This Newsweek cover piece is the starting gun of the elite pushback against what could be a new progressive era. Penned by one of the most reliable peddlers of Establishment talking points, Jon Meacham, it ignores a wealth of easy-to-find empirical public opinion data showing the country's progressive majority on most major issues, and instead essentially argues that a President Obama will have to govern America as a slightly more moderate Ronald Reagan. To Meacham, insulated in his chattering class world of dinner parties and television green rooms, America of 2008 is the same as America circa 1980 -- even as the latest presidential and congressional polls suggest the possibility of a massive progressive landslide.
From a pure journalism perspective, it is stunning that the editor-in-chief of a supposed "news" magazine is writing cover pieces that read like cheap Republican Party direct mail, and ignore empirical data. Then again, "objectivity" in the media today is defined as worshiping the status quo, denigrating popular uprisings, and serving as stenographers to power, celebrity and money. So in that sense, this Newsweek piece is -- nauseatingly -- "objective" (and yet, Meacham then wonders why readers prefer the far more empirical Economist to the increasingly unreadable - and strident - conservative agitprop of Newsweek).
The question will be how much this kind of smug propaganda emanating from media megaphones in New York City and Washington, D.C. will impact a President Obama (who will - at least officially - be in an office that is supposed to represent more than the public opinion of Manhattan cocktail parties and Bethesda fundraisers). I'm not sure - in the one chance I had to discuss these issues with Obama, he showed both strong progressive inclinations, but also hesitation to try to challenge the parameters created by the elite. And so you better believe that if we want "real change," it is going to require sustained pressure from the progressive movement - pressure that shows just how totally out of touch the Jon Meachams of the world really are.
That the elite onslaught is starting even before election day shows just how frightened the Establishment is of the electorate it purports to understand and speak for. And while people like Meacham are, indeed, out of touch -- let's give them credit: they seem to get that the potential for significant tectonic policy shifts are very real. That's why they are digging in even earlier than usual -- and why the day after election day is when the fight for the future of the country is going to go into overdrive.
UPDATE -- ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: One additional thought -- on a personal note as a progressive and a journalist, I find Meacham's piece incredibly depressing (which is, of course, the piece's desired effect on progressives), not because it's in any way accurate, but because it really shows just how conservatism and elitism is so utterly woven into the media -- to the point where basic facts are simply tossed aside in favor of status quo-serving narratives. Reading a piece like this makes me wonder if there really is any place for progressive media voices at all -- that is, it makes me wonder if all the work I put in scratching and clawing away is pointless. I don't think it is -- but man, reading a piece like that is just demoralizing.
I abandoned 'main stream' publications like Time and Newsweek a long time ago. They get more smug and out of touch with each new issue. No matter; they will adapt or perish, and I don't particularly care which.
McCain/Palin are victim's of outdated prejudices and ideas. No one in the Republican Party expected to win this year's Presidential election, but once a black man won the Democratic nomination--why the hell not try their old personal crap to demonize Obama and tap into what they thought was a greater residue of ignorance and racism in America's craw. I would hope that the white folks who realize that McCain/Palin offer them nothing wouldn't do the most unpatriotic thing imaginable--Not Vote for Obama. We can hope that enough ignorance and racism have been swallowed by the eagle.
After all, what on earth is so horrible about the "centre", that seems to send shivers of fear down the spines of so-called "progressives"?
I for one, would much rather be governed from that bland position, than be ruled over by either of the extreme alternatives.
And what about issues such as national security concerns, defence of "traditional" family values and culture and upholding the constitution? Surely you are not suggesting that these are important only to those on the right side of the aisle?
As the fabulously successful Bill Clinton discovered after his first two disastrous years in office (assisted of course, by the intervening "Rebublican Revolution") there was much to be gained by engaging your foes, and governing pragmatically, yet creatively.
In a country as equally divided politically as the United States, I suggest that, for the moment at least, the centre is the most sensible place to be.
credibility to those two mullet-wrappers for years and won't return to them, ever. I wouldn't be too concerned about their effects on the election.
you are one of the good ones.
Please keep it rollin
Love you am760
we'll tackle the impossible AFTER the election.....
quit whining. contribute. vote.
rinse, repeat.
d
"Don't let the bastards get you down."
The words of Vice President Henry Wallace in 1944:
"The really dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.
They claim to be super patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are spokesman for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjugation.”
Now I am wondering how the Republicans can claim to be greater patriots, over flag pin pettiness, when Bush has turned us into the Soviet Union - building walls, spying on citizens, strengthening the divide between rich and poor?
one if by land, and two if by sea
and i on the opposite computer will be
ready to blog, and spead the alarm
to every city, village, and farm
yes we can.
I think there will be a backlash against both the mainstream and fringe mouthpieces.
Obama will have to be careful and methodical, but an honest implementation of some of his policies will directly change these unhappy peoples' lives. It's harder to feed lies to people whose lives are getting better.