The New York Times on Obama and Deval -- Assume Nothing, Question Everything
Every solid reporter and editor knows the key to journalistic success: assume nothing and question everything. For successful business executives, it's a survival mantra. Educators call it critical thinking, the ability to see an advertisement, hear a presentation, read a news story with a questioning eye on what's behind the claims being made, who are the sources, who benefits, who does not, what's the context, what are the implications of the story -- in other words -- the Colbert truthiness of it all.
The venerable NYT runs a front page, above the fold, story about Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's problems in his first two years in office. It's a legitimate evaluative survey for every governor of any state. And every governor has to go through it -- in their state's newspapers.
But this story is in a national paper from New York, not Massachusetts. If critical thinking is applied, there are some reasonable questions to ask. Why this governor? Why now? Why on the front page of this most powerful national newspaper?
The 'why this Governor' is answered in reporter Abby Goodnough's opening. It's because he is "....a surrogate for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, his friend and fellow gifted orator.....He dazzled voters with a message of hope and change." Oh, by the way, he's black.
Hmmmm.
The story goes on to detail the battles this governor is having with the state's Speaker of the House, who has more power with the legislature than the newbie governor. The article gives the overall negative impression that Deval is losing the battle due to insufficient governing skills.
So, again, why this Governor? Why now? The implied logic and conclusion seems clear - guilt by similarity. Deval is Obama. Obama is all new, change and eloquence with questionable governing skills. Oh, and he's black Really?
Critical question: Why did the editors chose this governor to compare with Obama? Why not compare Obama with Vermont Governor Timothy Kaine? He's a newbie Governor in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat since 1964. He was all about change. He's also an Obama supporter. Why not him?
Has the NYT done a similar story comparing Hillary Clinton to a female governor like Arizona's Janet Napolitano or Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, both of whom are articulate, are change agents, and neither having an easy time with unfriendly legislatures? Oooops, they're both supporting Obama.
If you subtract the elements of fractious legislative relations, change agent, new voice, articulate, what's the only thing left to compare between Obama and Deval? Is it because they're both black? Perhaps the venerable New York Times is not above playing the race card. This is a critical question that needs to be asked.
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You just might be on to something here to listen to the media the last few days the race card is being played think of how many times you've heard in the last few days about Obama's distant cousins Dick Cheney and Brad Pitts. he has the unique ability to lose his color when he is in the midst of Caucasians he plays whitesideof race card and he does it naturally because that is his natural orientation. That is what makes him black man for this job at this time. Obama is not a drive-by descendent of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. He is a Kenya wind African-American who was deserted by his black father when he was two years old he had to go to South side of Chicago to learn what it really meant to be black and he could not have found better teachers than Reverend and Michelle. this man must be elected president. he was raised decent white folk like us and we can trust him.
PAHLEEEEEESE. This is the most paranoid post. You have got to be kidding me. The Massachusetts governor should be on his knees that he has the free press that the NYT article gives him, and Obama is a national candidate, get a grip, comparisons are going to be made, especially since Obama lifted much of his speeches from Patrick. If you are suspicious of the NYT, if Obama gets the nomination, just wait to see what happens!
"some of the proposals could actually reduce regulation
"since Obama lifted much of his speeches from Patrick." ??? . . . UNTRUE!
No, Axelrod did just a lot of copying and pasting
After reading this article in NYT I saw exactly how bad a President Barack Obama will be! He has copied everything that Daval Patrick and probably is just an empty shirt - Time will tell!
Yup, you know I am so pleased that nobody has evaluated me based solely on who my friends happen to be. Has anybody done that to you? Time will tell -- and I believe Senator Obama (with us at his back) will be the 44th President of the United States of America. Now, we are facing untold horrors (we don't even know how bad it is) thanks to the last 7+ years of incompetence, corruption and radicalism, but I believe Senator Obama (with us at his back) is uniquely equipped to help us solve some of the mess and make serious progress on old messes (i.e. soaring health care costs).
Hey, I voted for Deval, and my god! What an absolute disaster this guy has turned out to be. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I sure as hell will never vote for someone who has little to no prior experience like that again. He talked a good talk. He was smart and articulate, and gave good speeches. He made me think he was going to bring big changes to the office. So far, he's gotten little to nothing done, and failed to undo most of Mittens' less than popular policies. I will easily vote for someone else come next election. Talk about your empty suits.
