David Frum & the Problem with “Balanced” Commentary

UPDATED: (Here’s a link to Frum’s farewell conversation on the show.)

Today, center-right commentator David Frum stepped down in his role as a commentator for American Public Media‘s business radio news show Marketplace.

Frum, a former speech writer for George W. Bush, has represented the right/conservative/red point of view on the show in counterpoint to former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on the left/liberal/blue side of things.

Frum writes that in many ways he was able to fairly represent the mainstream right when it came to topics such as “green jobs or NLRB regulations or immigration.”  But when it came to other issues, such as “healthcare reform, monetary policy, social spending to aid the unemployed, and … the American response to the euro crisis,” he found it difficult to represent his views as being that of the conservative mainstream.

Because Frum felt, correctly, that he could not serve as a spokesperson for the right, he resigned as a commentator for Marketplace.

And the world of political/policy commentary is worse off for his decision.  Why on earth do we need to have a pair of commentators who will give us reliable party talking points?  Don’t we have political press secretaries for that?  One of the first concepts I teach my commentary students is to avoid the DTPs, the Dreaded Talking Points.  And by this I mean parroting back the same tired rhetoric we get out of left/right balance.  This is making the assumption that we can learn something significant about a topic by having a lefty and righty say the same things over and over again.  The two will never actually respond to the others point of view, and heaven forbid that they ever see a common ground.

David Frum is one of my favorite commentators because I never know exactly what he’s going to say.  And whatever he does say, I know that it will come from a well-reasoned place.  I don’t care whether I will agree with him.  What I want is someone who will say something thoughtful and interesting.

How do we expect to learn about a purple world when only primary colors are allowed?

Jon Stewart had it right when he was on Crossfire back in October of 2004:

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