Jason Whitlock's letter to Barack Obama

By the time that happens, I'll probably be pushing papers at the Post Office.

 

You can't really be surprised over that, can you?

 

I still don't really mean it.

I REALLY still don't think that that crazy-ass septuagenarian can win.... but I can't believe that Obama is becoming this vulnerable this quickly.

 

My point was this: it should have run in the news section. Or the op-ed page. If that was a sports column, it was a terrible mistake.

Not that he had no right to write it. But it had no right to appear in the sports section.

 

Bill Clinton was in much worse shape during the '92 primary season, and it was because of things he actually did, not something someone associated with him said.

Obama is actually fortunate that it's coming out so early. By June or July, people will be sick of hearing about it.

 

There's no way McCain loses this.

I hope I'm wrong. Believe me. But he's winning.

 

But the comment that started this was "Why the fuck do I care what a sportwriter has to say about politics?" That statement has nothing to do with what section it ran in. That line of reasoning started with Doc. And it's a valid point for the publication of the column. But not germane to the issue I was addressing.

 

I hate to type this but there are sometimes I must ask, ""Why the fuck do I care what some sportwriters have to say about sports?"

 

I honestly don't care what Whitlock chooses to write about. But if it ran in sports, it was a terrible move on the Star's part. That was my only point. I also hated the column, but that goes to personal taste, so who cares?

 

I would give Jason wide latitude here. He is a superstar columnist after all. Basically, he's a race columnist, not a sports columnist, even if his stuff runs in the sports section. Whitlock is the polar opposite of JoePo; I'm not aware of anyone ever crediting Jason with being an insightful sports analyst or brilliant narrator in the never-ending saga of team vs. team.

Has any Whitlock column ever been linked here that didn't have to do with race?

Given who he is and how he has carved out his niche in the industry, I think it's a perfectly reasonable topic for him to tackle. To be honest, he's a little late on this though -- Jason, your pal Loopy wrote about Obama's speech the day it happened. I also agree completely with f-town; the column just doesn't work.

 

There is no way this column should have run in sports. Like IJAG said, it should only have run in news or op-ed.

I do wonder how the Star's sports editors feel about Whitlock writing political columns, pieces for FoxSports.com plus whatever TV and radio segments he has on his plate. When does it become too much? When does he, like Lupica before him, is stretched too thin and begins to mail in his copy for the Star's sports section?

 

Obama said it better than Jason. That is all.