"You've got to calm down here a little bit," the veteran newsman urged. "This is not insuperable. These are problems we've created for ourselves, and we can fix them ourselves."
Howard Fineman, Newsweek's chief political correspondent and deputy Washington bureau chief, gave a sharp critique of the current political and journalistic landscape in America, but cautioned against defeatism during a luncheon in the Coolidge Room yesterday.
Fineman dined with trustee and visiting faculty member Alan Solomont, political science students and other members of the community, leading an intimate question-and-answer session in Ballou Hall's Coolidge Room.
The self-proclaimed "bloviator" then attended Solomont's class "Decision '08" to watch students give a presentation.
He used today's popular withering criticisms of politics and journalism as a jumping-off point for his answers to questions. But his point of view relied heavily on historical considerations.
"[The political press] has changed emotionally ... almost spiritually," he said. "When I began, we were losing trust in leaders but we hadn't completely lost it. There was still a residuum of respect for the good will and the good intentions of people who would lead. I think that's pretty well gone now."
But with his historical approach, Fineman foresaw better days for America, stressing that what goes up must come down, and vice versa. "There is no truth, there is no goodness [left] - there's only combat," he said. "We've probably taken that trend about as far as we can go before we come back around again. I hope."
In large part, Fineman blamed America's cynicism on the changes that the press has gone through over the years.
"As the Depression wore on and as World War II came about, and for most of the time thereafter through the '50s, there was pretty much a national consensus," he said. "The old consensus has fallen apart. And now we have this sort of rubble-strewn landscape of ... Bill O'Reilly shouting over here and now Keith Olbermann getting ratings by shouting."
Fineman posited that the expression of radical ideologies on television is a huge dividing factor in the United States. "A lot of cable television is designed to reinforce ... opinions," he said.
The press' obsession with the personal lives of our leaders rather than their policies is another source of concern for Fineman. "Here in the United States, it's a combination of journalism and Puritanism, so we now examine everything about [presidential candidates'] private lives," he said.
"At some point we decided that character was more important that political belief," he added. "So I think, partly to avoid being labeled ideologically, a lot of journalists began to focus on the theory that if you know the whole man or woman - if you know their whole personal story - then you'll be able to judge them as presidents."
Fineman cited the press' handling of Bill Clinton's presidency as a prime example of such a "Puritan" attitude. "It reached its apogee," he said. "The economy was booming .... [But] the way he was acting in the Oval Office - literally - was outrageous."
But again, Fineman thinks that history will turn a corner.
"I think that cycle has run its course," he said. "We've had enough of it, I think."
But the problems that Fineman saw in politics were not by any means limited to the press. There are also many flaws in the political system today that need addressing, he said.
"One thing needs to be done: We've got to figure out the money in politics thing," he said, calling today's politicians beholden to wealthy lobbyists with radical opinions.
