Urban Thought Collective

I like Campbell Brown. She’s a terrific member of the CNN news team. Campbell’s star rose significantly with hardnosed reporting and questions during the presidential election process. Contrary to right wing spin, Campbell was fair to both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, her recent claim that President-Elect Barack Obama needs to be more “forthcoming” about the investigation of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich isn’t “Bias,” it’s just “Bull.”

Here are the facts. U.S. attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald has said the complaint makes no allegations of wrong doing by the President-Elect. President-Elect Obama confirmed he had no contact with Gov. Blagojevich, added that he was appalled by the allegations and what was reportedly said by the governor on the wire taps and called for the governor to resign. So in a situation where he’s accused of doing nothing wrong and confirmed he has done nothing wrong, why are Campbell Brown and a few fringe Republicans challenging the President Elect with not being “transparent?” Incredibly, it all stems from a portion of the wire taps read by U.S. attorney Fitzpatrick which, presumably, were intended to further distance the Obama team from the appearance of any wrong doing. The quote said that the Obama team would only give the Governor their “appreciation” in return for his pick to fill Obama’s vacant Senate seat, to which Gov. Blagojevich said “’bleep’ them.”

So what’s the problem? Well, Ms. Brown contends in order to rebuff any corrupt activity, as did who ever told the Governors’ representative all they would get is “appreciation,” there had to be contact with someone from Gov. Blagojevich’s office and the Obama transition team. She goes on to say “we can figure some of this out on our own” and asks a few questions. What was the conversation? Did they tip off the U.S. attorney? Did they know what Blagojevich was up to? If they so, did they fail to report it? Then makes the leap to suggest failure to answer these questions is a failure by President-Elect Obama to be transparent. Huh?

Let me get this straight. The man accused of doing nothing wrong, who said he did nothing wrong, who wants the bad guy to resign and has a staff member who acted honestly, ethically and principled, is having a cloud of suspicion cast over him by not speaking out more, about what he hasn’t done and on activities of which he has no knowledge or by finding out who the staffer is, that acted honestly, ethically and principled. Is this a joke? Was it a slow news day?

This is nothing new to President-Elect Obama. The attempt to connect some sort of guilt by association to him was tried all during the campaign. It just wasn’t done by Campbell Brown and CNN.

No one is perfect. There may be a time where the Obama administration has to be held accountable by the media. If that time comes I will turn to credible sources like CNN and Campbell Brown. Don’t burn your credibility by crying wolf. Don’t undermine your authority as hard news journalist by describing the President-Elect and his transition team with a flippant term like “Obama World.” Don’t say you understand the reason for the President-Elect saying so little, so as not to compromise an ongoing investigation and then slam him for not saying anything more.

When Obama and his staff behave in a manner consistent with his promise and his word, you don’t have to praise them, just report that without the…you know.

Let me get my remote!

Darryl Bell is an actor and Chicago native, best known for his role in classic TV series “A Different World” and Spike Lee’s “School Daze.” His unique television commentary is exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.