The Press Will Torment Obama, Too

With Obama emerging as the Democratic front-runner, clear signs suggest that his press treatment will soon change and that the media will fall back into their lazy routine of critiquing leading Democrats through the eyes of Republican spin.

In Sunday's New York Times, Obama was twice described as being overly effeminate: He's an "elusive starlet" who prefers "playing the tease," while espousing a "feminine management style." Compare that to the media's portrayal of Republican Sen. John McCain as sort of a man's man, and it's obvious where those competing narratives are headed.

Obama remains vulnerable, because Republicans do a masterful job of convincing journalists that, in the end, they don't really like Democratic candidates, that they don't trust them.

Read the full Media Matters column here.