Shortest Books Ever Written

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Hey, He Was Right
“Biden’s Oops Moment in SF: ‘Giants on Their Way to Super Bowl”–headline, San Francisco Chronicle website, Jan. 18

And He Pulled It Off in South Carolina!
“Rubio Adviser: Florida Is Romney’s to Lose”–headline, National Review Online, Jan. 23

Shortest Books Ever Written
“What I’ve Learned on Antiques Roadshow”–headline, Huffington Post, Jan. 23

Ombudsman to Journalists: Do Your Job
[*A news ombudsman receives and investigates complaints from newspaper readers or listeners or viewers of radio and television stations about accuracy, fairness, balance and good taste in news coverage. He or she recommends appropriate remedies or responses to correct or clarify news reports.] Patrick Pexton, the Washington Post’s ombudsman*, gets lots of angry letters from conservatives complaining that the paper is too liberal and was insufficiently aggressive in reporting on Barack Obama’s background during his 2008 campaign. Pexton admits the complainers have a point:

Deborah Howell, Post ombudsman from 2005 through 2008, said at the end of her tenure that “some of the conservatives’ complaints about a liberal tilt [at The Post] are valid.”

I won’t quibble with her conclusion. I think she was right. I read all of The Post’s lengthier, meatier stories on Obama published from October 2006 through Election Day 2008. That was about 120 stories, and tens of thousands of words, including David Maraniss’s 10,000-word profile about Obama’s Hawaii years, which I liked.

I think there was way too little coverage of his record in the Illinois Senate and U.S. Senate, for example, with one or two notably good exceptions. But there were hard-hitting stories too, even a very tough one on Michelle Obama’s job at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

And that’s what The Post needs to do in covering his reelection campaign this year: be hard-hitting on his record and provide fresh insight and plenty of context to put the past three rough years into perspective.

The headline: “Scrutinize President Obama’s Record.” We don’t quibble with Pexton’s conclusion either, but what kind of newspaper needs an ombudsman to tell it to report on the record of an incumbent president seeking re-election?

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”