The Godfather, part IV

The Obama administration has taken on a thuggish mien from Obama’s first days in the White House. Nicholas Guariglia captures something of the essence of what is transpiring in “Welcome to Franicis Ford Coppola’s White House.” To take one example of Guariglia’s comparison of Obama’s White House to The Godfather, here is Guariglia on the press:

The Obama-journalist relationship has been a one-sided love affair: the more they appease him, the more he disdains them. And yet, still, many journalists are all too willing to bow their heads, kiss the don’s ring, and play the role of hit man, stuttering and stammering in the presence of their boss like an overly eager Luca Brasi rehearsing what he’s going to say.

Of the few commentators who have challenged Obama, Guariglia notes that it is not only Rush Limbaugh who has become a target of the adminstration:

The Obama administration has gone after CNBC’s Rick Santelli for challenging Obama’s economic proposals. They have attacked the apolitical stock analyst Jim Cramer for disagreeing with their spend-spend-and-spend theories. And remember the dual Obama camp-media onslaught of Sam Wurzelbacher, a private citizen who, upon seeing the Democratic presidential nominee campaigning in his neighborhood, had the “audacity” (pun intended) to ask Obama an economics question — a question simultaneously simple and yet sadly the toughest of Obama’s campaign?

Did the purportedly fascistic Texan ogre George Bush behave like this? Did his administration go after Bill Maher, for instance? Or Maureen Dowd or Keith Olbermann? What about that guy who called Bush a tyrannical murderer at a town hall meeting? As the crowd booed, Bush implored his supporters to let the man speak and then answered the man’s grievances. Was this private citizen’s life uprooted by administration officials and media investigative research? Does he owe any taxes? Does he tip well at restaurants? Does he have an ex-wife and does she hate him?

Guariglia has much more in the linked column.

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