Obama's "Thuggery"

Tough talk from the mild-mannered Michael Barone, who says President Obama has brought to his administration's media relations the brawling moves he learned from Chicago politics:

The same treatment is being given to Fox News, which according to White House spokesmen, "is not a news organization." "Other news organizations, like yours," Obama consigliere David Axelrod told ABC News, "ought not to treat them that way."

In other words, when Fox breaks the news that the White House green czar is a self-proclaimed "Communist" or that operatives of pro-Obama ACORN have been aiding and abetting child prostitution, other news outlets should spike the story. Or risk being demoted from great friend to bad apple.

Last February, Obama told Fox News (to which I am a contributor), "I don't always get my most favorable coverage on Fox, but I think that's part of how democracy is supposed to work. You know, we're not supposed to all be in lockstep here."

Now we are. Maybe Obama thought everyone in Washington would be his great friend. Having encountered un-Chicago-like dissent and disagreement, he has responded with classic Chicago brass knuckles. We'll see how far this kind of thuggery gets him.

Calling Mr. Solzhenitsyn

I didn't realize that David Axelrod said on "Face the Nation" that anti-tax "tea party" protesters were engaged in political speech he considers "unhealthy." What's sickening is those in power identifying dissent as pathology.

The Only Fair Bushwacking

Andrew Sullivan and Marc Ambinder invite us to read carefully what Obama adviser David Axelrod says about the possibility of prosecuting those who may have broken the law in authorizing interrogation techniques that could be construed as torture. I think they're reading too much into it. Axelrod's comment sounds like a boilerplate anchor to windward. But if they're right, and he is hinting at war crimes trials for Bush administration officials, will we also have the opportunity to learn the details of all the terrorist plots foiled on their watch?

Besides:

President Barack Obama does not intend to prosecute Bush administration officials who devised the policies that led to the harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Sunday.