Obama's Media Army

The Wall Street Journal ^ | April 23, 2008 | Dorothy Rabinowitz

[2ndDivisionVet]

Nothing in the hysteria over last week's Democratic debate – including the unprecedented opprobrium press critics heaped on the ABC moderators – should have come as any surprise. That doesn't make it any less fascinating a guide to current strange notions of what is and is not a substantive issue in a presidential contest, or any less striking an indicator of the delicate treatment Mr. Obama's media following have come to consider his just due.

Moderators Charles Gibson's and George Stephanopoulos's offense was to ask questions Mr. Obama didn't want to address. Worse, they'd continued to press them even when the displeased candidate assured them these were old and tired questions.

- "Akin to a federal crime . . . new benchmarks of degradation," The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg declared, of the debate.

- "Despicable. . . . slanted against Obama," Washington Post critic Tom Shales charged.

- A "disgusting spectacle," the New York Times's David Carr opined.

- The questions had "disgraced democracy itself," according to columnist Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News.

The uproar is the latest confirmation of the special place Mr. Obama holds in the hearts of a good part of the media, a status ensured by their shared political sympathies and his star power. That status has in turn given rise to a tendency to provide generous explanations, and put the best possible gloss on missteps and utterances seriously embarrassing to Mr. Obama.

[Kleebo151]

Keith Olbermann is not only a pro-Obama hack, but also mocks McCAIN because of his age.

[roses of sharon]

The WSJ should have been publishing this piece every week for the last 40 years.

Have the rightwing press in NY finally awakened to their liberal media friends corrupt way of doing business?

[weegee]

People have tired of the Bush-Bush-Clinton/Clinton-Clinton/Clinton-Bush-Bush-Clinton/Clinton.... oligarchy.

And Hillary represents the devil you know as opposed to the devil you don’t know (although people have gotten a glimpse into Obama’s dark side from his own mouth in the past month).

[weegee]

The amounts were small enough to come in under the radar but every election, the Democrats are caught taking illegal contributions. Just who IS the funding constituency?

[norton]

It's a lot of fun watching the left snivel itself into a special interest clan war - but regardless of who wins this election we are neck deep in bad alternatives.

I'm wondering if the dems even want to win this one knowing that they can engineer an even worse scenario for 2012 with McCain in office.

[Biblebelter]

Dorothy Rabinowitz is a hold over from many years back when the WSJ editorial board stood for something and took some strong positions.