By now, the cat is out of the bag - President Barack Obama and his administration are no fans of the Fox News Channel and have been all too eager to wear that sentiment as a badge of honor.
However, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer identified the vigor with which the Obama administration has attacked Fox. He explained on the Fox News Oct. 20 broadcast of "Special Report with Bret Baier" that it's different than just fighting back; this is an effort to destroy the cable news channel.
"Look, it's one thing for the government, the administration to attack opponents, institutions, media," Krauthammer said. "It is another to go out to try and delegitimize them and destroy them."
But as Krauthammer explained, the White House attacks could have more far-reaching repercussions than just promoting an agenda the Obama administration wants in place. According to Krauthammer, it has the potential to scare advertisers from Fox News and any media outlet that could follow up on a story broadcast on the channel.
"I thought it was sort of repulsive audacity on the part of the administration to go out and to declare Fox is not a real news organization, particularly when there might be big companies out there who might think twice about having an ad on Fox or other news media who might think twice about following a Fox story because it might incur the displeasure of the administration," Krauthammer continued.
And Krauthammer said there were also similarities to how the White House is attacking the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He explained that efforts by administration officials to go to the boardrooms of major corporations and influence their participation in the chamber is similar to politics associated with Chicago.
"Similarly, to go after the Chamber of Commerce - you can argue against it, defend yourself on the arguments - but to try to induce defections as a way to destroy it is a new level," he said. "It's Chicago-level politics."
Recently in Newsweek magazine, Slate editor Jacob Weisberg argued the Fox News Channel was un-American, suggesting it was patterned more after the British or Australian press and that it didn't follow the traditions of American journalism. But, as Krauthammer explained, the tact the Obama administration is taking toward Fox News and the Chamber of Commerce isn't exactly traditional either, if you consider the democracy in the terms of founding father James Madison.
"And look, there is nothing illegal about it," Krauthammer continued. "It's not unconstitutional. But it is outside the Democratic norms of our society, which are Madisonian. Our idea is that you have as a way to protect against tyranny in governments is to have the growth, the interaction, and the clash of what Madison called ‘factions' but what we call ‘interests,' special and otherwise, and you argue, you interact and you clash. But you don't undermine, delegitimize, and destroy. That is the Madisonian way, and we are getting, instead, is the Chicago way."
