By John Fund
Obama meets the real enemy.
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn has decided to effectively declare war on Fox News. She told CNNs Reliable Sources on Sunday that the White House views the cable network as a wing of the Republican Party. . . . When President Obama goes on Fox he understands that he is not going on -- it really is not a news network at this point. Hes going to debate the opposition.
But the White Houses stepped-up rhetorical attacks -- its Web site rails against the lies of Fox News -- carry a potential downside. It can look a little petty and a little small as it sort of . . . punches down at a cable network says John Dickerson of Slate.com. And so they have to make sure that if theyre going to take on Fox News that they dont seem overly obsessed by it.
That no longer seems possible. Brit Hume the former White House correspondent for ABC News who has been a mainstay on Fox for the last decade used his commentary time on Monday to address the White House attack. Every president ends up disgusted with the news media in general and with certain individuals or outlets in particular he pointed out but there is an old adage often attributed to Mark Twain that advises against picking fights with people who buy ink by the barrel. He was speaking of the big media of his day which were newspapers. Most presidents though refrain from directly attacking media outlets perhaps with that adage in mind.
Well soon see if the Obama White Houses decision to treat Fox News as a direct adversary works out for it -- or just makes the White House seem like another antic performer in Washingtons political mud-wrestling contests.
