how obama got elected

one thing that was clear during this campaign was that the media was very instrumental in getting obama elected. there is a "cult of personality" around the man that makes it so many people refuse to see anything that might be of concern about him, no matter how true the point of concern may be.

i had a discussion right after the election with an obama supporter who emphatically told me "barak obama *IS* the greatest president of [his] lifetime!" this is a man who is 60 years old, teaches college and has considered himself an independent voter his whole life.

i was a bit shocked at his insistence about how great obama *IS* as a president since obama hasn't actually done anything yet (as president or even as senator or even as state senator).

in our conversation, my friend asked me what i thought about sarah palin whom he clearly didn't like and/or thought was a joke. i wasn't surprised because if you saw the media coverage of palin, you knew the media wasn't impressed with her. she appeared to have less than stellar performances in 2 interviews where the most unflattering excerpts were replayed tirelessly. i told my friend that i like palin because a) she has a huge record as a reformer against oil lobbyists and even against her own party in alaska and b) she wasn't a career politician or washington insider.

my friend looked pensive as if he had never thought about those things and then said puzzingly, "i wonder why they didn't really stress those points about her during the campaign?!"

"yeah, that's a very good question", i told him and waited for him to see the obvious. then i prodded him by asking "how were they supposed to get that message out?"

he immediately replied with an ethereal "they just need to say it and it'll get reported."

once again i was a bit shocked. clearly my friend hasn't learned to be skeptical of the media filter that gets applied to all issues (especially political issues) and as a result it was just puzzling to him why the republicans didn't stress sarah palins record as a reformer. the obvious to me is that it was the media who swept her record under the rug as they focused on things like her wardrobe and pregnant daughter.

i did get my friend to admit that the media did "seem to lean a bit for obama" which i considered to be a huge understatement but at least it was something to work with.

in that vein, there is a forthcoming documentary about this very issue entitled Media Malpractice... How Obama Got Elected. the trailer has to be seen to be believed. make sure to look at the zogby poll results as well.

(p.s. yes, i have concerns about an obama presidency based on his rhetorical record. you have to based any predictions of an obama presidency on his rhetorical record because he has no legislative record to speak of. his rhetorical record, however, should be a point of concern to everyone. i'll expound more on this subject in another post.)