Ben Sasse: “I rise this evening to read into the Record a portion of the New York Times Magazine profile yesterday of Ben Rhodes…”

“I rise this evening to read into the Record a portion of the New York Times Magazine profile yesterday of Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. Before reading the article, though, titled ``The Story-Teller and the President,'' I wish to explain briefly why I think this piece is so important for us to consider in this Chamber. We live in a time of precipitous change, both in American Government and in communications more broadly. We don't admit it enough in this body, but the Congress in the last decade-plus is extraordinarily weak by historical standards. At the same time, the media is rapidly fragmenting. These two vacuums are being filled by the executive branch in ways that are badly damaging, both to the separation of powers and to the idea of a meaningfully engaged citizenry. There can be little doubt that our Founders would be troubled by what is occurring in our time. Washington is in the process of replacing self-evident truths with self-serving spin, and this is dangerous, for no one is entitled to his or her own facts. I sit intentionally at the desk of Daniel Patrick Moynihan in this body precisely because he was committed to the idea of a shared set of facts before our debates began. Yet this story makes clear that the executive branch feels empowered to proclaim its own narratives. This is bigger than Republicans and Democrats.…”