Gee, I wonder if this post will be ironic in about two years.
You're post is ironic now. Your posts show you to be a Clinton supporter that probably should get back to TM.
I guess we can count on your vote for Obama then, since he has significantly more elected experience then Clinton. And the relative inexperience of Clinton shows in the incompetence of her campaign to date. When vote for me because my name is Clinton failed, she tried vote for me because I am a woman, when that didn't work she resorted to don't vote for him because of any lie I can make up. Clinton experience you can't trust, because it doesn't exist.
Another fellow MA voter who got snookered into Deval's message of "change". He has proven to be just another calculating politician, an empty suit, not vested at all in the state who elected him. It must say something about us Bay Stater's in how we go about selecting our governors because we have had some doozies!
Honestly, this story only has relevance or power if you also buy the idea that the fact that Elliot Spitzer is (was) a white governer from New York and a Clinton supporter who went down in a stunningly hypocritical and tawdry sex scandal that saddled New Yorkers with a HUGE legislative mess to handle in some way reflects on Hillary and Bills return to the white house.
Obama and Deval are different people and will lead differently. The color of their skin (as if I need to actually point this out) has absolutly no bearing on their ability to govern effectively OR NOT.
Likewise, Just because Elliot spitzer is white, a supporter of the Clintons, and is a liar and a hypocrit who put the state of new york at jeopardy of being led by someone succumbing to blackmail as the result of his total inability to control his sexual desires, It in no way is predictive of what the Clintons behavior and performance in the white house might be. Rather it only serves to REMIND us of what they have already done themselves. Monica, of course, the war in Iraq, saber rattling againt Iran, Cheerleading for the disastrous war in Lebanon, failing health care reform so badly that it was scuttled for almost two decades and on and on and on.
Obamas record, on the other hand, so far has been QUITE GOOD.
What was the contrived ruckus before the Texas and Ohio primaries? I remember the "kitchen sink" parable, but can't remember what was in it.
It was full of Bosnian Sniper Fire, my friend, Bosnian Sniper fire, which, if you think about it, ought to become the new national euphamism for B.S.
Tom, Tom, Tom, critical thinking? NYT?
I love this piece. Why the Spitzer story, NOW? - ANY realation to sub-prime illegalities? (I know Spitzer was a fool, but still). Why the Al Sadr end of cease fire, NOW? - ANY relation to upcoming Oct. provincial elections wherein Maliki has no support (whoops there goes our oil control puppet)?.
Current media refuse to untangle what becomes clear via appropriate questions. I am lucky to have Pacifica radio and locally KPFA in Berkeley. These questions are pondered and delved into, daily. I supported Hilary for awhile. The 1996 FCC media consolidation did not cause, but helped bring us to current pathetic 'news'. That was Bill. I hold hope for net neutrality with an Obama presidency. Maybe even restoration os habeus corpus, who knows?
Senator Obama has specifically stated that he will restore habeus corpus. Hope this helps.
The NYT has become a joke. Their shilling for Hillary, has gotten to the point of absurd.
NYT endorsed Obama.
umm, hello? They endorsed Hillary Clinton.
NYT endorsed Hillary. Get your facts right.
Guess again. The NYT endorsed Hillary Clinton.
http://www
Come on, this is YOUR candidate and you don't know the NYT endorsed her?
*shakes head*
Perhaps the reason Massachusetts voted for Hillary, despite the endorsement of Kennedy and Kerry, was they had already seen the "dazzle" of Deval and were equally un-impressed with their choice.
The Boston press has also run similar stories on Deval and he was the cover issue if a Sunday magazine..
It couldn't be because Massachusetts is so close to Senator Clinton's homestate-- or that her poll numbers in Massachusetts (before the endorsements to which you refer) were over 20-- she only took 56% of the vote by the way. No, it couldn't be this. No, it must be because Senator Obama has an identical twin who happens to have an identical brain, an identical environment growing up, an identical education -- and the infinity of other ways they would have to be identical for this comparison to have any value. Please, let us try and stay remotely reasonable!
