Romney if they find his future plans superior to Obama's.

I don't expect them to shill for Romney and declare he's right, and that this is a referendum. To do so would be to issue a not-so-stealth endorsement of Mitt Romney.

But neither will I abide them offering a not-so-stealth endorsement of Obama.

"Referendum" or "Choice" is one of the central questions this campaign cycle; it is not the role of Soledad O'Brien or her swell economist buddies to settle this matter on behalf of CNN's viewers.

Furthermore, she's a f***ing idiot who has no competency whatsoever to resolve this question, apart from simply being a breathing adult. If CNN calls her, randomly, as part of a poll, sure, let her answer then.

Just for fun: A flashback to this past May, wherein Sage Soledad offers her learned opinion that "if you actually look at the way the economy is trending, it favors Obama."

In May, when she made this claim, the April jobs report was the current one; a meager 77,000 jobs had been created (since revised down to 68,000).

I guess she was insisting it was a blip.

It wasn't. Video below.

ABCNews: The Best News Is That Our Collapsing World Economy Will Lead To Somewhat Lower Gas Prices In Time for the 2012 Election! Well, that's a silver lining, I guess.

On the downside, prices for diamonds, shotguns, barbed wire and guard dogs are going through the roof.

posted by Ace at 03:18 PM

| Access Comments