Kurtz: Expectations for Obama are “Out of Control”
By Don | November 18, 2008
Excerpts from Howard Kurtz’sweekly online chat on the media.
Reston, Va.: Howie, thank you, thank you, thank you for today’s column.
I was flabbergasted last week when I saw two Newsweek.com headlines asking if Obama could save the print media and capitalism itself.
It may be that putting Barack on a pedestal of monumental expectations may spur him to greatness, but it may also set him up as the disappointer-in-chief.
If Chris Matthews (and other fawning “journalists”) wants to do all he can to help Barack succeed, shouldn’t he be tamping down expectations as soon as humanly possible?
Howard Kurtz: I do think the expectations for Obama are out of control, that no human being, no matter how smart and talented, could fulfill them. I think the president-elect and his team recognize this dilemma. In the final weeks of the campaign and since the election, we’ve heard him emphasize how there are great challenges ahead, it’s going to take time to tackle them, and otherwise signaling that no one should expect instant results.
New York, N.Y.: In your Media Notes piece today, you worry and fret over the excitement that Obama’s win has caused. You go on to suggest (though never really support with facts) the idea that journalism guidelines have been violated in the process. But I for one found your examples to be exceedingly thin: in fact, you can apparently only point to some ‘opinion’ writers who used too many “eye-popping superlatives” to describe the Obama win. How come you didn’t use any actual news reporting examples of unseemly devotion or Obama water carrying? Couldn’t you find any?
Howard Kurtz: Are you serious? In the space of four days, Time runs a cover story likening Obama to FDR and Newsweek runs a cover story likening him to Lincoln?
Besides, my point goes well beyond news coverage. It’s the cultural coverage of Obama (who has just been named GQ’s Man of the Year) and Michelle (America’s new fashion icon) and the kids (where will they go to school and what kind of dog will they get?) that is taking them into another stratosphere, and being milked for profit by some organizations.
As I wrote this morning, I don’t see anything wrong with the country coming together behind a new president. If you weren’t stirred by the sight of an African-American winning the nation’s highest office, regardless of your politics, you don’t have a heart. But journalists are supposed to maintain some degree of skepticism.
Obama has raised the bar very high by creating the impression that he will be able to solve all of our nation’s ills. Now that he has won he will have to deliver and that won’t be easy even with a Democratically controlled congress.
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