Phony criticism of Obama; whitewash journalism; Red Decade

Now that the luster has started to wear off of the Obama cult of personality (at least temporarily), we can expect "journalists" from the MSM/DNC to pretend to criticize the administration so as to appear fair. I wrote of this tactic in the list of bias categories in 2005:

14. Whitewash/Softball criticism of leftist public figures. Whenever the MSM/DNC is forced to acknowledge some scandal that reflects badly on one of their own, MSM/DNC pretends to investigate and criticize for all of the wrong reasons. The CBS/Rathergate report criticized CBS for trying to be first instead of for biased reporting. Some MSM/DNC spokesman eventually were forced to criticize Bill Clinton for committing adultery and lying instead of for trading high tech ICMB delivery systems to China. MSM/DNC hacks grudgingly admitted that Jimmy Carter was "naive" "inexperienced" or "lacked savvy" instead of pointing out his real fault - nearly losing the cold war. These softball whitewashes provide cover for the real crimes/faults of those on the left. They are the equivalent of the getaway driver throwing some of the robbery loot out the window to distract the pursuing police. We should rarely expect a real investigation from the MSM/DNC about one of their own. And we should never let the MSM/DNC investigation cause us to hold back our own criticism.

This tactic is as old as the leftists' support for Stalin during the 1930's. As Eugene Lyons wrote (of leftist Louis Fischer) in 1941:

If occasionally he [Fischer] implied that there were stains on Soviet perfection, it only served to fortify his standing as a neutral commentator. Once he suggested cautiously in an article that Joseph Stalin could be wrong. For months thereafter he boasted of that feat of daring, while waiting for the lightning to strike.

Red Decade, p. 116 (1971 edition)

Today's "journalists" have not yet reached the level of bravery of Louis Fischer.