Last week, senior political analyst and editor-at-large of Time Magazine, Mark Halperin, called President Barack Obama a d--k on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. Now, when I first heard this I was shocked and pretty angry. There have been some unnecessary things said about President Obama over the last couple of years, but I thought that was a brand new low. I mean, what journalist in their right mind calls the President of the United States, or any head of state of a country, a "cuss word." Who does that? And it wasn't like it just slipped out of his mouth by mistake. In the words of Jon Stewart, “And that wasn’t like a spontaneous, ‘I can’t contain myself!’ This was, ‘Do you guys have a delay because I’m going to call this guy a d--k.”
Mr. Halperin was quickly placed on indefinite suspension by MSNBC, even with Mr. Halperin quickly apologizing for his "gaffe." Of course there is always concern that there is a double standard when anything is said about the "golden child" known as Barack. A friend of mine even suggested that at some point in the past, former President George W. Bush was called a "cuss word" too by a journalist and that person was not penalized, so what's up with the double standard? This made me wonder if I had forgotten some of the names George W. Bush was called during his presidency. Maybe my personal disdain for Bush and Cheney policies numbed me to the naughty language heaved at the 43rd President of the United States.
So, I did a little research, and it seems that Bush was called a lot of nasty things - fascist, socialist, war-mongerer, liar, war criminal, incompetent. On one occassion, Keith Olbermann, in one of his notorious "Special Comment" segments, advised Bush to "Shut the hell up!" And according to conservative website newsbusters.org, the "bias liberal media" can say anything about a Republican President and no one gets suspended or fired (http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2011/06/30/msnbc-double-standard-you-can-call-president-murdering-fascist-if-).
First, let me say, with all the millions upon millions UPON MILLIONS of dollars that pay Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly to say negative (and many times untrue and nasty) things about President Obama on a daily basis with ABSOLUTELY NO REPURCUSSIONS, conservatives really don't have much of a leg to stand on with this "double standard" idea. Furthermore, when Newt Gingrich was still working for Fox News and said that Obama was presiding over America with "Kenyan, anti-colonial" worldviews, he wasn't fired or suspended. He was cheered. Let us review the things that President Obama has been called by "journalists" and commentators shall we: socialist, terrorist, Nazi, Muslim, anti-American/un-American, alien, not born in this country, racist towards white people, "Barack, the Magic Negro" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_the_Magic_Negro), jack-ass (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/10/limbaugh-calls-president-obama-a-jackass.html).
For those of us who feel protective of the President because we may feel like we relate to him or feel invested in his success, all of these comments have an extra sting. We may well be a little sensitive about folks having the nerve to talk about "our President." That being said, Presidents from the beginning of this nation have been called nasty names, the power of freedom of speech and of the press to be sure. Presidents have been called drunkards, incompetent, skirt-chasers etc. And I'm almost positive that the Southern journalists during the Civil War had some negative things to say about President Abraham Lincoln. However, there was no thinking done by Mr. Halperin with his comment. There was no real purpose for his comment. It was crass and unprofessional. He's a journalist, and should know better. I am an artist, a poet, if I want to cuss out the President, I can do that. No one seeks my "unbiased" perspective on the day's events. And if I want to cuss out the President, I have to be a little more creative than that.
