Greetings to the Daily Kos community! I’ve been a frequent visitor to this site since 2016, but have only just created an account. For my first post I would like to reproduce an email I wrote, following things I read on this site and elsewhere. It owes a great deal to this diary by Sinai, who inspired me to apply the same level of scrutiny to today’s Obama story.
Hello, President Obama! [self-introduction omitted] My first ballot ever cast included a vote for you, which was both an honorable decision and my way of saying “sorry” for the lackluster barbecue you encountered in my hometown.
I’m sorry to pester you; it would be hard to argue that you owe the public any more of your time. However, I’ve been ruining my stomach over the current bizarre attempt to jostle President Biden out of his candidacy, and I’m left with questions about the way your name is currently being used therein. The rumor-mill version is that you’re “encouraging Biden to drop out”. When I went to read more about that (in the Washington Post, which seems like a decent port of call here), I saw the following (credit to writers Tyler Pager and Michael Scherer):
“Former president Barack Obama has told allies in recent days that President Biden’s path to victory has greatly diminished and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy, according to multiple people briefed on his thinking.”
I note that you are not quoted, the allies in question are not quoted, or specified, the source of the information is not named, and there is no indication that said source was privy to your conversations, just “briefed on your thinking” (by whom, The Amazing Criswell?).
I admit that this reinforces my belief that our current media landscape reeks of mustelid, and that the push against Pres. Biden has more cynical sensationalism driving it than it should. If you have been misrepresented, if someone is misusing the gravitas which attends your name, I would like it very much if you corrected them. Even if the story is accurate it feels like it was recklessly thrown to the public without undergoing proper digestion, but there wouldn’t be much to be done about that.
Heavy days… I hope this message finds you well.
Sincerely,
[name omitted]
I have little to add, except that, although there have been more recent psychics and mind-readers, none of them has as good a name as The Amazing Criswell.