Fighting words

What did Edwards think he was getting? And what about Marcotte? Lefty bloggers congratulate themselves on being less compromised and corrupted than fancy MSM reporters; on creating a new independent realm of punditry and reporting. Do a lot of them really aspire to flack for a candidate, as well? Of course there are liberal bloggers who seem mainly about independent journalism -- Glenn Greenwald, now with Salon, comes to mind, as does Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo and Firedoglake's coverage of Plamegate -- and aren't looking to hook up with candidates. But others seem comfortable blurring the lines between independent commentary and partisan kingmaking. And while it's true that journalists have historically gone off to work for politicians, they don't keep their writing job when they go on the other payroll. Plus, their colleagues and competitors in other media organizations don't see themselves as having a stake in the former journalist's new political perch, and thus don't tend to cheer them on, or look away from exposing problems that might emerge with their new employer.

Meanwhile, what do blog readers think they're getting? Bloggers are all about transparency, and to be fair, Kos, Armstrong, Bowers and others at MyDD have been "transparent" about their work for candidates (and so was Salon about Peter Daou's political ties, though when he formally joined the Clinton presidential campaign, we had to separate). But what about other bloggers who haven't hung out a shingle; should readers assume their résumés are with Obama and Vilsack and Richardson? Are they for sale to the highest bidder? Or, to put it in a better light, to the candidate they decide is best for America?

Back at Salon, I'm not unhappy with the scrutiny of our stories on Obama, Edwards and Clinton. We plan to cover the hell out of both Democrats and Republicans this cycle, and I think that's the best way for Salon to contribute to the debate. As some readers observed about our Obama story this week, the mild probing we've given the Illinois senator is nothing compared to what he's going to face from the right-wing noise machine (and already has faced, with the Insight magazine and Fox News madrassa smear and the latest heavy breathing about his black nationalist pastor). Should the Democratic candidates only hear the murmured whispers of love from liberal-leaning media (along with howls from bloggers working for Democratic rivals)? I don't think so.

I know that much of the alarm about our piece on Obama's tough congressional race against Rep. Bobby Rush centered on an early draft of a coverline that used the word "uppity" to describe the brash young Harvard grad. As we explained in our correction, an editor here used the word ironically without registering how racially charged it was; others decided it was too loaded and changed it -- in every field of our publishing system, except the cover. We caught the mistake almost as soon as it went up, but a Daily Kos diarist was faster and caught the original with a screen grab that ran on lots of blogs. We were horrified, posted a correction and apologized to many readers, but as the flood of e-mail continued, I was once again struck by the blog-inspired conviction that we had deliberately slurred Obama, perhaps because of a bias for Clinton, rather than having given offense unintentionally.

I also know some anger at Salon's Obama coverage goes back to Debra Dickerson's piece on Obama's "black" identity three weeks ago. It wasn't exactly what I'd expected from Dickerson, given her impatience with fixed racial categories and hierarchies and outdated approaches to civil rights, when I assigned her the piece, but I was proud to have it. The fact is, some black leaders are privately and publicly debating Obama's racial bona fides -- and you read why first, in Salon. Some people even asked why we ran a piece about an ugly race riot in Springfield, Ill., that gave rise to the NAACP, on the day Obama declared his candidacy there. It was intended to suggest that Springfield had far more significance to the racial history of America than simply being the hometown of Abe Lincoln; I was happy many of you learned that history for the first time in Salon.

And the fact that Obama was a smug untested Harvard grad not ready for national primetime when he ran for Congress against former Black Panther Bobby Rush -- well, you very well might have read that first in Salon, too -- back in 2004, in an otherwise positive Scott Turow piece. Obama's capacity to grow from that early place of privilege is one of the great narratives about him, one that should give us hope that he can grow into a great president. But we'll have plenty of time to find out, and you can trust us not to flack for any candidate, but to search out the information you need to help you make up your mind.

And if you think I'm wrong about that, I trust lots of you will let me know.

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