NYT’s Inauguration Hypocrisy: Bush Chided in 2005, but Obama Free to Party

At a time when the United States is fighting two wars and faces a severe recession and huge budget deficits, the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president is estimated to cost $45 million. Bush’s 2004 inauguration cost roughly $40 million. But though the figures are similar, there’s been a major shift in the tone of coverage at the New York Times.

While the Times spent much of January 2005 making clear its disapproval of Bush extravagantly celebrating his inauguration during wartime, that concerned tone is conspicuously absent from the Times in January 2009, although the country is not only still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also in danger of a deep recession. The difference? Perhaps because this time, it’s the Times’s favored candidate who is readying to assume the highest office.

/well that’s fair, right?