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Oh, Puh-leeze!

Laying it on with a trowel



I
f all the following are true...
  • I voted for Barack Obama

  • I donated more money to his campaign than any other campaign I'd ever donated to

  • On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give him, maybe, an 8 so far. (If he'd quit discharging soldiers under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" I might move that up to a 9, even.)

  • On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give Michelle Obama a 10 so far

  • I've been interested in both the history and the modern working of the White House since I was in junior high school

  • I'm generally a fan of Brian Williams

  • I'm fascinated by the open access the White House gave NBC for 5 days to produce its two-night "news special" on the Obama White House

  • I didn't tune in for a hard-hitting expose or confrontation between the Executive branch and the Fourth Estate

...then why am I feeling so profoundly embarrassed by Brian Williams's fawning hagiography of the Obamas in this special? Are there still, somewhere in the mists, the faint fumes of ink from my diploma for a B.A. in journalism wafting somehow in my direction? I doubt it, but I'm still embarrassed for him, nonetheless.

(And yet: I'm also still watching it.)

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