Finger Pointing

Don't Fix Blame, Fix the Problem

   The continuing conflict between the president and the press now is over who's to blame for the miscue of naming former Gen. Mike Flynn to a Cabinet post, only to see him resign after just a few weeks on the job.
   Whenever something doesn't go his way, the new guy in the Whine House blames someone else, adding an attack on the news media for good measure, just to please his adoring supporters.
   This time, he blames his predecessor, Barack Obama, for not properly vetting Flynn before giving him security clearance. But after all the earlier attacks on Obama for everything that's a problem in America, the new guy tries a copout for his own failure by blaming his predecessor.
   Question: If everything Obama did was so bad, why accept the Flynn security clearance without doing your own?
   Over the weekend, President Donald Trump went on the campaign trail, to a rally in Harrisburg PA where he again trashed the news media. In doing so, he deliberately avoided the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents Association, traditionally attended by sitting presidents and marked by comedy take-downs of politicians and journalists alike.
   The last time Trump attended, however, he clearly could not take the heat, so it was no surprise that he avoided this year's event.
   That didn't stop him from setting up his own event at a competing time where he was the dominant speaker and could attack his critics and bask in the adulation of his supporters.
   Tough talk, however, may win a brief encounter, even at a long distance, but constant insult plants a seed of resentment that grows to subtle retaliation. And unlike the current president, journalists have thick skins and are used to disagreement and criticism. Even so, reporters remain human, and constant attack eventually gets under the thickest skin. And at some level, no matter hard they try to remain neutral and objective, there are ways to get back at those who diminish their value as people, as citizens, and as professionals who have an important job to do.
   This retaliation may be subconscious or it may be deliberate. Either way, it can happen as journalists pursue their duty of speaking truth to power.
   To paraphrase what Jeff Mason of Reuters, president of the association, said at Saturday night's dinner, reporters are not going away.
   "It is our job to report on facts and to hold leaders accountable," Mason said. "We are not the enemy of the American people."
   "Speak softly but carry a big stick," advised Theodore Roosevelt. Some, however, speak loudly to overcome the reality of their own small stick.