Howard Kurtz: So, how ’bout that media hagiography of Obama, huh?
posted at 3:36 pm on November 17, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Note the line about mythmaking. Media apologists will dismiss the euphoria as a reaction to progress in race relations, but what’s noteworthy about Kurtz’s examples is how few of them view Obama through the prism of social progress rather than in terms of his own supposed inherent greatness as a leader. Obama as FDR, Obama as JFK, and of course Obama as Lincoln, a comparison The One’s been nudging them towards since, literally, the day he joined the race. It’s one of the reasons you can’t get through a story about Hillary as SecState without a reference to “Team of Rivals” and why USA Today felt obliged to reach for a Lincoln parallel to close its story about The One’s meeting today with McCain. Consider this a first draft of history from the “great man theory” school; no wonder our favorite liberal’s advising the GOP to go looking for messiahs of its own.
He’ll be criticized in due time when he messes up, of course, but what the current coverage does is frame him as a titan somehow qualitatively different from, and more exalted than, the usual rabble who occupy the office so that the backlash to his eventual errors will be tempered accordingly. JFK had the Bay of Pigs, FDR had the Court-packing plan, Lincoln didn’t start winning battles regularly until 1864. Just because demigods make mistakes, you see, doesn’t mean they’re not demigods.
Perhaps it was the Newsweek commemorative issue — “Obama’s American Dream” — filled with so many iconic images and such stirring prose that it could have been campaign literature. Or the Time cover depicting Obama as FDR, complete with jaunty cigarette holder…
What’s troubling here goes beyond the clanging of cash registers. Media outlets have always tried to make a few bucks off the next big thing. The endless campaign is over, and there’s nothing wrong with the country pulling together, however briefly, behind its new leader. But we seem to have crossed a cultural line into mythmaking…
[A]ren’t media people supposed to resist this kind of hyperventilating?…
MSNBC, which was accused of cheerleading for the Democratic nominee during the campaign, is running promos that say: “Barack Obama, America’s 44th president. Watch as a leader renews America’s promise.” What are viewers to make of that?
There is always a level of excitement when a new president is coming to town — new aides to profile, new policies to dissect, new family members to follow. But can anyone imagine this kind of media frenzy if John McCain had managed to win?
I changed my mind. The most interesting line there is the one about the media feeling duty-bound to resist hyperventilation — not because it proves something about press bias but because it fits so well with Obama cultists’ complacency about that creepy Shepard Fairey poster. It’s not the media that fancies itself immune to political hero-worship; it’s the left generally, forever condescending to the right about iconoclasm and the virtues of being suspicious of power. Meanwhile, they’re toting around iconography with a giant close-up of the leader over the word “PROGRESS”. When do the prayer gestures finally go mainstream?
Baseball Crank notes that The One has been on the front page of the Daily News every day since November 2. Exit question: Is there any connection, do you suppose, between Kurtz’s piece and this one?
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D0WNT0WN on November 17, 2008 at 3:40 PM
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
lodge on November 17, 2008 at 3:41 PM
Big time!
Wasn’t Kurtz a hyperventilator just last week?
CantCureStupid on November 17, 2008 at 3:41 PM
These examples of “great men” were not advertised as such until they were long out of office and usually dead.
Obama is getting this before being sworn in.
Count to 10 on November 17, 2008 at 3:42 PM
Yeah … and this never got circulated after the fact either:
Threats to Wooten concern Alaska Troopers.
This is where Wooten recieves death threats and gets reassigned. He should have been fired!
upinak on November 17, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Obama is too big to fail. The Media has too much invested in him. If History deems him unworthy, they will simply re-write history itself.
“He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.”
pseudonominus on November 17, 2008 at 3:45 PM
He’s already proved his greatness with the “first-class temperament” he displayed during the bailout mess.
lodge on November 17, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Man I thought some of our journos at The Age were bad.
This, from Howard Kurtz the Trigtruther?
saint on November 17, 2008 at 3:46 PM
It will be so much fun to watch the MSM flounder when Obama screws it all up.
Firebird on November 17, 2008 at 3:47 PM
We are witnessing the death spiral of institutional journalism.
