Enlightening comments by the NPR ombudsman last year when NPR asked Juan Williams not to identify himself as an NPR political analyst.

Williams is controversial among NPR listeners because of his long-standing contract with Fox News, which he had before he joined NPR. Currently, he appears on Fox sometimes with Bill O'Reilly and on Sunday morning with Chris Wallace. ...

Last year, 378 listeners emailed me complaints and frustrations about things Williams said on Fox. The listener themes are similar: Williams "dishonors NPR." He's an "embarrassment to NPR." "NPR should sever their relationship with him."

At the time, they were complaining about this comment, which lead to NPR asking Williams to cease identifying himself as an NPR political analyst.

"Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael (60s Black Panther leader) in a designer dress thing going," said Williams. "If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine [Ham, a conservative blogger] is suggesting, her instinct is to start with this blame America, you know, I'm the victim. If that stuff starts coming out, people will go bananas and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross."

Its important to understand that at the time, Michelle Obama was still getting grief for her "America is a down-right mean country" remarks as well as her earlier statement during an appearance in Madison, WI, where she said:

"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change."

Only a few months earlier, the New Yorker published a controversial cover portraying Michelle as a revolutionary and Barack Obama as a Muslim, doing a fist bump. Clearly nothing Williams was saying was particularly controversial at the time he said it.

Yet it allegedly attracted the attention of NPR management, possibly because of complaints, perhaps even well-organized complaints about Juan Williams' comments. At the time though, there was little they could do:

His "Stokely Carmichael" comment got the attention of NPR's top managers. They are in a bind because Williams is no longer a staff employee but an independent contractor. As a contract news analyst, NPR doesn't exercise control over what Williams says outside of NPR.

Apparently much of the left hasn't received their talking points on this matter yet, and reflexively suggest that Williams was in breach of contract. The ombudsman's own remarks should disabuse anyone of that notion. Williams concession to not identify himself with NPR while performing his duties on Fox appears to be have been purely voluntary.

Predictably, NPR was getting a signficant volume of complaints about Williams, mostly if not completely for his role on Fox News, which of course points to the Progressives who have long been engaged in a campaign to delegitimize Fox.

...in the end, NPR must decide — as it apparently already has — whether giving its listeners the benefit of Williams' voice is worth the cost of annoying some listeners for his work on Fox.

That quote, made last year, seems just as applicable today.