When I first joined the faculty at Northern, I enjoyed the company of a couple of old school liberals. These guys were uncompromising leftists, of various degrees, but they were scrupulously respectful of people like me. I never heard them suggest that the conservative position was illegitimate.

The American left has changed. When thousands of people show up at town hall meetings or the U.S. capital to criticize their elected representatives, these aren't real people. They aren't real citizens showing up to express their opinions. They are astroturfed people! Only anti-war rallies, hostile to a Republican administration, are real.

When one cable news network is slanted to the right, instead of reflexively solicitous of a Democratic administration, this isn't a real news network! It's Fox.

The President and the left in general have every right and reason to criticize Fox News and its culture. But in claiming that Fox News isn't a real news network, they discredit themselves. Fox adheres as well or better than the other networks to the standards of responsible journalism. It is far less often embarrassed by getting the facts wrong is less prone to fall for partisan canards. It doesn't try to spike stories that depart from some party line agenda. If it is biased in one direction, it is hardly more so than the other major networks in the other direction.

But Fox's status as a real network has been confirmed in an unambiguous way, and Fox has the Obama Administration to thank for this. This week the Administration convened the White House Pool, a rotation of five news agencies that report on daily events at the President's house. The pool was to meet with White House "Pay Czar"

Obama's people made it clear that Fox News alone was not welcome. The bureau chiefs of the other four networks met together, and made it clear that unless Fox was included, they weren't coming either. The Administration caved in the face of the unlooked for opposition.

This was an unlooked for moment of backbone and professional responsibility. If Fox News is banned for not toeing the Administration line, that is a threat to all the news agencies. It's one thing to reflexively protect Obama. It is another for the Obama to lay down the law to any network, even Fox.

The Obama Administration's behavior is outrageous. The President does not get to decide how the press will behavior, or what kind of stories it will publish. This incident makes it perfectly clear that Fox News is a "real" news network. If anyone has the right to decide that question, it is the community of news networks. By that standard, Fox has been confirmed.

The confirmation came in a way that is very happy for a free republic. Democratic governments need a free and vigorous opposition. Only Fox News consistently provides that. It is a bad mark on Obama and his team and his legion of defenders that they refuse to acknowledge this.