The Media’s Complicity in the Birther Issue

The Media’s Complicity in the Birther Issue

via Commentary Magazine by Peter Wehner on 5/30/12

Former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu does a fine job schooling CNN's Soledad O'Brien over Donald Trump and the so-called birther issue. In saying this, I should point out that I would go further than the Romney campaign in repudiating Trump, who is a noxious figure in American politics. What Trump is doing in calling into question Obama's citizenship is attempting to delegitimize the president, to argue that his presidency is unconstitutional and that he is alien. Crossing that line damages our political discourse and American politics more broadly.
There's of course no rulebook one can consult when it comes to the matter of repudiating supporters. It's a judgment call that has to be done on a case-by-case basis. In the case of Trump, who is a prominent Romney supporter, his attraction to conspiracy theories deserves a strong rebuke. When a political party gives a home to those who peddle in paranoia – a home to self-promotional cranks — it leads to an erosion of credibility.  Romney ought to say so.
With that said, CNN is complicit in this political circus as well. My point isn't that the issue shouldn't be covered at all; it is that, as Governor Sununu points out, the network is fixated on Trump and the birther issue. It's drawn to it like a moth to a flame in a pitch-dark night. Here's the problem. Bill Maher donated a million dollars to a super PAC supporting President Obama, and to my knowledge Obama hasn't distanced himself from Maher's crude attacks on women. Yet CNN seems remarkably indifferent to this story. I wonder why.

Beyond that, it's worth pointing out the media's tendency to bemoan what it promotes. There are dozens of significant and complicated topics that CNN could explore with care. But it has decided to hyper-focus on Donald Trump and the birther issue. That's bad enough. But what makes it worse is when some in the media then saddle up on their high horses and lament that lack of seriousness in American politics. They pretend what they most want is a sophisticated and elevated conversation about the weightiest issues facing our nation and the world. They deride politicians for focusing on trivialities, even as they are the ones putting the spotlight on the trivialities and demanding politicians address them.
"We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise," C.S. Lewis wrote. "We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful." In our time, Professor Lewis could have added that the press gives a platform to stupid distractions championed by buffoonish figures — and then complains about the low state and childish nature of American politics.