Treating him like a mythic figure, the New York Times magazine on Sunday devoted 3377 words to reminiscing about the “broad shoulders” and “icy blue gaze” of liberal anchor Keith Olbermann. Writer Greg Howard lamented that the cable host, who couldn’t hold jobs at ESPN, MSNBC or even the defunct Current network, has failed to secure a TV show in the Trump era.
As though Howard was discussing a wounded war hero, he noted the host’s limp and “aging knee." The Times writer began, “Keith Olbermann doesn’t look much like a warrior.” The journalist gushed, “But when he hobbles into his studio and sits, a table shields his less flattering proportions, accentuating broad shoulders and an icy blue gaze.”
Howard indulged Olbermann’s fantasy that he’s a modern Cincinnatus, putting down a plow to save America from dictator Trump:
Olbermann has a favorite historical figure, Cincinnatus, whose story he likes to tell. It goes like this: Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was a Roman consul and military leader until 460 B.C., at which point he retired to a modest farm and planned to work happily for the rest of his days. He plowed his fields in peace for two years. Then, one day, he was interrupted by visiting Roman senators, who told him he’d been named dictator — and that a Roman army was being besieged by plebeians on nearby Mount Algidus.
The Times journalist touted this arrogant delusion: “And of course, as he sees it, he’s leading the fight against an unprecedented evil that threatens to corrupt and corrode the American way of life.”
Tying it all together, Howard suggested that Olbermann could do this, if only he was on TV: “Cincinnatus’ fight required him to leave his peaceful farm, but Olbermann is currently fighting to return to the place he feels most at home.”
To his credit, Howard made the point that Olbermann often comes across as an unlikable jerk, one that even his fellow journalists hate:
It can’t help that he has garnered a reputation as a terror to work with — known for haranguing and rebelling against the executives who pay him, feuding with the talent around him, making underlings feel small. He famously made his co-anchor Suzy Kolber cry when he was briefly moved to ESPN2 to start the channel and its flagship program “SportsNight,” and later went to war with Current TV when he was fired from the network in 2012
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Back in 2010, Olbermann used a Major League Baseball blog he was running to take a shot at one of ESPN’s most celebrated personalities, Bill Simmons. “I am again left to marvel,” he wrote, “how somebody can rise to a fairly prominent media position with no discernible insight or talent, save for an apparent ability to mix up a vast bowl of word salad very quickly.” Simmons responded in a tweet: “KO, please know the feeling is mutual. You’re my worst case scenario for my career in 12 yrs: a pious, unlikable blowhard who lives alone.”
Ouch. Howard pointed out that Olbermann has tried and (apparently) failed to get back on MSNBC and negotiations with CNN have failed. For now, he can only be found on GQ.com.
