Pundits, Get Used to It, Obama's Ahead of the Curve

During the Cold War, pundits who wanted to sound knowledgeable about the leadership of the Soviet Union waited breathlessly for the Kremlin's May Day Parade in Red Square. Then they could analyze the photographs of the reviewing stand where all the political and military leaders stood as the parade of mobile weapons and brigades of soldiers marched by. In hopes of figuring out what the Soviet Union would do in the coming year, they analyzed nuances: new medals on the chests of military officers, which political leaders stood next to one another, or who was absent from that year's parade.

We're experiencing our own May Day Parade punditry as the media speculates about the incoming Obama Presidency. In Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room, on the op-ed pages of every newspaper in the country, on the Nightly News, and on the internet, the hints and leaks from the Obama transition team are seized upon like scraps falling from the table. Each tiny morsel is turned into a meal as Democratic and Republican pundits are asked to explain what this or that could mean in an Obama Presidency.

Was picking Hilary Clinton for Secretary of State a good or a bad choice for Obama? Is he relying too much on Clinton veterans? Will he be too centrist for his leftist supporters? And on and on and on. Some commentators like David Brooks, once shrilly partisan, have now struck a more positive, hopeful note, but they have no more to go on than anyone else. David Brooks analyzes the college credentials of Obama's prospective Cabinet members hoping to make something out of their Harvard-Yale affiliation.

Ultimately even though the pundits chatter like their Kremlinologist brethren decades ago, they will just have to wait until President Obama works things out.

What comes across about Barack Obama so far is that he is a pragmatic visionary. He doesn't appear to be an ideologue as was his predecessor. Unlike George W. Bush, he has seemingly rejected governance by fiat and presumption. By his YouTube addresses and his friendly interactions with the press, he has sent a signal that he wants to be a President who will lead by engaging the public and the press. He has said repeatedly that in his pursuit of practical solutions, he needs everyone's help if America is going to achieve a visionary transformation and move past these current crises.

I would say all this definitively, based on my analyses of his 60 Minutes interview, but I don't want to be accused of being an Obamaologist.

Comments

[max08]

"Was picking Hilary Clinton for Secretary of State a good or a bad choice for Obama?"

It hasn't been announced yet.

[joeythetrollslayer]

The big difference with Obama and everyone else, is he's not going to govern from the right (abortion, prayer in schools, wealthy tax cuts, oil subsidies) or the left (gun control, unions, gay marriage, insurance/trial lawyer lobby) but from the people, especially those on his email lists. Because he really didn't take the big dollars, he doesn't have all these favors to have to pay back (like every president before him). This completely scares the establishment, and the media has no clue what is going on. If they want to report something, they better start asking his volunteers-they will be the inside scoop now. There is going to be a lot of people out of work, and they see a government that left them out to dry-from wounded army vets, to retirees on medicare, to the little guy working on the floor. The only people who are walking away from this are the crooked unethical financial guys and their fat cat bonuses, the war profiteers, and the political insiders.

[mightbesane]

Everyone, from the netroots to the MSM, is in for a series of surprises from Obama. Not since Kennedy has a new POTUS combined political savvy and raw intelligence in quite the same way. And let's not forget that in addition to giving LBJ the platform from which to expand civil rights and sending us to the moon, Kennedy also gave us the Bay of Pigs and Viet Nam. Words to the Wise (and not just the MSM): If you think you've got Obama figured out, think again.

[ohioan73]

I think the pundits will be in for a big surprise during this upcoming new administration. The American Way of changing policy from the grassroots and upwards will be enacted for the first time. We will be rebranded a nation of The People instead of a dictatorship cloaking for true democracy. This will be very exciting and inspiring for all of us. Hope that good will prevail lives when you give the steering wheel to The People as the constitution intended because the majority of humanity is good. A small group of special interest money/warmongers and preemptive striking-bullies cannot prevail in this new environment of individual power and hope for the future. Hope creates more action than fear.

I can't wait to see it. :D

[jlover]

the media is jealous .....the media HATES the internet....because they can't control it !..... NET ROOTS RULE !

[nellie]

The pundits are also going to have to learn how to respond to a President who has the public's ear more than they do.

[SMP]

well said. but, I am not sure you can teach an old dog new tricks.


I ,personally, prefer Adrianna, Keith and Rachel..they all do their research first...Truth always prevails and in truth there is substance!!!



I trust Pres-elect Obama. We all have to remember that this economic crisis will take all of us working together to create a new and solid America.

[BCubedReg]

"Adrianna, Keith and Rachel"
________________________________________

I agree with your list but would add one more name: Bill Maher.

I am just as addicted to Bill as the other three (they are the crack cocaine of political punditry).

[picnicham]

I think the Obama team are brilliant. They are feeding the media the personality soap opera they all want so much in the form of so-called leaks. Meanwhile, what they are going to be doing is tightly controlled. I don't think the media have noticed. Certainly not Blitzer. Why will anyone spend advertising dollars on the show he puts together? Number One? Gee I thought everyone that knows what he puts on is rightly called Number Two.

