Unable to see the impact of his own bias

James Poniewozik, TIME‘s culture columnist, earned kudos in this forum back in 2008 when he refused to pretend that he was an objective observer of partisan politics. Yet Poniewozik’s latest column reveals that he apparently fails to see how his own political views color his take on the latest partisan squabble in Washington.

What do you do when the actual reality of a news story is not balanced between two sides? What do you do when the facts of a situation are such that to describe them accurately will make you sound biased?

This month’s fiscal crisis is one such situation. One party (in fact, one wing of the Republican Party), seeking the elimination or delay of Obamacare, precipitated a government shutdown and threatened a default on U.S. debt. Period. There was no corresponding threat or demand on the Democratic or White House side; having passed the Affordable Care Act into law three years ago, they are not in the position of saying, “Pass Obamacare or we shut ‘er down.”

Well, no. Republicans certainly want to eliminate or delay Obamacare. None of them voted for it three years ago, when Democrats still controlled both chambers of Congress. The ill-advised vote to approve Obamacare essentially threw the House back into the Republicans’ hands after the 2010 election. Now that the GOP is attempting to limit the damage from a wildly unpopular and potentially economically devastating case of government overreach, Democrats are saying, “Preserve Obamacare, or we shut ‘er down.”

Anyone examining the facts of the past two weeks would notice that the Republican-led U.S. House is the only actor in this political squabble that has taken steps to end the partial government shutdown. Democrats have pursued the all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it approach.

Yes, my interest in limited, constitutional government influences my assessment of the situation. James Poniewozik ought to realize that his support for the big-government policies of Barack Obama influences his own judgment. Reporting on the shutdown ought to attempt to present both views.