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Obama: send Biden to Beck

The White House must break the near-crippling cycle of fear it seems to be caught in with FOX News. Sure, some Obama administration officials have slammed it as not really being a news organization that shouldn’t be taken seriously as such. But the folks running the Free World from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue quake at the mere hint that someone from the “We report, you decide” crowd on Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue is going to shank them. So here’s what they need to do to try to liberate themselves: send Vice President Biden to Glenn Beck.

Before y’all lose your minds thinking that I’ve lost mine, hear me out.

The Shirley Sherrod saga has many shaking their heads and wondering aloud, “Why on earth is the Obama administration allowing itself to be spooked by the likes of FOX News?!” Remember, one of the reasons Sherrod had to pull off to the side of the road and resign from her Department of Agriculture job via Blackberry was because “you're going to be on 'Glenn Beck' tonight."

Now, let’s be honest. The people watching Glenn Beck are probably unreachable. After all, at the height of the last racial conflagration, the man they’re watching said that President Obama has "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." Nevermind the fact he’s biracial, was raised by his white grandparents and particularly revered his white grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. So it’s not a stretch to suspect that the Beck audience is probably more predisposed to being suspicious of Obama and anything he says and his administration does.

But if there’s one sure-fire way to earn the respect (grudging thought it might be) of the opposition, it is to show up. Go into the lion’s den. Take your lumps. And give as good as you get. It’s the equivalent of a white Republican politician who goes to a black church during campaign season. He or she might not score a single vote, but the candidate would have earned the congregation’s respect. Of course, it all depends on the messenger. In the case of Obama versus FOX, the perfect messenger is Biden.

To those of you who might say that having the vice president do this would elevate Beck’s stature, wake up. The guy already has the stature. As Howard Kurtz pointed out last week, “Sherrod may be the only official ever dismissed because of the fear that Fox host Glenn Beck might go after her.”

And, no, this would not make Obama look weak. Obama is one of the most grounded, self-aware chief executives to sit in the Oval Office. He knows he doesn’t exactly connect with people in the way he needs to win support for his agenda and calm a restive electorate. Biden connects every time he opens his mouth, with or without his foot. Besides, Biden is already Obama’s unofficial ambassador to middle-class, independent and white voters. During the campaign, Obama had trouble with the latter group in the primary battles with then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. They came around to help put him in the White House. Yet poll afterpoll show that they’ve been fleeing him.

Sending Biden to Beck would do something else. Even if the FOX News viewer couldn’t care less what Biden says, the news generated by the event would reach those white and independent voters who appear to be losing faith with the president. It would give the administration a chance take on the lies and misinformation directly. For the Democratic Party faithful, it just might show them that the administration has a backbone and is willing to take it to “the enemy.” As Sam Donaldson said on “This Week” yesterday, Obama shouldn’t be afraid of a fight with FOX. He quoted President Franklin Roosevelt’s speech where he said his enemies “are unanimous in their hate for me, and I welcome their hatred” and asked people to judge him by the enemies he made. And then Donaldson issued a challenge I agree with wholeheartedly. “So, President Obama, don’t be afraid of them,” he said. “Take them on, and let the people judge. You may lose, but if you lose, you will lose grandly.”

Hear! Hear!

By Jonathan Capehart | July 26, 2010; 6:00 AM ET
Categories: Capehart | Tags: Jonathan Capehart

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Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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