David Brooks has finally seen the light:
Yes, I'm a sap. I believed Obama when he said he wanted to move beyond the stale ideological debates that have paralyzed this country. I always believe that Obama is on the verge of breaking out of the conventional categories and embracing one of the many bipartisan reform packages that are floating around.
But Bill O'Reilly seems blinded by it:
“I have more power than anybody other than the president, in the sense that I can get things changed, quickly,” he says. “I don't have to go through the legislative process; I don't have to do any of that. I can just bring it to the people, and say, look, this has gotta be dealt with.”
Those are two of the inherent dangers of journalism -- being seduced by the people with power that you cover and falsey beliving you have power. We should never be too quick to believe the things the politicians tell us as journalists. We are in a symbiotic relationship with them -- us using them, them using us-- not in a mutual search for truth. And we might gain a certain amount of influence (though not as much as we once had when we were in complete charge of setting the agenda), but that's not nearly the same thing as power.
And if ego was intelligence, BilO'Reilly would be a friggin' genius.