Victor Davis Hansen nails it here: http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson110108.html
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine…
Bruno Strozek on November 17, 2008 at 3:48 PM
*shrug* (or, in newly-proper English, “meh”)
I am well beyond any reactions to the daily dose of idiocy from the neo-Pravda media. I am just resigned, at this point, to the hell on Earth they, and their idiot messiah, will bring.
progressoverpeace on November 17, 2008 at 3:49 PM
Except Lincoln was a Republican, and he paid a DEAR price for his position on Slavery. JFK was a Military Veteran- Barack Obama, has problems with his selective service record. FDR he is the reason Presidents only can run twice for the Office of President. They are called “writing devices” try comparing Obama to what those men did, people didn’t like. I am not buying what the Media is Selling, they didn’t have the Internet, back in the Day of any of those Administrations. It’s getting hard out here for a Pimp. Hustle and Flow, well it’s worked for him this far ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IqrGIOI8rM
Dr Evil on November 17, 2008 at 3:49 PM
Kurtz is right. The great mystery is how a man can be crowned a “leader” when he has not yet taken anyone anywhere. Social commentators have claimed that America’s downfall will come from its embrace of style over substance, the absence of any requirement that people, things and ideas earn respect and credibility before availing themselves of the benefits of higher status. President-elect Obama might be a great leader; we can not judge that until after he has moved the nation. Call him charismatic. Call him calm. Drape him in the mantle of all of those adjectives we use to describe esteemed leaders, but he has not yet earned the title.
bryanmyrick on November 17, 2008 at 3:53 PM
Allahpundit,
You forgot Reagan. Obama is always bringing up Reagan also. Remember his Berlin speech and bringing down “walls”?
terryannonline on November 17, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Heretic! This is why Dear Leader won’t close Gitmo and wants indefinite detention of US citizens, to deal with those racists who are divisive and are more interested in tearing people down rather than building up society.
It’s for our own good, you know.
rbj on November 17, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Hey Howie.
No. F*cking. Sh*t.
Might have been more prudent to point it out, you know, before the election. And more often.
Dawg.
Good Lt on November 17, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Barack Obama leaves out how The Southern Democrat treated folks who voted for the Party Lincoln. Voter Suppression the Southern Democrat, may not have invented it but they left their mark on the practice.
There is a race memory buried deep in Appalachia!
http://melungeon-historical-society.blogspot.com/2008/10/commentary-on-brownlows-impudent.html
Dr Evil on November 17, 2008 at 3:55 PM
This is as tiresome as Deb Howell exposing bias in her own paper while abetting it with her silence.
Can’t take these people seriously can you? When the myth becomes calamity we’ll all be sure to remind them what their hagiography has birthed.
clnurnberg on November 17, 2008 at 3:59 PM
Howard Kurtz fancies himself as Bernard Goldberg type. His show, Reliable Sources presents him as the moderate, unbiased arbitor of journalism.
Really, he’s no different than a union boss protecting his job by repurposing old hands for “new” tasks.
It’s an AP story running in ADN. How much circulation would quell your concerns?
After you’ve finished hurling insults at me and calling me a Democrat, as is typical, I hope you find within your good graces to answer my question.
It’s a simple question from a simple mind. Hopefully it will prove equally simple to reply sanely and civilly. We’ll see.
The Race Card on November 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Here come the ponderous media anal self examination stories.
Classic.
mylegsareswollen on November 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM
To update my last comment. Here is the Berlin speech. I counted how many times he said walls and it was 17 times.
terryannonline on November 17, 2008 at 4:01 PM
And surely they are visualizing without the benefit of a ’scope?
clnurnberg on November 17, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Get ready. The media will turn the Obama Presidency into one long Ken Burns documentary.
RobCon on November 17, 2008 at 4:04 PM
Well, Whoop-dee-doo……!
DL13 on November 17, 2008 at 4:04 PM
PREPOSTEROUS, I say. Don’t you know Gods are immune to the petty scientific properties of the human world? Gravity has no effect on The One.
jimmy the notable on November 17, 2008 at 4:05 PM
TOO LATE HOWARD!
