Botox redux
by Liberal Eagle
CNN's Jeff Greenfield clucks that the way Barack Obama likes to dress--suit coat, no tie--reminds him of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I find this a little bit dispiriting. In 2000, Al Gore lost at least in part because the media covered the way he dressed as if it had enormous significance, all of it a negative reflection on his character. In 2004, John Kerry had to deflect questions about whether he'd had botox.
I've been saying that, at least at this early stage, Obama is my favorite for the Democratic nomination in 2008, not because I necessarily like his policies better than anyone else's, or think he'd necessarily be the best president (though he'd look like Lincoln after what we've got at the moment), but because the press seems to love him. The Republicans will, likely as not, nominate John McCain, a man who the press, some recent negative coverage notwithstanding, generally treats as if he's a saint.
Elections can be won and lost on how the press covers you--I remain convinced that Gore lost because the press slimed him constantly and gave Bush a pass, and Kerry lost at least partly because the press gave the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth more legitimacy than they deserved. If the Republicans are going to run St. McCain, and we run someone who the press will smear (like, say, Hillary Clinton), it won't be a fair fight.
In general, the press has always treated Obama as a rock star. So I think he's the guy.
And Greenfield is just one idiot who said one thing, and I know I shouldn't make more of this than it really is, but I do worry that this may be an early sign that no democrat, not even Barack Obama, can overcome the middle-school-cool-kid-clique way the media treats democrats.
CNN's Jeff Greenfield clucks that the way Barack Obama likes to dress--suit coat, no tie--reminds him of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I find this a little bit dispiriting. In 2000, Al Gore lost at least in part because the media covered the way he dressed as if it had enormous significance, all of it a negative reflection on his character. In 2004, John Kerry had to deflect questions about whether he'd had botox.
I've been saying that, at least at this early stage, Obama is my favorite for the Democratic nomination in 2008, not because I necessarily like his policies better than anyone else's, or think he'd necessarily be the best president (though he'd look like Lincoln after what we've got at the moment), but because the press seems to love him. The Republicans will, likely as not, nominate John McCain, a man who the press, some recent negative coverage notwithstanding, generally treats as if he's a saint.
Elections can be won and lost on how the press covers you--I remain convinced that Gore lost because the press slimed him constantly and gave Bush a pass, and Kerry lost at least partly because the press gave the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth more legitimacy than they deserved. If the Republicans are going to run St. McCain, and we run someone who the press will smear (like, say, Hillary Clinton), it won't be a fair fight.
In general, the press has always treated Obama as a rock star. So I think he's the guy.
And Greenfield is just one idiot who said one thing, and I know I shouldn't make more of this than it really is, but I do worry that this may be an early sign that no democrat, not even Barack Obama, can overcome the middle-school-cool-kid-clique way the media treats democrats.
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