As much as he would like to be compared to FDR — or Ronald Reagan, at least in terms of popularity — Barack Obama continues to find himself grouped with a less praiseworthy predecessor. Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer mentions the Obama-Nixon connection in his latest “Editor’s Desk” column.
In what I see as a perverse sort of Nixon-goes-to-China play, [former Committee to Protect Journalism chairman Paul] Steiger noted how “an administration that took office promising to be the most transparent in history instead has carried out the most intrusive surveillance of reporters ever attempted. It also has made the most concerted effort at least since the Plumbers and the enemies lists of the Nixon administration to intimidate officials in Washington from ever talking to a reporter.” Said Steiger: “If we are going to be credible admonishing abusers of journalists abroad, we can’t stand silent when it is going on at home.” I couldn’t agree with you more, Paul.
