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Is Chris Matthews Turning on Obama?

2 years ago

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It may be time for President Obama to worry. On Friday, the Gallup Poll reported that his approval ratings fell below 50 percent approval for the first time. That same night, perhaps not coincidentally, MSNBC's Chris Matthews launched into a tirade against the president.

This marked a turning point – the first time Matthews had seriously questioned Obama's presidency in any way other than a perfunctory one. During a segment on Friday with Susan Page of USA Today and Ron Brownstein of Atlantic Media, Matthews said:

". . . When politicians begin to get a little too intellectual, they lose connection with the American people. I look at [Timothy] Geithner; I don't think he's a great political spokesperson. I look at this decision to put the trial up at New York City. I look at releasing a mammogram report that says we could do better with less testing. And I begin to think – this administration is getting almost like one that you'd imagine Adlai Stevenson running – highly ethereal, highly intellectual, egg-head. Not connected to real people and their emotional gut feelings about things."

Later in the segment, Matthews added:

"I worry about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He's going to find himself an ACLU lawyer . . . He's going to use that as a platform from hell where he gets to spew his point of view on the Middle East – that kind of thing he's going to sell with the beard and everything – The New York Post is going to be reborn with this guy as the enemy. I just worry that he's going to win this argument for months before he gets executed, if he does get executed. If that ever happens, I worry about this becoming a show for the bad guys."

Regarding President Obama's controversial bow to the Emperor of Japan, Matthews asked, "I have never seen a bow that low. . . . God did he have to bow that low?" Click play below to watch the video of the segment:

Matthews, famous for never having entertained a thought he didn't blurt out, can be easy to dismiss. But if you think about him not as a thoughtful political commentator but as a kind of overgrown canary in the Pennsylvania the coal mine, this turn of events may be an early indication that the president has entered truly tenuous territory. It's hard to exaggerate just how pro-Obama Matthews has been. Who can forget that during the so-called Potomac Primary, Matthews went so far as to announce on MSNBC that during an Obama speech, "I felt this thrill going up my leg"?

Moreover, this is a man who went so far as to say it was his job to help the Obama administration succeed. So what does this all mean? Could it be that after a long honeymoon the mainstream media – even MSNBC – is beginning to turn on the president? Or could it be that Matthews is making a shrewd business decision and that he's about to carve out a new niche to distinguish him from Keith Olbermann and the other liberal voices on the network?

Or, perhaps Matthews is only being true to his ideological roots. Although Matthews was previously a Democratic operative who made his reputation working for President Carter and House Speaker Tip O'Neill Jr., the notion that this big city Catholic pol was some sort of lefty is of recent vintage. New political observers might think of Matthews as merely an anti-Bush/pro-Obama pundit, but he reportedly voted for George W. Bush in 2000. And in the early days of "Hardball," which debuted in 1997, Matthews was one of the harshest, most critical voices of Bill Clinton – especially during the Lewinsky scandal.

So maybe he's a centrist Democrat truly worried that the Obama Eggheads will disaffect the party from the "Reagan Democrats" who have historically been so important in national elections. Or it could be that the man is simply an opportunist, albeit one with a finely tuned political radar.

Matthews just might turn on Barack Obama when times get tough, just as he turned on Clinton and George W. Bush. If that happens, count on sparks flying between Matthews, MSNBC, and liberal bloggers.

Lou Dobbs may be getting some company.

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