On Thursday, CNN's John Berman took aim at a claim by President Obama moments after he announced that thousands of American troops would remain in Afghanistan. Berman highlighted that the President "did make clear he is not a president who has ever supported endless war," but continued that "if Afghanistan, at this point, is not an endless war, I'm not sure what is." Liberal historian Douglas Brinkley seconded the anchor's take: "It kind of is an endless war."
Douglas Brinkley
By Kyle Drennen | August 28, 2015 | 3:08 PM EDT
MSNBC hosts on Friday jumped at the chance to bash former President George W. Bush over his handling of Hurricane Katrina on the 10th anniversary of the storm that ravaged the gulf coast. On NewsNation, host Tamron Hall proclaimed: “Many have said, including writer Douglas Brinkley and others, that this was the stain on his presidency that he could never recover from.”
By Matthew Balan | February 12, 2015 | 1:26 PM EST
Liberal author Douglas Brinkley did his best on Wednesday's Anderson Cooper 360 to excuse Brian Williams's "embellishment" regarding his reporting of the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – mere moments after the CNN program spotlighted examples of the NBC anchor's questionable claims. Despite this reporting, host Anderson Cooper never confronted his guest over his own role in boosting Williams's statements in his Hurricane Katrina book.
By Jeffrey Meyer | January 4, 2015 | 9:53 AM EST
President Obama’s annual Christmas vacation wraps up this weekend and on Saturday CBS Evening News did its best to promote the president’s 2015 agenda. CBS reporter Chip Reid filed a report from Hawaii that offered no soundbites from Republicans opposing Obama and instead found time to quote liberal presidential historian Douglas Brinkley who argued that Obama’s “starting to learn that he could be like FDR and Theodore Roosevelt--don't worry about Congress, just lay down these executive orders.”
By Matthew Balan | December 18, 2014 | 3:34 PM EST
On Wednesday, David Gergen ranked a supposed foreign policy accomplishment of President Obama higher than the killing of Osama bin Laden during CNN's special coverage of the Democrat's "historic..decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba." Gergen contended that "ultimately, he's going to be judged very favorably by history...on climate change. It probably is the most significant thing he's done – the breakthrough he had with China – and if he can get the world to a better agreement, that's going to go down as a major legacy."
By Matt Hadro | February 17, 2014 | 10:00 PM EST
Amidst President Obama's sliding approval ratings, liberal historian Douglas Brinkley stood up for his "above-average" legacy on Monday's Hardball.
"I think he's an above-average president. I'd put him somewhere around what Bill Clinton was able to do," Brinkley insisted. He compared Obama's withdrawal from Iraq to Eisenhower getting the U.S. out of the Korean war, even though al Qaeda is clearly making a comeback in Iraq.
By Matt Hadro | October 17, 2013 | 4:38 PM EDT
Liberal historian Douglas Brinkley said President Obama has a "steel backbone" and hailed him as a "firewall president" in a Thursday afternoon segment on CNN.
"And you saw that in this crisis, the steel backbone of Barack Obama, that's what history's seeing him as, the firewall progressive," Brinkley fawned over the President. He also offered this pathetic excuse for Obama's "forceful" tone with Republicans in his Thursday address: he was "exhausted."
AP's Raum: 'Economy Is Being Eclipsed As Top Campaign Issue'; Lib Historian Brinkley: It 'Looks Pretty Good'
By Tom Blumer | August 31, 2013 | 12:52 PM EDT If we're to believe Tom Raum's Friday afternoon report at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, the economy is humming along smoothly enough that we really shouldn't think about it that much any more, especially as something to consider when voting. And besides, it's being "eclipsed" by "other pressing events."
I'll stay away from those other "events" in the interest of concentrating on the 3-1/2 paragraphs Raum employed to convince readers that things really are okay, followed by a quote from a reliable leftist apparatchik (bolds and numbered tags are mine):
By Matthew Balan | August 28, 2013 | 6:10 PM EDT
Douglas Brinkley predictably fawned over President Obama's apparently "very beautifully written" address marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, mere moments after he finished delivering it: "I think it's one of the great speeches that Barack Obama's ever delivered." [audio available here; video below the jump]
Scott Pelley turned to Brinkley during CBS's special coverage of the anniversary rally. The liberal historian was quick to sing the President's praises:
By Matthew Balan | July 22, 2013 | 1:15 PM EDT
Douglas Brinkley predictably gushed over President Obama on Saturday's CBS This Morning, and hailed the Democrat's Friday speech on the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial: "It certainly was historic....I think it elevated the Trayvon Martin story, really, to the annals of DayGlo, top-tier history....it was quite memorable." Brinkley later heralded the President as a "constant grief counselor."
Substitute anchors Maurice DuBois and Vinita Nair also gushed over the address, and seconded the liberal historian's praise for Obama: "This was really a historic speech, in the sense that he also got very personal and said, this could have been me 35 years ago." [audio available here; video below the jump]
By Mark Finkelstein | July 5, 2013 | 8:18 AM EDT
This Fourth of July weekend is turning into an unforseen laff-fest. Yesterday we had NBC featuring a photo of President Obama making what he might have thought was an assertive hand gesture while discussing the situation in Egypt with his aides.
Today treats us to historian Douglas Brinkley, on Morning Joe, claiming that when it comes to foreign policy, President Obama reminds him of, yes, Supreme-Allied-Commander-turned-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. View the chuckle-worthy video after the jump.
By Matt Hadro | February 25, 2013 | 7:08 PM EST
CNN touted ex-president Jimmy Carter as a "new cult favorite" and asked if his image was "being rehabilitated" on Monday's The Situation Room. After friendly interviews of Carter and his grandson last week, it might be more accurate to ask if CNN is trying to "rehabilitate" Carter's image.
Liberal historian Douglas Brinkley made the laughably thin case for Carter. "But when you look at the Iran hostage crisis, I mean, Carter eventually negotiated the release of all of those hostages. It cost his political re-election. He could have bombed Tehran during it, and maybe gotten himself re-elected but he didn't," he argued.