Chicago Columnist to Obama: Hey, the Excuses are Wearing Thin

Stop the presses! A recognized Obamamedia shill has actually criticized his Messiah!

Have you heard the news? President Obama inherited an economic mess from the Bush administration.

You say that's hardly news? But it's been the message sounded over and over by the White House. Top Obama adviser David Axelrod said on one of the Sunday news shows, "He walked in the door, we had the worst economy since the Great Depression." In San Francisco, Obama talked of being "busy with our mop." White House heavy hitter Rahm Emanuel used the worst-economy-since-the-Depression line on a public TV news show.

You'd think it's October 2008, the final month in the Obama presidential candidacy, rather than October 2009, nine months into the Obama presidency. Yet the Obama White House is in full campaign mode -- maybe because it needs to mask the shortcomings of the Obama presidency.

Take, for example, all the talk of inheriting the worst economy since the 1930s crisis. That came in response to the news that the federal deficit hit $1.4 trillion.

Yet just a few months ago, the Obama camp was singing a little different tune. It was under criticism for the $787 billion stimulus package it bulldozed through Congress on grounds that massive spending was needed to keep the unemployment rate from breaching 8 percent. When joblessness hit 9.5 percent in June, Vice President Joe Biden said, "We misread how bad the economy was."

They inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, or the economy turned out to be worse than they thought. Which is it? It can't be both -- unless your brain is completely addled by the Obama charisma.

Folks, for those you you not familiar with Chicago, the Sun-Times has long been an unashamed shill, tool, whore and mouthpiece for the Democratic Machine. The words "journalistic integrity" and the "Chicago Sun Times" have absolutely nothing in common.

For them to criticize Obama and his "addled" supporters is amazing.

Can it be that some in the media are starting to see that this creation of theirs that they protected and helped install in the White House is past the honeymoon stage and now actually has to show the ability to govern?

Can it be that with most of the world laughing at us and our unemployment approaching 10% and rising with no end in sight, that all the spin jobs are starting to ring hollow and shrill? It is becoming very clear that his stimulus package has been a resounding failure in growing the economy or employing many folks.

I wonder how long it will be before the White House starts attacking the Sun-Times?

Hey, President Obama! As you have told us over and over again, you won. So how about you now act like it and start moving forward instead of blaming everybody but yourself for your own failed policies?

'I'm Going To Be Honest With You, the Profession Is Dying'

I doubt too many folks in Chicago will be shedding tears today, though this could be a watershed moment in the death spiral of print journalism. Me, I saw this coming 20 years ago. Still, I have friends in the business and there's a lot of concern, for obvious reasons. There's plenty of room on the web, of course, but those coming over have a lot of catching up to do.

Mariotti Quits, Says Newspapers Are 'Dying'

In a bombshell announcement in the world of sports journalism, star columnist Jay Mariotti has abruptly resigned from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Only after taping his last ESPN TV from the Sun-Times newsroom today did Mariotti open up.

Mariotti told CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker that he decided to quit after covering the Olympics in Beijing because newspapers are in serious trouble, and he did not want to go down with the ship.

"It's been a tremendous experience, but I'm going to be honest with you, the profession is dying,'' Mariotti said, "I don't think either paper [Sun-Times or Chicago Tribune] is going to survive.

"To showcase your work ... you need a stellar Web site and if a newspaper doesn't have that, you can't be stuck in the 20th century with your old newspaper.''

Mariotti blamed the scandal-plagued past at the paper for its downfall. Former top execs Conrad Black and David Radler looted the company for millions of dollars, and both were sentenced to jail. The paper's ad revenues have been plummeting and more layoffs are expected.