Debate's moderator has 'blatant conflict of interest'

The moderator of tonight's vice-presidential debate, Gwen Ifill of the PBS program "Washington Week," says her upcoming book, "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," has been common knowledge for weeks, but that's not the problem, say critics who argue she stands to profit from an Obama victory.

Gwen Ifill

"This cannot be denied," said Fox News' Washington Managing Editor Brit Hume. "She has written a book, the 'Age of Obama' is in the title and is the premise of the book. The release date is on Inauguration Day. This gives her an unmistakable financial stake in the outcome of the election."

He added: "A book about the 'Age of Obama' is worth a lot more if Obama becomes president than if he doesn't. Gwen is a pro and she will overcome it, but there it is."

The controversy arose amid coverage of the 2008 vice-presidential debate when WND reported on the book project, which is being promoted via video and on Amazon.com.

Ifill, who didn't respond to a WND request for comment, admitted to the Associated Press that she did not tell the Commission on Presidential Debates about the book. Officials for the commission did not respond to WND requests for a comment.

Likewise, officials with the campaign of GOP candidate Sen. John McCain said they were not aware of it.

A spokeswoman for PBS said the book was a non-issue, since it has been listed on Amazon.com and Ifill has referenced it previously, but none of that was stopping the hot discussion about Ifill's perceived conflict of interest because of the financial stake she now holds in the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.

"If Barack Obama is not elected, by Jan. 20, 2009, the 'Age of Obama' will be over," said former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind. "She definitely has a vested interest in Obama being elected.

"There's not a lot of demand out there for books about the 'Age of Mondale' or the 'Age of Kerry,'" he quipped.

While McCain's staffers confirmed they previously were unaware of the book, the candidate himself chose not to make an issue of it.

"I think that Gwen Ifill is a professional, and I think she will do a totally objective job, because she is a highly respected professional," he told Fox News. "Does this help that she's written [a book] that's favorable to Sen. Obama? Probably not, but I have confidence that Gwen Ifill will do a professional job."

The AP reported that Ifill said she hasn't written about Obama for the book yet, and was unconcerned by worries over her ability to be impartial.

"I've got a pretty long track record covering politics and news, so I'm not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to destroy my reputation," Ifill told AP. "The proof is in the pudding. They can watch the debate tomorrow night and make their own decisions about whether or not I've done my job."

Nevertheless, some participants in a forum on the Washington Post clearly believe there's a conflict that should be addressed:

"Ifill has a personal financial interest in seeing Obama win the election," said one contributor. "She sells more books if he wins. It is absolutely crazy that she is the moderator. This is a blatant conflict of interest. This is unethical journalism at its finest."

Said another, "Simple and unbiased. Ifill writes a book. The title has the word 'Obama' on the book. It will be for sale soon. She profits if Obama wins the presidency on the sale of her new book. … She can influence the debate … and she should bow [out]."

"If the moderator had written a pro-McCain book, he/she would have already been booted," said a third.

But Ifill also garnered support.

"I'm suspicious of such people who are blinded by their own partisanship to understand what journalistic objectivity really is," said one.

The New York Times phoned WorldNetDaily to inquire about the origins of the story, and said some Democrats were suggesting WND's report had been "planted" by the McCain camp.

CNN downplayed the controversy, reporting that Ifill "discussed the book in a (sic) interview with The Washington Post on September 4, well before the Commission on Presidential Debates announced the debate moderators."

The report also said Ifill was focusing now on the debate, and PBS spokeswoman Anne Bell said, "I don't think it's anything she needs to worry about or address."

Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz said, "It's no secret that Gwen Ifill has been working on a book about the younger generation of black politicians."

That Ifill would choose the subject of black power and black politicians shouldn't surprise. According to the online NNDB intelligence aggregator, she participates in the African Methodist Episcopal church, the same denomination to which Black Liberation Theology proponent James H. Cone belongs.

Obama's longtime former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., has pointed to Cone as a major influence on his theology.

According to the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, "Black Liberation Theology is a product of the black power movement of the 1960s."

A profile of Cone on PBS said he grew up experiencing "the life-affirming community of the black church alongside the soul-crushing reality of white racism."

"It was the voice of Malcolm X that first made James Cone question his theology," the profile said. Malcolm X proclaimed loudly that 'Christianity is a white man's religion,' and said that blacks should adopt an understanding of God that grew out of their own history and experience. He railed against a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus and a belief in the delayed rewards of heaven."

