How many times did some media guru mock Patrick’s message as either naive, foolish, insubstantial, or disingenuous? I seem to recall it was quite often. Now, I do honestly believe healthy skepticism helps a lot; and the taking apart of any candidate’s words to derive meaning, context and motivation is a good part of what the media does when they’re actually doing things right. However, the contempt I’ve seen by the punditry class went beyond that quite a lot. And while no one on earth wants the media to suck up to Patrick (they do quite enough sucking up to power as it is), anyone who has met Deval knows firsthand that he means what he says, from the heart. You can call him naive, though it’s hard to see that, but you can also call him a visionary. We’ve had those in politics before. They wrote our US Constitution. They got us to the moon. They led us through terrible world wars and they freed slaves. There is a difference between genuine optimism, and crass opportunism or unwarranted sanguinity. I hope the people in the media are at least observant enough to figure out which is which.
And though Patrick and his people are politically savvy, and have to play the “game” as it was laid out before they got involved (and one of their goals is to change the game, so it’s not so stacked, hence “civic engagement”), if Patrick admonishes you because you’re being overly cynical, it’s because it’s how he genuinely feels, not some ploy to make you the enemy or pre-empt criticism by the media. Patrick invites people to scrutinize his positions and disagree with him, and the makeup of some of his transition teams bears that out.
As to Adam’s next musing:
Of course, Patrick took his lumps, too, in both the Globe and the Herald: we read all about his Berkshires manse, his mortgage debt, his stint on the board of sketchy lender Ameriquest’s parent company, his advocacy for Ben LaGuer, etc. But that’s what happens when the press covers a candidate in a major race. It can’t be pleasant – but then again, nobody forced Patrick to run. Essentially, Patrick is scolding the press for scrutinizing him the way it scrutinized his rivals, or for failing to universally celebrate the special spark that drove his campaign. If he keeps kvetching, he’ll make his audience more hostile, not less.
But that’s not Patrick’s point at all. As far as I can tell from reading his remarks to the press, it’s not about the negative coverage of this element of the campaign or that. He is tired, as are most political bloggers and voters, of the punditry class whose cynicism is, in Jon Stewart’s very famous words, “hurting America.” Negative shmegative. That comes with the territory of running for or holding office. By all means, examine Patrick’s proposals, report his mistakes, uncover the truth. But for heaven’s sake, stop failing to take people at face value all the time. Show a little gumption. And as much as we should value the healthy skepticism of media when it’s done well, this cynical attitude of the punditry class – or indeed, many conservatives – is doing nothing to move the debate or fix any problems.
And honestly, with some exceptions, I’d say Adam Reilly is not a member of this poisonous punditry class, except maybe for bits and pieces like in this article. đŸ™‚
As I said, Charley adequately addresses the second half of the article where Adam raises questions about the future of Blue Mass Group now that it has a stake in the governor it helped elect. Actually, I like this second part of the article, because it’s an important question and BMG (and the rest of us) should keep it in mind.
I should also like to mention, I have been openly airing concerns I and others have had regarding the transition on this blog already, and Patrick’s not even in office yet. But I can’t seem to win with local area conservatives and cynics. When I say something positive about Patrick or post a press release, I’m being a shill. When I try to do some constructive criticism (which is all Deval is asking for from the media, to be more constructive and do their damn jobs right), I’m complain[ing] that [I am] feeling left out. Honestly, people, which is it? (Sometimes blogging is an acutely thankless job. Wish I got paid more for it, at least.)
Not only do you really nail this issue, Lynne, but – quite frankly – I’m sick of newspaper “gotcha” stories.
You all remember Adam Reilly — a clear-eyed, a deep digging reporter knows how to kick tires — remember that Adam from the campaign? A good foot soldier for Deval, he was. But then he bit the hand that fed him.
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The national media bought into uniting and not dividing, optimism, patriotism, hope, apple pie, and good wishes after that horribly divisive election in 2000. The press fell in line, and the U.S. fell into Iraq. If Deval can do his job by being optimistic and hopeful, more power to him. If the media does their job by turning over every rock and making sure the worst possible stuff isn’t happening, more power to them.
The media has done so much to contribute to cynicism about public participation. It’s high time someone called them out on it. I’m proud of Deval for doing it. I think your point making a distinction between thoughtfully examining someone’s actions and cynically questioning their motivations is excellent.
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By the way, on Friday in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, John Monahan wrote a very fair report on Patrick’s talk with the newspaper publishers. (Monahan is a stunning exception to the usual mediocre reporting in the T&G. He used to be on the environmental beat, and made a supreme effort to cover the issues in depth. He’s now on the statewide political beat, and we miss him. Even if he did spell my name wrong when he reported on Friday’s E&E hearing.)