In
the wake of November's election results there was much discussion in
the press over whether or not the newly strengthened Republican Party
would be willing to compromise with Democrats. However, since Monday's
announcement of a deal on extending current tax rates, many in the media
have been critical of President Obama for giving in to the GOP.
Before the votes had even been cast in the midterm election, on ABC's November 2 Good Morning America [1],
former Bill Clinton advisor and co-host George Stephanopoulos worried:
"[Republicans] have to make a choice, as well. Do they choose to
cooperate with President Obama or stand firm on principle, which is
going to guarantee gridlock?"
The next day on CBS's Early Show [2],
co-host Harry Smith asked newly reelected Nevada Senator Harry Reid
about GOP stubbornness: "...the Republicans say over and over and over
again for the last two months, no compromise, no compromise, no
compromise." That same day on NBC's Today [3],
co-host Matt Lauer asked former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw what
presumptive Republican House Speaker John Boehner would do "when that
hand [of compromise] comes out from President Obama." Brokaw advised
that Boehner would have to "deal with his own party...with the Tea Party
folks who are coming in and saying, 'We draw the line here, we're not
interested in compromise.'"
As the lame-duck session of Congress continued after Thanksgiving, news
hosts became more frantic in their demands for Republican compromise.
On the November 30 Today [4],
Lauer pleaded with incoming Republican House Majority Leader Eric
Cantor: "So no compromise there at all? I mean could you not see
possibly raising taxes just a little bit on the people who make $250,000
a year....what you're telling me is no compromise whatsoever on the
Bush-era tax cuts?" At the top of the December 1 Early Show [5],
co-host Erica Hill decreed a "gridlock alert," proclaiming that "GOP
leaders may now put a halt on cooperating with Democrats on Capitol
Hill" and possibly leave the nation's capital in a "standstill."
Given the degree of media apprehension over the potential for
congressional gridlock, one would think that President Obama's
announcement Monday evening of a deal on taxes would have been welcome
news. However, on Sunday's ABC World News [6],
before the deal was even official, Washington editor Rick Klein
lamented: "President Obama has been clear this was a critical position
and he is caving on it, in allowing all the tax cuts to be extended."
Appearing on MSNBC's Jansing & Co. on Tuesday, former CBS Evening
News anchor Dan Rather expounded [7]:
"This is a political nightmare for Barack Obama as president. The more
left portion of his party hates this, it hates it with a passion....he's
almost guaranteed, if this goes through, to have a serious challenge in
a Democratic primary for president in 2012."
On Wednesday's Today [8],
co-host Meredith Vieira grilled White House advisor David Axelrod on
the deal: "[Democrats are] furious about what's happened. They say this
is not a compromise this deal, it is the President caving in. One
senator went so far as to call it 'borderline immoral.'" The headline on
screen at the time read: "Tax Cut Compromise, Did President Go Too Far
In Agreeing With GOP?"
Reporting on the deal for Tuesday's Evening News, senior CBS White
House correspondent Bill Plante explained: "Many Democrats are telling
the President that the compromise deal comes at too high a price,
rewarding Republicans for having constantly obstructed him." In a report
for Wednesday's Early Show, Plante described how Democrats feared "the
President gave away the store."
Apparently those in news media are in favor of compromise when they are
pushing Republicans to abandon conservative principles but chagrined
when Democrats put aside liberal orthodoxy in order to pass legislation.
- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow
him on Twitter here. [9]