As the summer extends andthe Dog Days of August approach, I find myself worrying about my Red Sox and David Ortiz's hand a little too much, and worrying to little about the poll numbers in the biggest election I've ever seen. RealClearPolitics.com has Obama only up 4 points nationally, and hes down 2 points in Florida (huge as we know) and 2 points in Missouri (called the bellwether state because its ability to predict the winner of the presidency every year since 1904, excluding one). And yet, I can't think of a single reason to elect John McCain as president (being an Obamaholic, I could give you pages upon pages of flowery prose on the Democrat's savior).
McCain is old. Hes really old. He would be the oldest president ever. He has had every known skin cancer, which on the outside doesn't seem like something that is working against him but in reality the American people are voting for their president, not vice-president (in the case of death). Hes a Neo-Con on foreign policy. He has claimed to not really understand the economy in the past. He doesn't know how to operate a computer. He has great admiration for one of the most unpopular presidents in America's history. In his one area of expertise, foreign policy, he displays both rigidity and his age; where we need a new era of world politics that combines fluidity with poise. A great example of this is his recent insistence on calling the Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, basically ignoring the 1980's and 1990's and the fall of the Soviet Union. He has a widely known anger problem that will pop up in the next couple months. And this is all before the questions of Iraq, taxation, the "War on Terror" (god am I sick of this phrase), the woman's right to choose and other issues that the American public has trouble with.
And yet hes only 4 points down, when he should be at least double digits. A big question has to be why?
I think a lot of people will jump to racism against Obama, but it is my firm belief that while this may exist, a big reason for the small gap lies at the feet of the Media. The Media, in a large sense, and 24 hour news in a specific sense seem to have given McCain a protective bubble to hide in, in his title as a "Maverick". John McCain, the "Maverick" is a straight-talker. He doesn't play the Washington political game, he doesn't seem wishy-washy on any position, he always comes down on one-side. He also is the most dedicated champion for the American military.
It's odd how McCain gained this credibility with the Media, because as we've seen in the past and recently its not true. The most recent version of the GI Bill, sponsored by Virgina Congressman Jim Webb, McCain voted against. McCain pointed to ability for the serviceman to have full funding towards college after they serve as a reason, because they would be inclined to leave the military and not reenlist. Webb, also a decorated war veteran, called McCain "full of it" (I think he was missing the sh in front of the -it).
In my opinion the Media does this to hype the election, that every non-partisan expert believes Obama should win. They need ratings. It feeds their power. And personally it pisses me off. So my response is that in the fall I will be campaigning for Obama hard, not because I think it will be very close but because I want to kick the media in the metaphorical nuts.
2 comments:
Tyler--
for the most part i agree with you. i think the mass media has a particular investment in making the election as close and interesting as possible. I personally believe that race is playing a bigger role than is seen, admitted to, and for that reason, reported on. A recent new york times article by Adam Nagourney (that i think i posted before) goes over a recent poll targeting race. something like 90 percent of blacks have a favorable impression of obama whereas 30 of whites do. now, onyl 35 percent of whites have a favorable impression of mccain, whereas something like 9 percent of blacks have a favorable impression of him. so perhaps it goes both ways--but like you said, with all of the problems the nation faces, and the lack of answers that john mccain has given to solve them, it seems obama should be favored by more than the statistics you gave us. I recently had a conversation with a particular reporter, a friend of the family, and he believed that if obama was white, he would be ahead enormously. I think at the end of the day, voters vote for who will best advocate for their interests--and the white man may provide those interests just by being the white man. no matter how old, daranged, or simply foolish he may be.
p.s., have you noticed that the republican platform continues to be that obama is "out of touch" with americans--he's elitist- yadda yadda, when Mccain litterally has $100 million dollars, or something? That's their code for he's black.
If you haven’t heard Immortal Technique’s Fourth Branch it is worth listening to. Technique shares the same sentiments as Tyler and asserts that the media essentially acts as the Fourth Branch of the government because it controls/manipulates perspective. John McCain is portrayed as an American hero because of his war efforts. Whether McCain is or is not an American hero is not relevant in my opinion. What is more relevant and disturbing is why people are put on such high pedestals that accurate critiques are considered egregious travesties. This issue with McCain correlates to American’s view on patriotism. Americans feel that any critique or objection towards the government or the country (as a personified being) is unpatriotic and therefore wrong. Of course what is most ironic about the concept of patriotism was that a patriot was originally a person who critiqued a government that was failing its people. It even says in the preamble of the declaration of independence that if a government is not fulfilling its duties it is the “obligation of the people” to instill a new government. I feel on a micro level we are in a similar predicament with John McCain. Any kind of negative assessment is misconstrued by the media as being blatantly disrespectful. As a result McCain does not get called out on many policies and statements in which he should. i.e. “Bomb bomb Iran.” I think changing mainstream media is impossible (at least in the short run) because of it is ingrained and backed my huge corporations. What we should do as Technique states at the end of Fourth Branch is “turn off the news and read.”
“Read about the history of the place that you live in and stop letting corporate news tell lies to your children.”
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