Look at what happened to Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate.When McCain first nominated her, she could do no wrong in the media's eyes.
Posted on 11/28/2008 11:58:37 AM PST by lewisglad
I'm starting to feel a little guilty about the media's treatment of President-elect Barack Obama -- and I may not be the only one.
Chalk it up to a phenomenon I'd like to call "Obama-remorse." You know how you feel buyer's remorse after you've spent a lot of dough on some big-ticket item, only to realize that you might have made a mistake? Well, it's going to happen to the president-elect as well.
Perhaps this sort of recognition prompted Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz to do an incisive piece called "A Giddy Sense of Boosterism" on Nov. 17. As Kurtz noted, the media have tripped over themselves to celebrate and cash in on Obama's victory.
NBC News is preparing a DVD called "Yes, We Can: The Barack Obama Story." ABC and USA Today are racing to publish a book on the election. HBO is readying a documentary on the campaign, too.
As I see it, the media are having second thoughts about their performance over the past year.
First, they gave Sen. Hillary Clinton the cold shoulder and all but rolled out a red carpet for Obama during the Democratic primary season. Perhaps Amy Poehler's eerily spot-on send-up of Clinton on "Saturday Night Live" helped reduce the New York senator to a caricature, making it even easier for the reporters to consign her to a complementary role.
Once Clinton was dispatched, they lavished favorable attention on Obama, as his opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain, was forced to watch from the shadows.
Yes, I'm thrilled that he won the election, underscoring the American ideal that we live in a foreword-thinking democracy, where any man or woman can rise to the highest office in the land. And I'm proud that even Obama's staunchest foes -- particularly the man he defeated, John McCain -- seem to be willing to accept his victory and pledge to help him turn around the economy and cure the nation's other ills.
Adulation Express
But I also feel guilty because I know that the media's Adulation Express -- never to be confused with McCain's old Straight Talk Express -- is going to hit a few speed bumps before it inexorably grinds to a halt.
It's inevitable. Look at what happened to Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate.
When McCain first nominated her, she could do no wrong in the media's eyes. She was hailed for her aw-shucks demeanor, in contrast to the inveterate Beltway sharpies, and her unlikely ascent to such a big job (I suspect that Tina Fey's brilliant impersonation of Palin on "Saturday Night Live" owed as much to Palin's newness as it did to Fey's uncanny ability to look and sound like the governor of Alaska. Most SNL viewers had no frame of reference for Palin, other than her speech at the Republican National Convention, so Fey didn't have to worry about competing with a hardened image of Palin).
It's inevitable, too, that Obama will eventually have his turn under the microscope. When the media start picking apart some of his Cabinet choices or his pronouncements on the state of the economy or his declarations about Iraq, he may be surprised to find that the afterglow of his stunning victory turns sour so fast.
MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Have the media treated President-elect Barack Obama too kindly for the past year - and, if so, should that kind of treatment end now that he has won the election?
This is to be expected. There’s always a little feeling of a letdown shortly after the festivities that lead to an Obasm.
Odd that all these types of “remorse’ statements come out after the election even though the candidates are the same.
I want my virginity back!
Was there ever any doubt that, as soon as the election was over, the media would immediately embark on some titanically self-indulgent, self-involved, and conspicuously public soul searching about the way they rolled over for Obama, after the heavy lifting of getting him elected was already done, of course?
Is there anything these people like to talk about more than themselves?
And then there’s avoiding the wet spot...
By treating ‘Little o’ too kindly? You actually have helped destroy a responsible citizenry by pretending to REPORT when you were actually spewing propaganda. What exactly DO you reporters think your job is, for a free press, in a free republic? Just to make sure what YOU want to happen, happens? Because you have the power? And perhaps it will sell more subscriptions.
The press and MSM were absolutely reprehensible during this election. Remorse is overdue, and a whole lot more.
Whores with this kind of mileage on them can't even get their muscle tone back.
They are getting paid back by me in cancelling my cable TV. Not a penny of my money will support these people including Fox who worked TIRELESSLY to “elect” Obama.
Post-Obasmic Reality Check Disorder.
BULL! The moment Palin was selected, the media pulled out all the stops on her. Typical liberal trying to be objective.
Ya think?!?
“this is to be expected. there’s always a little feeling of a letdown shortly after the festivities that lead to an obasm.”
the clinical term is post obasmic depression.
Hillary and her supporters got mugged at the caucuses. Not a peep from the MSM. I do not like her but it was one of the worst cases of election fraud in our history.
When McCain first nominated her, she could do no wrong in the media's eyes. She was hailed for her aw-shucks demeanor, in contrast to the inveterate Beltway sharpies, and her unlikely ascent to such a big job
I must have missed this first 5 minutes of positive press for Palin because I sure as hell can't remember any favorable or even fair coverage of Sarah Palin.
Look at what happened to Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate.When McCain first nominated her, she could do no wrong in the media's eyes.
Well, we don’t give a DAMN how you left-wing nitwitted liars FEEL. We are concerned about the disaster that is now looming for our country.
Probably Obama is not even an American citizen, let alone natural born. Certainly he is a trained Communist. Almost certainly he is a Muslim. Certainly he is a vicious race-baiter and divider. And almost certainly he will screw our allies and work closely with our enemies.
So, who gives a damn what a gang of lying media pimps feel the morning after?
That would be a big YES! Chris Matthews voiced it for them and I quote, "My JOB is to make sure this President [obama] is successful."
They seemed to be exceptionally talented at talking with their mouth full.
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