There is something of a winge over in the Guardian by Harold Evans. Great editor though he was it strikes me that his judgement on the media coverage of Obama is wrong - in an important way. He says that Obama has been given a soft ride because he's black and attractive,
In the Democratic primaries, there was a pattern on CNN where the short news videos of Clinton rarely let you hear what she was saying, but the short news videos of Obama let his words come through. I mentioned this to a CNN editor who said, "Oh, that's our young video editors, they just find Obama more exciting."
The young and affluent liberals have been captivated by Obama's charisma, the unstated notion that electing a black man will be absolution for the years of discrimination and prejudice, and the expectation that Obama's undoubted appeal to the outside world will repair America's image. All understandable, but these emotions have been allowed to swamp the commonplace imperatives of journalism: curiosity and scepticism.
All the mainstream national outlets were extraordinarily slow to check Obama's background. And until it became inescapable because of a video rant, they wouldn't investigate the Reverend Jeremiah Wright connection for fear of being accused of racism. They wouldn't explore Obama's dealing with the corrupt, now convicted, Chicago businessman Tony Rezko. They haven't investigated Obama's pledge to get rid of the secret ballot in trade union affairs. After years of inveighing against "money in politics", they've tolerated his breach of the pledge to restrict himself to public financing as McCain has done (to his cost). Now the LA Times refuses to release a possibly compromising video, which shows Obama praising Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi at a 2003 banquet, saying its promises to its source prevent it from doing so.
Come off it! The US media is always soft on all credible presidential candidates. Maybe it is because of the undue reverence thay have for the presidency. McCain has clearly had the softer ride. It only emerged recently that he is addicted to playing crap. The only study I read of obsessive gamblers is that they are hooked on losing, they play time and again becasue they get a buzz from pain of loss. It is this, not the pleasure of winning, that they are addicted to. Has there been a proper media investigation of this as a qualification for the presidency? Or other telling aspects of the Republican candidate? I think not.
So what is motivating Evans? As you can see from the rest of the article, it is a complaint about the unfair way Hilary Clinton was treated, for example,
MSNBC ran a non-stop campaign for Obama propelled by the misogyny of its anchors
I predict we will see a sour, Democrat watch on Obama, sneering if he turns out to be the somewhat conservative candidate he has always positioned himself as being. Here is Evans again,
Let's hope the consequences of electing "the one" will be as wondrous as the press has led the voters to believe.
How generous and hopeful can you get? Could this undigested bile come from the fact that the Hilary supporters always claimed that Obama could never win and now that it seems he might are bitter with the belief that it could have been her? I remain persuaded by those who always said that she could never win. Clinton versus McCain would have re-run the wars of the sixties to his advantage.
But there is one fact that bears repeating time and again to the Hilary supporters especially when they assert that what did her down was sexism and prejudice. She made a judgement call and got it wrong. Had Hilary voted against the war she would have been the Democratic Party candidate, not Obama. It was her willingness to triangulate with war and his to put his career on the line by setting out why the invasion of Iraq was wrong that put him on the path to where he is and condemned her, rightly to the judgement of the new generation.
If he wins, it won't be the media that won it for Obama, it will be the fact that he called it right on the defining issue and then thanks to the web he could be seen and heard.
PS: On McCain being a gambler addicted to losing, perhaps this puts him in a 'win-win' situation! (Tks Antara).
