This has been obvious for some time now:

Ezra Klein tells us:

Mitch McConnell and John Boehner’s strategy worked

I’ve spent the morning reading various endorsements of Mitt Romney for president, and they all say the same thing: Mitch McConnell and John Boehner’s strategy worked.  

Okay, that’s not quite how they put it. But it’s precisely what they show. In endorsement after endorsement, the basic argument is that President Obama hasn’t been able to persuade House or Senate Republicans to work with him. If Obama is reelected, it’s a safe bet that they’ll continue to refuse to work with him. So vote Romney! 

That’s not even a slight exaggeration. Take the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest and most influential paper. They endorsed Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and Barack Obama in 2008. But this year, they endorsed Romney. 

Why? In the end, they said, it came down to a simple test. “Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals? When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the stronger candidate.”

Klein goes on to cite other editorials that share that view.  It has been abundantly clear that obstructionism works if nobody calls attention to it.  And nobody does.  The press has largely abandoned that role of informing people about why things are the way they are.  The Obama administration hasn't complained all that much, given its peculiar obsession with bipartisanship and finding common ground.

Of interest, the op-ed and book that came out in May of this year by Mann and Ornstein - two fair minded observers - made the case that what has happened in recent years is the ascent of a radical Republican politics.  And after the book came out, were they invited to the Sunday shows?  No.  Are they cited anywhere?  No.  Part of that is because their book is an implicit criticism of the press' failure to highlight this change in the Republican party, and the press will ignore criticism of what they do.
posted by Quiddity at 10/31/2012 01:02:00 AM