Connecting the Obama dots

One often-remarked-upon problem with press reporting on the Obama years is its boosterish nature—but a less-known problem is that even when liberal journalists have not been lapdogs, they have uttered only solitary barks.

In other words, every new problem tends to be reported in isolation, if it’s reported at all. That doesn’t give a true picture of our deepening crisis, in the same way that reporting the appearance of one cloud does not show that a thunderstorm is coming.

On economics, journalists should remind readers that $831 billion of stimulus spending was largely wasted, that stoppage of the Keystone XL pipeline has contributing to the unemployment rate staying high, that regulations have strangled growth in the energy and financial sectors (and many others), that tax increases and unease about what’s coming next have hurt entrepreneurship, that President Obama has practiced crony capitalism with Solyndra and many other companies, etc., etc.

On ethics, journalists should remind readers about Benghazi lies, over-reaching executive orders, voter fraud, NSA call and email monitoring, and Mexican gun-running cover-ups, all of which established that Obama misstatements about healthcare are part of a long pattern of deception. Journalists should point out that, unless things change, not only will our enormous national debt bring on economic collapse or hyperinflation, but Obama is treading the dishonest path blazed by Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

Whether we’re headed to a dystopian future regarding social and international issues depends on our perspectives, but here again the pattern is greater than the individual lines of descent. The Obama administration has backed abortion and homosexuality while discouraging marriage. That’s politically smart—young, single women and gay men have been its most loyal demographic groups—but societally hazardous. The dangers are also evident internationally, where we’ve encouraged Vladimir Putin and Muslim radicals like those who rule Iran, while discouraging our allies.

Every story can’t take the space to lay out this background, of course, but journalists can and should briefly connect the dots. Few have done that.