Lou Dobbs Exits CNN

Lou Dobbs, who has hosted a television program on CNN since it's founding in 1980, abruptly resigned last Wednesday November 11. In an interview with Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly Factor program, Dobbs stated his form of advocacy journalism fell out of place following the election of Barack Obama as president. He stated that he never heard directly from the CNN management that he made the network look bad. He wasn't directly criticized by CNN's management. However, he stated he remembered that there was a change in tone at CNN following Obama's victory. Dobbs resigned because he could no longer operate under CNN's push to avoid airing anchor opinions in prime time. Lou Dobbs was considered a lightning rod for many liberals because of his strong opposition to illegal immigration. He received criticism from many Latino groups because of his unwavering stance on that issue. He was classified as very opinionated on various political issues. Dobbs was also criticized for his statement on the subject regarding Barack Obama's birth certificate in August. He said he firmly believes Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen, but he needed to reveal his birth certificate to the public to quell doubts whether Obama is a natural-born citizen.

Lou Dobbs was born in Childress, Texas. He attended school in Idaho and played tackle football in High School. He was also student class president in high school. Upon graduation from high school, he attended Harvard until he graduated there in 1967 with a degree in economics. Following his graduation from Harvard he worked in federal anti-poverty programs in Washington, D.C. and Boston. He also briefly attended law school at the University of Idaho. He later worked for different media outlets. In 1979 a recruiter for Ted Turner, founder of CNN offered him a job at the newly created CNN in 1980. Lou Dobbs hosted CNN's Moneyline from 1980-2009. He was an economics correspondent for CNN as well as a corporate executive there. In 1999 Dobbs resigned due to clashes with then CNN President Rick Kaplan. Kaplan was a supporter of then President Bill Clinton and Dobbs felt Kaplan was too partisan and too busy pushing "Clinton stories." After the Columbine shooting, CNN was conducting extensive coverage of the incident in Littleton, Colorado. Dobbs had ordered the producer to cut away from the Columbine shooting and go back to airing "Moneyline". Rick Kaplan didn't approve of what Dobbs did so Dobbs resigned. In 2000, Dobbs retured back to CNN at the behest of Ted Turner. Moneyline was renamed "Lou Dobbs Moneyline." In 2003 the show was renamed "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and remained on the air until his departure last week.

Dobbs was a lifelong Republican until the last few years. He now declares himself an "independent populist" who owes his allegiance to no political party. He did support the Bush campaign in 2000 but since his election Dobbs said the Bush administration has been "disgraceful" in it's policies. He is a fiscal conservative. He is strongly opposed to illegal immigration and believes in enforcing the immigration laws on the books. He's opposed to manipulative capitalism. He doesn't believe in America negotiating in free trade deals which results in numerous jobs being exported overseas. He hammered the Bush administration for negotiating free trade deals that weren't good for America. He doesn't believe in government and huge multi-national corporations being aligned together. He's opposed to huge business influencing the government. He believes that huge budget and trade deficits as well as outsourcing and offshoring are harmful to America's middle-class. He believes in economic populism. Dobbs is very wary of China which he repeatedly refers to as "Communist China." Bravo!

In all the years I've listened to Dobbs, I've had tremendous respect for him. He was the most accurate when it came to journalism on CNN. He was willing to stand for what's right regardless which way the wind blows. He isn't a partisan and I applaud him for that. His program was the only reason that CNN was worth watching. The other anchors on CNN are out on left field. I don't agree with all his viewpoints, but he's right on target when it comes to outsourcing, globalization, trade deficits, and the list continues. He was an ardent opponent of the policies of the Bush administration. He also opposes President Obama's policies as well. When Bill O'Reilly asked Dobbs whether he thought President Obama was the Devil, he said no but he believes President Obama has mismanaged the country. He doesn't agree with Obama's policies on healthcare and Afghanistan either.

Dobbs said he doesn't know what he's going to do as of right now. He's keeping his options open. He stated he will remain in the public eye. There has been speculation that he might sign on with the FOX news channel. But he hasn't made any kind of affirmation whether he would join FOX news. There could be an opportunity he might run for a Senate seat in New Jersey next year. He owns a 300-acre farm in Sussex County, New Jersey. One thing you can almost guarantee: he'll be seen quite often in the public eye.