Bye, Keith

I’m sad that Keith Olbermann has left MSNBC.

I’m surprised by how sad I am about it.

Often, I’ve heard that television stars are perceived as intimate friends because viewers welcome them into their homes weekly or nightly (as opposed to movie stars who are bigger than life events one goes out to see). I’ve always accepted that logic, as it makes rhetorical sense and I’ve made casual observations to back it up. I never thought I personally experienced that phenomenon, though.

Keith Olbermann leaving MSNBC feels like I’ve lost a friend. A good friend, at that.

I was politically aware before I started watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann, but it was an awkward stage in which I was coming out of being turned off by politics largely because my parents and I had very different political views. Olbermann helped me through that awkward stage. His show was a bridge to my current habit of watching or reading the news daily, and helped me figure out what was really important to me and what to focus on. If you’ve ever had a friend help you figure out a part of yourself, you know that creates a deep bond and fierce loyalty. Apparently, it happens with television friends, too.

No, Olbermann is not perfect. I’ve made fun of him for being a peacock (those pinstriped suits!), for having a sizeable ego, and maybe getting too worked up at times. I rib my real-life friends, too, which only results in my being even more fond of them. Perhaps he was too single minded at times, but whenever I disagreed with him, it was a respectful disagreement. Also, I like his damned pinstriped suits. I love charming assholes, and even at his most ego-driven and bombastic, he was always charming.

What makes me sad on top of my personal loss is the loss of an eloquently loud voice of the left. Keith Olbermann was a reasonable counterpart to voices on the right. The key word, here, being “reasonable.” Even at the most partisan end of the spectrum, the loud voices of the left are at least reasonable. The right, however, is allowed to be fucking nuts. Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh are all crazy, lying, hate-mongers that keep ratcheting up the rhetoric, and they still have their programs without any signs of going away. It’s very hard to be reasonable and still get any attention in today’s political environment. Keith Olbermann could do it. The already unbalanced noise competition just tilted in the right’s favor even more with Olbermann’s departure.

Why Olbermann left is still a mystery. Rumors abound from his being let go because he’s difficult to work with (but still charming, I’m sure), to failed contract negotiations, to Olbermann’s dissatisfaction with his bosses, to a conspiracy involving Comcast’s looming purchase of NBC. Maybe after the recent loss of both his parents and the venomous political landscape we’re currently in, Keith just needed a break.

For whatever reason Countdown is no more, hopefully Keith Olbermann will be back soon. Then, it will be more like a friend moved away or took an extended vacation than I lost a friend. Speculation over what he may do next is full of varied possibilities, and as was said on 360 with Anderson Cooper, like him or dislike him, Keith Olbermann is talented and talent will always find a home.

Maybe he will come home soon. I might even feel like throwing him a welcome back party.

Though, I do hope he doesn’t come back as a sports caster, again. His political commentary is needed. Also, beyond a few points of interest, I would only listen to his sports casts to be polite and not hurt a good friend’s feelings.