I live in Massachusetts. It's filled with old-guard Democrats, slow to adopt to change. THAT is why Hillary won. I'm fine with him being on the cover of Boston press, he's from Massachusetts after all. Which, after all, is the point of this very insightful post.
That's exactly right. What we know and what most don't is that Barack and Deval have been calling themselves political twins for years now.
Deval is a completely ineffectual joke of a Governor.
You've been warned.
Can you say 'coincidence'? Neither can I.
The NYT should have been able to dig a little deeper into Patrick’s problems on Beacon Hill. They are not based just upon the fact that DiMasi is a Clinton advocate. Patrick must deal with a legislature and its hierarchy that have ruled the state for over 16 years notwithstanding Republican governors. The Republican vetoes were easily overridden. Those governors had been content to let the legislature rule while using the title merely for photo ops, patronage and resume filler in the pursuit of other positions. The election of Patrick has led to competition (within the same party) for leadership of the state’s government. Mr. DiMasi et al. do not like this new arrangement.
There is no reason to assume that Obama would have similar problems with Democrats in Congress. They have not had any real impact on the national agenda in decades. Obama and the new Democratic Congress will embrace each other in mutual need. Furthermore, Obama has spent much of his public career as a legislator gaining experience that will serve him well as president. Also do not be surprised if Patrick wins in the end on his casino plan as Mass. residents tire of paying to drive to Conn. and R.I. to play the slots while filling the coffers of the neighboring states treasuries and businesses.
.."..Obama has spent much of his public career as a legislator
Even though I support Obama, I don't think this article is necessarily about race. With that plagiarism controversy (which really wasn't plagiarism) everyone found out that the two are friends and exchange ideas. The fact that they are giving similar speeches implies that they could have similar methods in how they do their job. That is definitely not a guarantee, and I personally think Obama is much more competent than Patrick and would make a great president, but speculating that the apparent rush to judgement in electing Patrick could also apply to Obama is not necessarily racist. Basically, I see no problem with Clinton supporters to drawing this comparison because I think it is based on good reasons but is ultimately a losing argument.
I am curious. Is Gov. Patrick the only friend that Sen. Obama has? Is he the only person with whom he exchanges ideas? I would agree with your premise if they compared Sen. Obama with any of the other elected officials who have campaigned for him. But they chose not to do so. I would agree if they did a comprehensive article regarding the success rates of governors who were viewed as having "limited" executive experience. That would not have fit their purpose because I am sure the record is just as good as for those with a great deal of experience.
I would even give them a pass if they had put the article where it really belongs in the NYT. The front page is important real estate in a newspaper. And above the fold? Who are we kidding. They knew exactly what they were doing. It is is just a variation of the they all look alike crap. They all govern alike.
I'm actually pretty disappointed the NYT would stoop to this.
oh here goes the wailing and gnashing of teeth by Obama supporters. What is uncommon about comparing two people who have so much in common? Can't wait to see which Obamabot is the first to blame Sen. Clinton for putting the NYT up to this....
Too late. They already blamed this and every other evil in the world on Hillary. Haven't you heard? She created AIDS and bombed Hiroshima, too.
That's ridiculous. By suggesting such things even in jest, you tarnish her proud military record in Bosnia. Hey... was that sniper fire?
Really? I hadn't heard that. I did hear Senator Clinton (herself) call all of Senator Obama's supporters "delusiona
This country is bigger than race now.And the people of this country need to grow up.And maybe Obama is the best we have as a country to shape us into a New Order of the world.
And for the person with the remarks about Pastor Wright and Obama towards Jews?
The Jews I know, and its quite a bit of them, do not like their own peoples stance on equality and racism towards other non Jews.And at last I looked at this countries description?
It said WE the PEOPLE and not the few stuck up people who don't like other people in this country.
I voted for Hillery...
I'm not impressed with these racist biggots who think this country is about their needs and wants.
And I hate to say it.But Obama is the best that we got.And for the record, he's not black, he's African.Th
*snicker*
respect
That's they're beefing {:o(
Their beefing up their snarky coverage because Murdoch is thinking of buying them. I long for the good old days when the Times was a smart and daring source of information. They're fox lite now.
Murdoch likes Clinton for president. She's good for business. Think of the profit from her running as a 3rd candidate, ala Lieberman.
Oh brother...
+THE MEDIA
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