Why have the media been so reluctant to acknowledge Iraqi PM Maliki's all-but endorsement of Obama's Iraq plans? Only now, after three days of faux-controversy, are they getting it right.
There's the standard left-blogosphere explanation, which I think is pretty accurate: the media grant more credibility to Republicans in general and John McCain in particular on matters of foreign policy and terrorism. Obama's margin for error on these things with the press is razor-thin. McCain, meanwhile, can get basic world geography wrong and still get a pass. (For the record, I don't think McCain's verbal miscues merit a feeding frenzy -- nor should Obama's.)
This double standard is a deeply ingrained habit. It dates in its current form back to the 1980s, but really all the way back to Nixon. In the minds of the media, the principal political legacy of Nixon and Reagan, and to a lesser extent Bush 41 (who lost due to a sour economy), is the iron linkage between Republicans, an attitude of American "strength," a policy of interventionism abroad, and victory at the ballot box.
But during the past eight years, the practice of projecting "strength" in foreign policy changed. Instead of a single, rather amorphous feature of the president's foreign policy, "attitude" became nearly the whole damn thing.
Meanwhile, the quality of our foreign policy as policy -- that is, government decisions taken with some intelligible long-term strategy in mind, some understanding of the world, and some interagency coordination -- declined precipitously. Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 41 (and while we're at it, Ford, Carter, and Clinton) had their failings, but all ended up conducting foreign policies that look pretty good compared with what we've got now.
This is pretty obvious, and more an objective truth than any presumed correlation between bluster and winning elections. The public has recognized it: we're in a ditch. But in covering Obama and McCain, the media still behave as if the various strategic blunders of past eight years never happened. This requires making a value judgment, which the media can't, and won't, do. So it's very hard for them to credit Obama for foreign policy insight, even when -- especially when -- events align rather well with his policies.
The other driver here is fear. Political journalism is basically 25 percent facts and 75 percent interpretation and speculation. (Which is why it's stupid.) There is a great premium placed on seeming "out in front" of the pack in interpreting events -- but not too far out, in case the pack starts moving in a different direction. And in terms of crowd dynamics, traditional media outlets revere nothing more than their sometime foes in the conservative media. Drudge, Fox, Rush Limbaugh and the rest have the ability to spontaneously (or not-so spontaneously) align on a particular topic, creating the illusion of a populist wave. The MSM bought the Karl Rove view, mistaking this narrow intensity for broad, popular sentiment. They envy it. Consciously or not, they hew to its conventions. To give Obama too much credit on foreign policy risks a mocking, pseudo-popular backlash from the conservative media -- based on some minor Obama gaffe, say (as Jon Stewart so artfully lampooned last night) - that spills over into the mainstream.
It's all the stranger because what's coming out of Iraq is great news not just for Obama, but for the United States. Look at the Bush administration's ridiculous fumbling over Maliki's statements. Take Obama out of the picture: from the standpoint of U.S. Iraq policy, this is a very positive development. Things are stabilizing to the point where we can talk about withdrawal. Bush did something right! Holy crap! But the White House is so heavily invested in ... making Obama look bad? Military bases forever? ... that it cannot acknowledge even its own apparent success. In other words, the stated aims of U.S. policy and the actual aims are not the same, and the contradiction is tying us in knots. Alas, the media haven't noticed this obvious tension either.
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Also McCain is on the air today with ads bitching about the news media's "love affair" with Obama, which is probably about 10% reaction and 90% prevention
So I think the MSM may be coming around some.
On the other hand, David Gergen, who usually is a voice of reason (albeit center-rig
So they still have a ways to go. It'll be interestin
You know? I think you forget the whole 'bittergat
McCain has been given an absolutely free ride. No one in the MSM has even questioned his ability to lead in foreign policy even though he can't keep his basic geography straight!
No one else has their patriotism questioned either, though maybe they should...M
On top of all of that, McCain's campaign is a train wreck.
McCain is easily the worst POTUS candidate I have ever seen - bar none. The McCain campaign ought to be happy the press is looking the other way...
One last thought: Remember what happened to HRC when she started complainin
Obamas visit to Iraq gave Malaki the opportunit
event.
Let us remember Bush (if we like him or not) is still the president and head of state and his representa
Mr Obama continues to underwhelm me-His Public Relations machine is tops.!!!
And... no. We will not have bases in Iraq. No we will not.
Obama triumphs again. . . and as dusk arrives, so do the vampires of democracy!
Bush cannot acknowledg
Remember too, "conflict of interest" is just another way of saying FRAUD.
I don't either but.......
McCain's miscues have been so frequent; so often connected to his supposed area(s) of expertise; and , in some cases, so egregious, that we ignore the possible connection between them and his age at our own peril.
It was all G.W's idea to make Iraq a democracy. Those people don't know what a democracy is and care less. They know fighting and I doubt if it will ever stop over there. We have lost 4128 of our military just to please what G.W. wanted, probably knowing all the time, it would not make them a democracy and in the meantime we have lost lots of our democracy, thanks to him.
It's very unfortunat
Maliki is the PM of Iraq and doesn't need a US President to do his planning. If he is serious about a US troop withdrawal in 16 months there is nothing to stop him from imposing his own timetable. Neverthele
See: http://www
and start seeing what has happened all these years.
The book is still not out yet on what Obama can and cannot do. One term is the Senate is not enough experience to give him this accolade.
Even though I won't be voting for him, I willing to admit that he will probably be elected. We have enough blind people in this country to vote for him just because he speaks well.
When are the debates coming? I want to hear Obama speak without a pre-writte
Just a reminder. Barack Hussein Obama is not a BLACK person. He is a combinatio
His own Father said he is Arabian and I believe his Father much more that ANYTHING OBAMA says.