In a somewhat surprising turn of events last week, one of the premier voices of the liberal community was fired from his job at MSNBC. Keith Olbermann was informed of the executive decision on Friday, January 21, and he hosted his final show, leaving in the end with about three minutes of farewell words followed by his traditional Friday Thurber story reading, after which he threw his papers at the camera and wished the audience “Good night, and good luck” for the final time.
It should be noted that there are reports that the separation between Olbermann and MSNBC was mutual, despite Olbermann seeming surprised to have to deliver his final show that night. The New York Times reported that the decision was “weeks in the making.” Other reports from the likes of Huffington Post indicated that tension rose to new heights behind the scenes since his November 2010 suspension for undisclosed campaign donations, and the boiling point was practically inevitable.
Olbermann made prime-time MSNBC what it is today, a space that welcomes many voices but gives a specific soapbox to liberal commentators, hosts, and pundits. His show in particular was one that went further than those in the past, calling out the longtime voices of the conservative movement and contradicting their allegations with facts, correcting their misstatements, and speaking louder about various issues than most liberal spokespeople had dared before. Countdown with Keith Olbermann became the most watched show on MSNBC and paved the way for other commentators like Rachel Maddow to break into new journalistic territory as well.
Critics were many, some even crawling from the sports archives to say that they hated him as a sports commentator and made their judgments about his political career from there. Some criticized him for being as much on the “crazy” end of the left wing as Limbaugh and others sat on the right. He was accused of being dramatic, judgmental, and biased.
And for being a fan, I was criticized, too. Believing anything that Olbermann said was akin to blind faith, the same as the conservatives putting their faith in Sean Hannity. I was just as bad as those I railed against. With that said, most of the people who cast those stones hadn’t the faintest idea of my beliefs or ideals and sure didn’t care to ask.
I’ve always been a liberal. It is how my mother raised me, and it has always felt like a perfectly natural fit. My beliefs in life, politics, and society have almost always been in sync with the left wing school of thought. When I discovered Olbermann on television, courtesy of my mother if I recall correctly, he spoke my language, only he did it better than I ever could. He had the facts and the words to wrap around them, so eloquently and firmly based in reality. And even when his facts didn’t seem believable, I’d open the laptop and research, only to find out that he was correct. Don’t get me wrong here; there were many occasions in which I disagreed with his sentiments and often took issue with his phrasing of questions to guests or snide comments about a topic. He was not infallible by any stretch of the imagination. But I very often agreed with his take on the issues of the day, and when I didn’t, I still respected his views. And when he presented something as fact, it was. Many of you reading this will disagree with his politics, and even the way in which his ideas were presented, but no one can deny that he was an educated, intelligent man.
His announcement that he was leaving MSNBC - more precisely, my coveted television lineup - I was floored. Olbermann and Maddow are the ones I went to for sanity each day. They validated my feelings, expressed my beliefs better than I could hope to do on my own, and gave me much food for thought going forward. Maddow remains on the network and will continue to be that intellectual nourishment for me. I will temporarily have to deal with the lack of Olbermann - I will not and cannot watch Ed Shultz or Lawrence O’Donnell berate their guests and opine me to sleep - and hope that Olbermann’s words and unique political voice reappear on the landscape somewhere at some time.
So, this is very personal for me. I have learned many things from my evenings with Olbermann, most importantly to back up your statements with facts, speak loudly for your beliefs, and refuse to be silenced. Now that he’s not in my face on the television to do those things for the time being, I will look to do more for myself. I hope that my little op-ed pieces here improve over time, that I can begin to build my voice in a way that stands on facts while proudly displaying my liberal beliefs that give me faith in humanity and country. Thanks to Keith Olbermann for teaching me to continue fighting to maintain that optimism and hold firmly to my core beliefs.
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