The Sudden Death of Tim Russert

I was absolutely shocked at the news of Tim Russert's death. Then it gave way to anger, strangely. Who would have predicted that he would be dead at this point in the election season?

I have to say I have watched political talk shows from the moment I came to America because I wanted to know how the country functioned and learn everything I could about the inner working of Washington and who the power brokers were. I remember watching Edward R. Morrow and David Brinkley on Sunday mornings, then Night line every night with Ted Koppel; such was my love of all things politics.

When Tim Russert took over Meet The Press I watched religiously every Sunday morning to learn about the current issues of the moment. If there was special programming and it would be on earlier, like last week when the Men's final from the French Open would be on, I would set my alarm to wake up early and watch. Tim Russert would flush out the core of an issue and would not let a guest run away from a previous position: He would famously put up a prior quote to illustrate that the guest has strayed or changed his/position. My week was not complete and my political bearings was not secure unless I watched Meet The Press moderated by Tim Russert.

However, I have to say, that recently I have been angry with Tim Russert and the others at NBC and MSNBC because of the way they have covered the Democratic race between Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think Russert had departed from his usual unquestioned professional standards and had shown favoritism towards Obama on numerous occasions. He was brutally efficient when Hillary appeared on the show in the Spring. However, he was very lenient and passive on Obama after the Reverend Wright thing blew up. I anxiously watched to see if Obama was going to get the grilling he (Russert) was famous for but instead I came away from watching that appearance losing a lot of respect for Russert. Then, on the night of the Indiana and North Carolina Primaries, I was extremely angry when he proclaimed Obama as the Democratic nominee and declared the race over. I had expected him to be the consummate professional that I had watched religiously every Sunday morning but was disappointed to discover that he was a Left Wing Partisan, and made no secret about this, along with his colleagues at NBC and MSNBC.

Having expressed my disappointment as a Hillary Clinton supporter about the coverage of the campaign, I have to say that Russert knew his stuff. He could make or break your campaign. That is why when he declared the race over, Hillary's supporters were livid. Conversely, we were mad when he grilled Hillary about her Irag vote and forced her to finally admit that the vote was a mistake. As Chris Matthews put it: He pulled in the marlin (or something to that effect). he took great pleasure in doing so too. In the same debate he asked about the new Russian President, Medvedev and seemed to direct the question to Hillary instead of Obama. I can't hide my anger about Russert's softball interview with Obama but I can say that I relied on his considerable knowledge about politics and it was crucial to my continued interest and fanaticism about politics. I respected him as a journalist until recently. I just wished he had not been too obvious in his preference for Obama over Hillary Clinton, which caused me to essentially boycott all NBC affiliates. Even as I did so, I still was drawn to Meet The Press although I did not stay the entire hour.

I wonder what effect his passing will have on the Presidential race? Obama has received extraordinarily favorable treatment from the media, especially at MSNBC and it will be interesting to see if, in light of Russert's sudden passing, that that will continue. I have no doubt that Russert thought he would be around to cover the General Election and it will be strange to not have him on Meet The Press in the month's leading up to the Conventions and the General Election. In fact, I think his passing will be a huge void for NBC to fill and I can't imagine anyone on the landscape that could step in his shoes. One name does come to mind though: David Gregory.

God speed Russert. I would have returned to Meet The Press eventually when my anger subsided. Unfortunately you left this p[lace too soon.