[bwilder]

The media is about to lose it's grip and control on the politcal agenda in this country and it
seems to be making them insane- or more insane than usual. As you said they are diving for
every scrap of food that falls from the table and then they try to turn each scrap into a
juicy rib-eye steak for all to feast on.

Obama's administration will not be led about by the media and they will find themselves having
to change course. He's not going to let the drama they spew affect his decisions and choices and
we will finally get some intelligent, useful policies that make a difference for the country.

The media has driven the social and political agenda for far too long and I for one am ready
for the big shake up that's coming. They will actually have to 'report' rather than create the news
and that will be so refreshing!!

[Leahk]

Some are trying so hard that their gossipping has reached a higher level, or is it lower? They must not have read between the lines when P-E Obama announced who whould not run the [his] White House. I did, and I inferred that the media, like lobbyists and other groups who have run the Bush's WH these past eight years would not run P-E Obama's WH. Actually, ever since the election, they have been sounding more like S. Palin or SNL particpants.

[SeanGardner]

Not only do pundits need to realize this, but so does the netroots community. Obama is not going to be an ideologically inflexible president, holding the water for a particular constituency or region over the common good. Like any public servant, he has core beliefs that he will champion inifinitum. But, in a Center-Left country where Democrats won in every region of the country, opinions and approaches throughout the spectrum need to be factored in to bring about change, and, maintain a clear Democratic Majority which makes that change possible.

I'm very much a progressive activist and thinker. But I would never presume that my beliefs constitute "the world around which all else revolves". And Obama is not going to presume that in his presidential position either. People have to remember, Obama ran a "50 State Strategy", not simply to win, and then become The President of Progressive America, or The President of Blue America. No. He ran a "50 Strategy" to swell Democratic representation in Congress and on the state level, and, because he believes RUBY Red Indiana and Idaho have just as much to contribute to the national dialouse of BABY Blue California and Connecticut.

Robert Kuttner of THE AMERICAN PROSPECT was on "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" this morning. He noted that everytime he second guesses Obama and engages in handwringing, Obama delivers.

And he will continues to deliver because he's ahead of the curve.

[ImWithThatOne]

I know you used Indiana as an alliterative example, to go along with Idaho, California and Connecticut, but you forgot that it turned blue this last election too. ;-) Just wanting to point that out to you. Indiana went for a Democrat for the first time since 1964.

[SeanGardner]

No, Idaho didn't turn BLUE. Idaho voted for John McCain, but, voted a Democrat to one of their two Congressional seats. I think its a little less RED. One can make that argument. Maybe the PURPLE argument workd better than the RED aregument. But BLUE? Not yet.

The same PURPLE argument can be applied to Indiana, but like Idaho, its not yet BLUE either.

[momof3inGA]

Wow. Best post I've read in a long, long time. Thanks for that intelligent and insightful comment. What a breath of fresh air!

[StillIRise]

There are no words to express how much I agree with all you've written. Some in the far left-wing have become a little unhinged, IMHO. Their demands for Obama to do as THEY say, and their implied threats and criticism that he's not doing what THEY told him to do, or this or that is not the reason THEY voted for him, is becoming really unsettling! It makes me wonder if they ever really understood the person they voted for. As you said, Obama ran to be the President of ALL Americans, and this in itself is Change. We've spent the last eight years enduring a partisan President who served the far right-wing and neo-cons of his party throughout two terms, leaving the rest of America virtually on its own ... and we're living the dire consequences of his presidency. This is not the kind of leadership Obama will offer to our country, nor is it the kind of leadership he campaigned on. He will be the President for Democrats AND Republicans, for left AND right and mostly center, for young AND old, for black AND white, for rich AND poor, for Christians, Muslims, Jews ... and everyone in between. Trying to lock him in an ideological box is an exercise in futility, for this is not who he, it's not who he represented himself to be and it's not what he's about. And I agree ... he's always one step ahead!

[LollieDotCom]

One step ahead? I think it's more like three to six.

[cjk002]

I agree with everything you said except for one thing: I think California is more of a periwinkle blue than baby blue.

[AliLiz]

The Media needs a re-do...now! If it doesn't change it will be left standing on the platform as the train USA 2008 moves on.

Perhaps that's the best thing for the nation. Let's just have PBS and the Net. This will work.

[LizM]

The Obama/Biden administration is about the best thing to happen to the media and their precious pundits in...forever. Finally, they will have to smarten up or become irrelevant and disappear into the dustbin of history where most of them belong. Well, that remains my fervent hope - call me a cockeyed optimist.

[richardvjohnson]

Thank you, someone had to say it. But unfortunately they won't stop. What else do they have to talk about?

[VOTER]

Right on!
This past week I thought Chris Matthews was going to blow a gasket questioning
the who, what, when and where of the Obama Administration. I expected him to
question why our President-Elect hadn't called HIM for consultation.

Meanwhile, has anyone shaken awake the White House Press Corps and told
them the Election is over and Obama won?

Just asking................

[MPeter]

David,
You are bang-on. You understand Obama. Pundits in MSM have been off the mark from the day Obama set out to run for the Presidency. They remain trapped in the old narrative with old theories that no longer apply. Reality has changed and Obama is up with the times, the media is not.