Call me any name in the book, but I say we make ‘em pay where it hurts, and that is in the pocketbook, not by calling it a boycott per se, but by choosing not to spend money with the advertisers of MSNBC, GE, New York Slimes, Washington Post etc.
ReaganConservative3 on November 17, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Hitchens was right. No one can remember a single thing the guy actually says. They just know people put their faith and hope in him, for no real reason at all.
Then, of course, Hitchens did exactly that.
So it was funny.
lorien1973 on November 17, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Building-sized pictures of Obama will be popping up in Los Angeles any day now. And if you think that’s creepy and third worldish, the MSM will say you’re a racist.
And hey, someone be sure to thank Howard Kurtz for his courageous ombudsmanship on the MSM’s Obama-worship before the election. The way he pounded away on all of the stories about Obama that the MSM was ignoring, and the obvious bias against McCain, week after week, was truly inspiring. I’m thinking Pulitzer.
Infidoll on November 17, 2008 at 4:31 PM
The bigger someone is built up…the easier it is too justify you are part of a group. the “Well, everyone thought so” crowd.
It is a defense mechanism
tomas on November 17, 2008 at 4:41 PM
no shit.
I didn’t notice.
ExTex on November 17, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Since Hutch is or was a supporter of the “Saintly One” I’m curious of how media hagiography stands with him.
I think a serious question might be, how long and how much will the public stay deluded and how long will they tolerate the real Obama?
Preceded of course by the confusion of dissolution from liberal politics as usual.
Speakup on November 17, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Cults are always a big hit with the left.
Done That on November 17, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Agreed. Keep building that pedestal higher and higher, MSM, because it’s going to make Obama’s inevitable fall from it that much sweeter to watch.
Given the economic abyss that Obama is going to face when he’s in office, you’d think his worshippers in the MSM would be trying to lower expectations for him now. After all, it’s highly unlikely that his presidency will be perceived as anything but a failure 4 years from now by a public deeply disillusioned by Obama’s inability to make good on his extravagant promises. (Except for the “change” part — there’ll be “change” all right, but it won’t be the kind most people wanted or expected).
AZCoyote on November 17, 2008 at 5:44 PM
This, along with Deborah Howell’s mea culpas earlier, is just throwing conservatives a bone after shamefully being in the tank and bartering what little credibilty they had left to get Obama elected. I’m not buying it, in either sense of the word. I heard this each time Clinton was elected as well, though the MSM wasn’t as blatant then even as they were this go round. And after every mea culpa or “we went a little too far, admittedly, but please still believe us and continue to buy our garbage”, they eventually end up reverting to form. After the treatment of Sarah Palin, I want to watch the MSM slowly bleed to death.
ddrintn on November 17, 2008 at 6:19 PM
Amen. Thanks for the link.
labwriter on November 17, 2008 at 6:19 PM
I’m grateful Kurtz wrote this.
I just don’t share his confidence that reporters that are finding new love by adulating Obama are going to want to bring down President Barack King-Roosevelt-Kennedy-Lincoln.
What kind of idiot would criticize those guys?
MayBee on November 17, 2008 at 6:32 PM
The problem isn’t in reporting on every nook and cranny of Sara Palin’s life and record and problems. The problem is/was the blind eye turned toward the Messiah. A strange, even shocking lack of curiosity, wouldn’t you say? An aversion to anything that might have had even a remote possibility of bringing discredit to Obama, while trumpeting anything, however unfounded, that would make Palin look bad. We know more about Joe the Plumber than about Obama, still.
And they swear up and down they’re not out to help Democrats. Let ‘em rot.
ddrintn on November 17, 2008 at 6:32 PM
Of course they won’t. After being in the tank, how is anyone going to trust anything at all the NYT (for example) has to say about the Obama administration? The NYT-WaPo-NBC-CNN-PBS-NPR-CBS-ABC-LAT glob are the last places I’ll be looking for news. They have about as much credibility as Daily Kos or HuffPo. It’s hard to tell them apart, in fact.
ddrintn on November 17, 2008 at 6:40 PM
We need a countdown clock to the end of Obama’s presidency. Only way I am going to survive is to watch that number go down. They had one for President Bush so some Techie get to work!
