In a March 11 column for the Washington Post, “”The Left Turn That Wasn’t,”” columnist Ruth Marcus praised President Obama for “”wisely”” holding back on his mandate to pull troops out of Iraq and restore all the civil liberties suspended by the Bush administration. Turning the pundit’s usual trick, Marcus pretended that these are concerns only of “”the left,”” as if the majority of Americans didn’t oppose continuing the Iraq War and the discredited Bush policies. When “”the real-world demands of governing”” call, she wrote, the measly wishes of mere voters count for nothing.

The only “”legitimate criticism,”” Marcus continued, was that Obama hadn’t made the rest of us sacrifice more. What bunk. Journalists are supposed to shine a harsh, unforgiving light on our leaders -ÿthe kind of light that shows them at their best and their worse. What Marcus’s fawning tribute to our supposedly spineless and “”centrist”” president proved was that our most prominent and highly-paid journalists have become a shrill and hypocritical class of toadies.

-ÿJustyn Dillingham is the opinions editor of the Daily Wildcat.