May 31, 2009
Media infatuation with Obama
Yes, so? Like we didn't know that, right?
How about the fact that the observation comes from Robertt Samuelson in IDB - an old line liberal who, in recent weeks, has really started to go after Obama for his economic policies.
Here, the long time Washington Post columnist looks at the media treatment of the president:
The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment; but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America.
Our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power. But the main checks on Obama are modest. They come from congressional Democrats, who largely share his goals if not always his means.
The leaderless and confused Republicans don't provide effective opposition. And the press - on domestic, if not foreign, policy - has so far largely abdicated its role as skeptical observer.
Obama has inspired a collective fawning. What started in the campaign (the chief victim was Hillary Clinton, not John McCain) has continued, as a study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism shows.
It concludes: "President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush during their first months in the White House."
The study examined 1,261 stories by the Washington Post, the New York Times, ABC, CBS and NBC, Newsweek magazine and the "NewsHour" on PBS. Favorable stories (42%) were double the unfavorable (20%), while the rest were "neutral" or "mixed."
About the only thing in the entire article I would disagree with is Samuelson's characterization of the press as "silent ally." That's being charitable in the extreme. There is nothing "silent" about the media's open cheerleading for Obama. All Samuelson would have to do to discover this is read his own newspaper, the Washington Post.
Still a good piece overall. Read the whole thing.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
FOLLOW US ON
Recent Articles
- The Truth About Trump’s Tariff Revisions … It’s All About 'The Art of the Deal'
- Remember, MAGA: This is No Time to Go Wobbly
- The Hill of Lies
- Trump’s Tariff Play: The Art of the Economic Reset
- Tax Cuts (and Tariffs) Need Not Be Paid For
- Tune Out the Media for What Matters
- Trump’s Tariffs Tackle Clinton’s China Carnage
- The Fruits of Trump’s Audacious Policies
- Will Trump’s Tariff Ambition Strangle MAGA in the Cradle?
- Navarro Tariffs are Too High
Blog Posts
- The Supreme Court affirms Justice Boasberg lacked jurisdiction over Trump’s deportation decision under the Alien Enemies Act
- DOGE spirit moves downstream -- to new U.S. Attorney who vows to probe the billions lost to L.A.'s homeless industrial complex
- A majority of self-identified leftists think political assassination is a societal good
- One Democrat has an idea for winning: a new ‘Contract with America’
- Kash Patel promotes an FBI agent who called J6 patriots and moms at school board meetings ‘terrorists’
- Tariffs threaten to put the nail in the ‘green’ energy coffin
- U.K. man fired for saying terrorists who murdered 1,200 Israelis are 'violent and disgusting'
- Abolish the Bar: The root of our corrupt and lawless judiciary
- Ignore Bill Ackman’s concerns; Trump’s economic plans are genius UPDATED
- A brief history of the stock market
- Top Colorado statehouse Democrat calls abortion good fiscal policy
- Wake up call for UK energy planners
- Protests for Dummies
- Maybe it's time to clean up the 25th
- Rage as a way of life