Kevin in Southern Illinois on November 17, 2008 at 6:49 PM
You clearly and concisely detail the problem with a mostly liberal working press. I see that as an invitation for conservatives to get into the game. MM, Amanda Carpenter and MKH cannot do it on their own.
Of course there are conservatives reporting at the Chicago Trib, Wash. Times, SD Trib and other papers across the country. But I think new media will be our savior — as soon as we collectively learn to wrangle the Interwebs.
Being a Republican is “alternative” by default. We are the current underdog. The media cannot ignore that once we start speaking their language. That means more citizen reporters, more youth groups, more conservative social networks.
Get all up in their face…on their turf. HotAir puts Drudge to shame. Libs love Drudge, but deny it. I think many people would be converted or at least consider the right side of things if they were exposed to it in a non-adversarial context.
blahblahyadayada..rambling..ill shut up now..
The Race Card on November 17, 2008 at 8:00 PM
I think that was the nicest way, I have ever seen of anyone pointing out what a pile of BS, the Media coverage of this election cycle has been. Why won’t Howard, take the gloves off? Or anyone else who fancies themselves real journalist?
Dr Evil on November 17, 2008 at 8:21 PM
To be fair they did the same to McCain and Hillary Clinton, looks like Clinton is being paid off I guess they don’t care how it looks to the public. This tells me Hillary Clinton had a Price…that isn’t really news to anyone.
Dr Evil on November 17, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Oh, they are. It’s one of the latest memes that’s taking shape: those nasty conservatives, trying to revive their ruined party, are trying to raise expectations of Obama to an impossible level which he can’t possibly meet. I suspect that’s also one of the motivations behind Kurtz’s article.
ddrintn on November 17, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Kurtz is a nitwit. He can see the spec in his fellow Obamatons’ eyes, but somehow misses the beam in his own.
Maybe this would help.
Jaibones on November 17, 2008 at 11:39 PM
I can’t believe what I’m reading here. The VDH article was great, and the Kurtz article was simple CYA, of course all this is true. But for anyone here (especially here) to assume that means the death of the media is a joke. It has also been stated that this means the death of OBJECTIVE media, and that’s the point.
But the media will not die. In fact, if you’ve been watching, they are now stronger than ever. What’s that you say? They are bleeding readers and viewers? That may be true, but they STILL managed to get an America-hating racist totalitarian elected president without breaking a sweat.
I don’t comment here alot, but the last few times I’ve had a consistent theme. Leftists ALWAYS prevail. I didn’t say “win”, I said prevail. Because when leftists prevail, we all lose. However, this was as inevitable as the sunrise. It happens every single time. No free society has ever managed to keep leftists at bay, and all have descended (or are well on the way too descending) into totalitarian wastelands.
I don’t like to point out such things, but the stunning ignorance of historical inevitability that I’m seeing on this thread just amazes me. We, of all people, should know what’s coming. We are not blinded by our ideology as the typical leftist voter is. We should know better how to prepare for what we all know will happen. Harping about the “death of the media” is a waste of time, and will only serve to further marginalize you publicly. Me, I’m gonna keep my head down and keep voting for the good guys until they tell me my vote is no longer required or welcome. It’s really just a matter of time.
runawayyyy on November 18, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Just wait until all the Obama Kool Aid drinkers wake up to reality with the biggest hangover they’ve ever known. The Obama fervor can not sustain itself. The irrational expectations of the Left doom them to disappointment, discouragement, and despair. Give them time and they will undo themselves.
Tantor on November 18, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Does anyone think this whole cultist following for Obama smacks of “Triumph of the Will” type ‘documentaries’ about Hitler? How about those lovely ‘Stalin Loves the Little Children’ Soviet propoganda posters that were pasted up? I think conservatives all know there’s no truth in Pravda. No wonder gun sales are up. People with some familiarity with history know what’s coming. So, will Hillary share the same fate as Trotsky in Mexico?
catholic_cowgirl on November 18, 2008 at 2:57 PM
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