My wife has a habit of overusing the fad phrase of the day. Usually they are fun or cute or even clever - for a while. Her latest is "chillaxing". Frankly this one is neither fun, cute nor clever. The other phrase of the day is "Wow! Really?". This one is dragged out whenever someone overstates the obvious. Used judiciously this one can be fun and clever.
So when I heard the story of the JournoList, a list serve consisting of several hundred liberal journalists as well as others, which concluded, based on leaked entries that mainstream journalists conspired to protect Barack Obama's candidacy in 2008 my first thought was, wow! Really?
Helen Keller could have concluded that the major media was in the tank for Barack Obama and she is dead as well as being deaf, dumb and blind. I suppose there is a chance that considerate voters believed they were being fed fair and balanced reporting during the 2008 presidential campaign. The McCain campaign was painfully inept, but that does not excuse the news media literally ignoring some of Obama's highly questionable associations and positions.
These journalists checked their objectivity at the door and colluded to give the edge to Obama. If John McCain had been the equivalent of Adolph Hiltler one could understand such action, but McCain was a moderate Republican who had been a war hero and a reasonably honorable man all his life. In fact, based on Obama's associations and positions he could have easily been compared to the less than honorable, budding dictator, Hugo Chavez. To these so-called journalists a war hero and moderate Republican was far worse than any two-bit third world dictator.
Barack Obama would have been a long shot if the media had been as tenacious on his back story as they were on Sarah Palin's. Mrs. Palin was not the best choice for McCain's running mate at the time - it was a blunder (this coming from an admirer and someone who had followed her career long before the summer of 2008). The pile on she endured was way out of whack regarding her experience and qualifications for being Vice President since they easily matched Obama's for being President. This was an undeniable fact.
It seems that considerate voters have had a revelation about the media made messiah. President Obama has achieved some impressive legislative feats with super majorities in both houses of Congress. He has not, however, made a positive difference for millions of jobless Americans, including most African Americans. He has not and is incapable of making Americans feel good about their country. He is a scolder, a finger waver. He engenders no sense of certainty that our businesses or our citizens can rally around to build a prosperous future. In fact, many are uncertain he even wants a prosperous future for this particular country.
What was that you just said? Wow! Really?
CW
2 comments:
Wow! Really? One point of disagreement. Sarah Palin didn't cost McCain anything. His Moderate, "Maverickism" did. He was harder to pigeonhole than Obama. It's hard for folks to have confidence in somebody who's all over the map from one issue to the next.
Honorable? without a doubt, Consistent on any stance, hardly! McCain couldn't decide what kind of candidate he wanted to be. Right up to the last two weeks of the campaign when he adopted a more Palin-like conservatism to shore up the Republican base that was eroding beneath him.
I won't mention his support for that whacked out Immigration bill earlier in the year. Oops I think I just did.
True, Palin has better conservative creds than McCain. In retrospect she was not the right person at the time. G.W. Bush completely dismantled the liberal press when he picked Cheney. Someone with unassailable experience and mainstream appeal is a tall order, but I think it is clear now that Palin was just not ready.
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