LOS ANGELES — There’s really no reason to describe
the new “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” that debuted Monday night on
Current TV when, not surprisingly, Olbermann has that covered already.
After first guest and brand-new “Countdown” contributor Michael Moore
told Olbermann that no doubt “your parents are looking down tonight,
very proud of you for keeping the good fight going,” Olbermann used the
potentially tender moment to lay out his manifesto.
“In the briefest of special comments … this is a
newscast of contextualization, it is to be presented with a viewpoint,
that the weakest citizen of this country is more important than the
strongest corporation, that the nation is losing its independence
through the malfeasance of one political party and the timidity of
another and that even though you and I should not have to be the last
line of defense, apparently we are so we damn well better start being
it.”
Just in case you were wondering if the political-news
equivalent of Larry David had spent the months since his abrupt
departure from MSNBC early this year mellowing on a beach somewhere, the
answer would be no. He is the same fast-talking, hard-charging,
unapologetically self-righteous defender of his version of liberal
ideology that he always was. Only this time he has a platform with no
commercial constraints — Al Gore is the founder of the struggling
Current TV and he has said that he went into his deal with the famously
high-maintenance Olbermann with his eyes wide open (and this is a man
who was Bill Clinton’s V.P.). So what is the new “Countdown” like?
Olbermann Unleashed.
To make this clear, he came out swinging across party
lines, questioning the morality and legality of the U.S. military
activity in Libya and comparing President Barack Obama’s reliance on
lawyers to settle constitutional matters with a similar trick by former
President George W. Bush. Former Nixon adviser John Dean showed up to
discuss how the Supreme Court’s ruling against a class-action sexual
discrimination suit brought by Wal-Mart employees proves once again the
court’s dangerous conservatism and to deride the Democrats’ wimpiness
over recent reports that Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife had
received gifts from a wealthy businessman.
Having taken on the president, the Supreme Court and
big business, Olbermann lightened up with an odd assortment of human
interest stories — dancing kid videos, the sale of Debbie Reynolds’
massive costume collection — via a segment called “Time Marches On.”
(Reynolds’ sale included Marilyn Monroe’s famous white subway dress,
providing an opportunity for Olbermann to do a breathy Marilyn
impersonation, something that should not be repeated under any
circumstance.)
Then the show entered more familiar territory.
Conservative radio hosts were condemned for allegedly selling their
opinion through embedded advertising — “I’m utterly shocked by this,”
Olbermann said with his trademark smirk. His Worst Persons feature
included the Republican Leadership Conference, which was chided for
featuring an Obama impersonator who made racist comments.
All of which was pointed and interesting and in
keeping within the rubric of Olbermann’s belief that it’s time for
liberals to get as angry, vitriolic and petty as their foes. If only he
weren’t quite so self-congratulatory and self-referential about it. His
decision to end with Markos Moulitsas, founder of progressive
DailyKos.com and another “Countdown” contributor, bordered on the
unforgivable. Bringing him in ostensibly to discuss “the jungle” of GOP
politics, Olbermann quickly set Moulitsas up for an embedded
advertisement of his own.
“You haven’t been on cable television since May 12, 2010,” Olbermann said with unconvincing casualness. “Why for?”
“It seems like your old boss had a little bit of a
problem with me,” answered Moulitsas, laughing a bit nervously before he
obligingly produced the story of how a Twitter war with Joe Scarborough
led to Moulitsas’ being banished from MSNBC. “I found it bizarre,”
Moulitsas continued. “Yours was the most successful show on cable, yet
Joe Scarborough was dictating who could be in on your show.”
If that wasn’t enough ring-kissing, he called Olbermann “a national treasure.”
Which he may be — certainly Olbermann is refreshing,
and singular, in the clarity of his mission, which is to defend the
liberal point of view with the same sort of take-no-prisoners rhetoric
that conservative pundits such as Bill O’Reilly have wielded so
effectively. But the blatant uber-medianess of his persona seems, at
times, in direct conflict with that belief that “the weakest citizen is
more important than the strongest corporation.” A media personality is,
after all, something of a corporation, and humility can be as effective a
weapon as grandstanding. Not as much fun, perhaps, but just as
effective.
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