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The capper to VDH's point is missing.

"The media" per se are not actually the real issue.

The real issue is the fact that the people who are in the media are unable/unwilling to distinguish between their jobs and their personal lives (beliefs, politics, etc).

They have a personal stake in Obama that is far more visceral and religious than it is political.

His achievements are a vindication of their affection; his errors are a reflection on their judgment, and he must therefore be defended lest it reflect poorly on his supporters.

There is nothing particularly rational about this -- I seriously doubt that the media people reflect on it at all; and if they do, it's with some degree of embarrassment.

By way of disclaimer, I've experienced something like this in a much different context. It's remarkable the degree to which people can rationalize their way past glaring problems. My own experience of it is not something I look on with pride.... But at least I did, finally, figure it out.

I think we're already seeing a tiny trickle of this dynamic -- for example, somebody posted an evisceration of Obama's national security speech, posted on the CBS site.

There's probably no hope for large swathes of the reportorial class; but there doesn't need to be. Some few organizations will suddenly figure out the rut they're in and start behaving like reporters; and those organizations will suddenly start making money again. When that happens (I'd guess by next year), there's no telling what might happen.

In a real way you're correct. When I see the media contort to satidfy their loyalty to Obama I think of how the songs of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie changed overnight on June 22 1941 after the Nazis invaded Russia. Neutrality, pacifism, attacking war profiteers were all the rage in their music, but suddenly came calls for a 2nd Front, lend lease and all sorts of military assistance to Stalin. One of the interesting asides was the fact that Pete Seeger had just released an album of songs protesting FDR's policies and accusing Churchill of being a war monger as the panzers were rolling East. He had the albums pulled immediately and they are collector's items as most were destroyed.

(Thanks to the great Ron Radosh for the info on Seeger and Guthrie)