Even though I remain an ardent supporter of President Barack Obama, I concede that facts are facts. In its Friday, January 29, 2010 editorial, The Daily Record accurately stated that the Obama-Biden ticket carried neither Wayne County nor Holmes County in the 2008 general election. McCain-Palin received about 56 percent of the Wayne County vote, Obama-Biden about 41 percent. The results in Holmes County were even more disparate; McCain-Palin 69 percent to Obama-Biden’s 28 percent. The area is conservative and predominantly Republican. We know that.
So, it was not surprising that this week’s Daily Record poll question, “Does President Obama have the country headed in the right direction,” “Shows a growing disaffection with the President.” 80 percent of the 250 respondents expressed a negative opinion. Those are the facts.
But, The Daily Record then went beyond the facts. The uninformed, misguided and inaccurate comments of several respondents were faithfully highlighted. Those comments appeared to have been taken directly from the “Tea-Baggers’” talking points. What disturbed me most was the total absence of any balancing comments from the 20 percent of the respondents who answered positively. What happened to fair and balanced reporting? Yes, it was an editorial, but it was reporting poll results. The poll minority’s comments were omitted, as if there had been none. To add insult to injury, an anti-Obama, anti-Democrat editorial cartoon accompanied the editorial column.
Daily Record, you can do better. We expect better.
Don Clement
Wooster
