Run the Gaffer's Tape
by digby
Matt Yglesias makes an excellent point about gotcha journalism. It's a point that's been made for years but it's still worth a comment:
In Vox's interview, Obama contended that terrorism is "absolutely" over-hyped compared to a threat like climate change or epidemic disease. This is something Obama said, as far as I can tell, because he thinks it's true.
Similarly, Obama argued that "redistribution" is now, and always has been, a good in and of itself. He seemed to endorse all-payer rate setting, or something close to it, which would take the United States' health-care system nearer to single payer than Obamacare ever considered. He called for a constitutional amendment to overhaul campaign finance. He suggested we should take some of the money we're currently spending on the military and move it to foreign aid, and that doing so would actually help us achieve our national security goals.
These are all incredibly controversial opinions. The question of who is right and who is wrong on them has huge stakes for national policy. They would be good things to debate! But instead we got Randomgate.
(If you haven't been following "randomgate" just take my word for it --- it's as stupid as it gets. Look it up if you must.)
I have obviously participated in the perpetuation of this outrage culture over the years. Pretty much anyone who makes a living on political social media does. And frankly, it's exhausting and pretty boring.
What Obama said in those instances above aren't boring, however, and you should click through the links if you missed the interview. I am one of those people who believes that what the president says has an impact --- lots of people hear him and take his expertise and worldview seriously. A whole lot of Democrats see him as their leader. Therefore, it's great that he's saying this stuff. I wish he'd said it earlier. Even if he couldn't get any of his programs passed through congress his endorsement of those ideas matter and can influence the way Democrats and others think about these issues. Better late than never.
That's where these "gaffe" stories are destructive. As Yglesias said, his positions on those issues are incredibly controversial and it would have been good for the nation if people could see them aired and debated. Instead we're talking about some passing turn of phrase that only people who live in the right wing fever swamps could consider significant. But perhaps that's a sign that Obama's controversial positions are so threatening to them that they prefer to bury them. We live in hope.
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