It wasn’t clear why the Dispatch took the approach it did in Sunday’s Insight-section story on John Kasich. Under the headline, “Was Kasich a Wall Street titan?,” the story began with this:
So, we thought we’d ask John Kasich once again: What did you do at Lehman Brothers? — Chris Redfern, chairman, Ohio Democratic Party, June 18.
Why begin a story with a quoted question from an opposing party’s chairman? Is it possible the Dispatch could not have raised such a question itself? Or was the Dispatch saying, well, we’re not asking but, you know, some people are asking so we should, too? It just seems silly and unnecessary.
Moreover, the “aha moment” of the story was a dud, at least for the opponents of Kasich.
Guess what? Kasich worked hard and likely made a considerable amount of money at Lehman Brothers. And he wasn’t involved in the causes of the Lehman collapse. (Pretty much what we already knew, even though the Ohio Democratic Party has been in the “forefront” of asking, talked about here and here.)
But, lacking any evidence Kasich had anything to do with Lehman’s demise and the Wall Street scandals in general, his opponents are sure to latch onto the first part: Kasich worked hard and made a lot of money. Once, we celebrated such a record in America. Today, in some political/philosophical corners, being rewarded for legitimate effort is frowned upon, if not energetically denigrated.
However, in a state suffering high unemployment and a cloudy economic future, Kasich may find that being “attacked” as hard-working and successful resonates with Ohio’s citizens — especially those desperate for a job — more positively than the tired class-warfare rhetoric of his opponents.