Cone later wrote in one of his books, "Black Theology and Black Power": "For me, the burning theological question was, how can I reconcile Christianity and Black Power, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s idea of nonviolence, and Malcolm X's 'by any means necessary philosophy?'"

He now is professor at Union Theological Seminary, where he is described as winning a long list of awards and maintaining active membership in the "Society for the Study of Black Religion."

His recent work is described as an "attempt to identify liberation as the heart of the Christian gospel and blackness as the primary mode of God's presence."

"People often ask me whether I am still angry as when I wrote 'Black Theology and Black Power,'" he writes at Beliefnet. "When I hear that question I smile to contain my rage. …"

Obama's campaign earlier was bedeviled by similar statements from Wright, who once called on God to "d***" America and preached diatribes against white America in his support of black liberation theology.

'That's all you've got'

WND also reported Ifill has faced criticism before for perceived disparate treatment of parties or candidates.

During a vice-presidential candidate debate she moderated in 2004 – when Democrat John Edwards attacked Republican Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton – the vice president said, "I can respond, Gwen, but it's going to take more than 30 seconds."

"Well, that's all you've got," she told Cheney.

Ifill told the Associated Press Democrats were delighted with her answer, because they "thought I was being snippy to Cheney." She explained that wasn't her intent.

But she also was cited in complaints PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler said he received after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered her nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., earlier this month.

Some viewers complained of a "dismissive" look by Ifill during her report on Palin's speech. According to Getler, some also said she wore a look of "disgust" while reporting on the Republican candidate.

At that time she said, "I assume there will always be critics and just shut out the noise. It is surprisingly easy."

A clip of Ifill's comments after Palin's GOP convention speech can be seen here:

PBS viewer Brian Meyers of Granby, Conn., said he was "appalled" by Ifill's commentary directly following Palin's speech.

"Her attitude was dismissive and the look on her face was one of disgust," Meyers said. "Clearly, she was agitated by what most critics view as a well-delivered speech. It is quite obvious that Ms. Ifill supports Obama as she struggled to say anything redemptive about Gov. Palin's performance."

Columnist Michelle Malkin, in a post on her blog, wonders how Ifill can objectively moderate the debate tomorrow night with the personal interest she has in the election's outcome.

"My dictionary defines 'moderator' as 'the nonpartisan presiding officer of a town meeting.' ... PBS anchor Gwen Ifill will serve as moderator for the first and only vice presidential debate. The stakes are high. The Commission on Presidential Debates, with the assent of the two campaigns, decided not to impose any guidelines on her duties or questions.

"But there is nothing 'moderate' about where Ifill stands on Barack Obama. She's so far in the tank for the Democrat presidential candidate, her oxygen delivery line is running out," Malkin writes.

"Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama/Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the 'Age of Obama.' Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the 'stunning' McCain campaign and its 'bold' path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day – and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation’s sole vice presidential debate?"

Malkin cited Ifill's previous reporting on Obama for "Essence" magazine, an article titled "The Obamas: Portrait of an American Family." Ifill's "neutral analysis" about Michelle Obama, Malkin said with irony, was, "A lot of people have never seen anything that looks like a Michelle Obama before. She's educated, she's beautiful, she's tall, she tells you what she thinks and they hope that she can tell a story about Barack Obama and about herself. …"

Fox News commentator and attorney Greta Van Susteren concluded the fact the McCain campaign didn't know about the book should be a show-stopper.

"It simply is not fair – in law, this would create a mistrial," she said.

Coming to Ifill's defense was Juan Williams, a senior correspondent with National Public Radio.

"I think Gwen has been a terrific journalist," he told Fox News.

But Williams admitted the appearances could cause difficulties.

"She spent a lot of time with Obama. She praises him in the book," he said. "The book's success [is] invested in Obama. … Suddenly everyone's going to be saying Gwen Ifill is somewhat biased against Gov. Palin."

Under the approved debate format, Ifill will choose the questions for the debate, and she has said, "the big questions matter."

In the Amazon.com promotion for her book, Ifill is described as "drawing on interviews with power brokers," such as Obama and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In an online video promoting her book, she is enthusiastic about "taking the story of Barack Obama and extending it."

It focuses on four people, "one of them Barack Obama of course," she said.

The debate will be held at Washington University in St. Louis.