The Quest To Right The Good Ship Obama
By K. Daniel Glover | March 25, 2009
Simon says, "Blame the media." Roger Simon of Pajamas Media, that is. And he's talking about the blame for having put into power a president who lacks the experience for the job.
The media knew that but bought into Barack Obama's Teleprompted "hope and change" rhetoric. Now, well short of the much-hyped, 100-days milestone of Obama's presidency, the media seem to be contemplating annulment, or worse, a nasty divorce. Even The New York Times, a publication whose journalistic sins are heinous enough to deserve a boycott, is lobbing editorial grenades at The One.
Here's what Simon says about the Ivory Tower brigade's about-face on the president who rose to power thanks to their malpractice: "The election of Barack Obama was orchestrated by our mainstream media. They anointed him. They should suffer the consequences."
Don't be fooled, though. While some folks in the media are casting a critical eye toward Obama's bumblings as president, it's not because they disagree with his liberal policies or dislike the president.
Even their negativity is positive. Hence Frank Rich's fawning references to Obama's "charming" visit with Jay Leno -- a description that Special Olympians would refute -- and to his "full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts." Read the gushing Times coverage of Obama's press conference last night, too.
The mainstream media's goal now is not to serve as an objective and critical government watchdog; it is to get the Good Ship Obama back on the course they expected it to travel.
Remember the softball words of Chris Matthews after Obama was elected: "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work. ... Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country. ... This country needs a successful presidency -- more than anything right now."
K. Daniel Glover is a project manager for Accuracy In Media. He has worked as an editor, writer and new media specialist in the Washington area since 1991, spending most of that time at National Journal and Congressional Quarterly.
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The media’s credibility (yes, yes, I know—what little there may have been of it) is irretrievably bound up in The One: he is their Devil’s bargain, and now they can never, ever give him up. They can’t say, “We were deceived,” because they’re the ones who are supposed find out the truth and report it to us—and to admit they just tamely relayed for years a monstrous farrago of lies would mean they all need to be fired, which of course they would never admit. Can’t ever admit. They will cling to him far longer than anyone will believe possible, and lie for him to the end and beyond.
I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Media-Journalist
(with thanks in perpetuity to William Schwenck Gilbert)
I am the very model of a modern Media-Journalist,
I‘ve information biased, bogus, banal and paternalist,
I know the talking heads and every bureau puke and oracle
from A-B-C to C-N-N in order categorical;
I’m very well acquainted, too, with schedules for sabbatical,
I live to write a sentence that’s both simple and grammatical,
I’m good at leading questions, and my team puts out a lot o’ news,
With many damning facts for which, at times, fact-checking’s not in use!
ALL:
With many damning facts for which, at times, fact-checking’s not in use!
With many damning facts for which, at times, fact-checking’s not in use!
With many damning facts for which, at times, fact-checking’s not, oh not in use!
I’m very good at racial stereotyping and diversity,
I know the ‘scientific names’ endorsing this perversity,
In short, in matters biased, bogus, banal and paternalist,
I am the very model of a modern Media-Journalist.
ALL:
In short, in matters biased, bogus, banal and paternalist,
He is the very model of a modern Media-Journalist.
I’m full of mythic history, rewritten so it’s ‘relevant’;
I like my coffee caustic, I’ve a pretty taste for Volauvent,
I quote in daily articles the views of quasi socialists,
In columns I accede to notions from post-modern notionalists;
I can tell un-Dowded talking points from those in New York Magazine,
I help the croaking chorus bitch at ‘nonsequences’ unforeseen!
Then I am in a business you’d mistake for Gilbert’s Pinafore,
If not for validation, it’s a mystery what I’m in it for!
ALL:
If not for validation, it’s a mystery what he’s in it for!
If not for validation, it’s a mystery what he’s in it for!
If not for validation, it’s a mystery what he’s in it, in it for!
Then I can write a memo with Orwellian verisimilitude,
And tell you ev’ry detail of how Donaldson’s toupee is glued:
In short, in matters biased, bogus, banal and paternalist,
I am the very model of a modern Media-Journalist.
ALL:
In short, in matters biased, bogus, banal and paternalist,
He is the very model of a modern Media-Journalist.
In fact, when I know what is meant by “permalink” and “Blogosphere,”
When I can tell at sight a hunting rifle from a frogging spear,
When I know Stars’ affaires ain’t news and how our coverage went awry,
And when I know precisely what is meant by who, what, where ‘n why.
When I have learnt what progress has been made in free economy,
When I know more of ethics, real science, and isonomy,
In short, when I’ve a smattering of what is news, not punditry,
You’ll say a better Media-Journalist has never done dead-tree!
ALL:
You’ll say a better Media-Journalist has never done dead-tree!
You’ll say a better Media-Journalist has never done dead-tree!.
You’ll say a better Media-Journalist has never done dead, done dead-tree!
For my journalistic knowledge, though not firm or evidentiary,
Is what I learned in Journal’ School and really so last century,
But still, in matters biased, bogus, banal and paternalist,
I am the very model of a modern Media-Journalist.
ALL:
But still, in matters biased, bogus, banal and paternalist,
He is the very model of a modern Media-Journalist.
Sadly I must agree. Much of the recent media gyrations seem like nothing so much as an attempt to regain some traction/credibilty so that they may again steer the message.
Well, it’s a tired old refrain, but it’s still true. The press is supposed to present the public with a wide spectrum of views and vigorous debates. The press has become a class, rather than a group of business rivals, who see their job as attacking officeholders and otherwise instructing the great unwashed in how they should vote.
The only thing that will save Obama’s presidency is the same thing that kept Clinton’s from being total disaster, a Republican Congress after his second year in office. But even then it would be a tough task considering how much he’s gotten through Congress already. The news media are bathing his feet is warm water rather than holding them to the fire. And most people see to care very little for what these trends hold for the future.
Chris Matthews: “I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work. ... Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country. ... This country needs a successful presidency—more than anything right now.”
Nothing demonstrates the Leftist bias of Chris Matthews and MSNBC more than this single statement.
They did everything they could to undermine Bush’s presidency and helped create the situation we have now where the country needs a “successful” (i.e., liberal and Leftist in their minds) presidency.
Brilliant G&S parody, Stephen!
Incompetence and caring
Economic pie sharing
Puntive taxes
Executive axes
Friendly Media blaring
These are a few of Obama’s favourite things!
At what point can we start fire bombing the media offices?
Simply put, Matthews, et al don’t care about the country as much as they care about promoting Obama.
But don’t blame the WSJ. Gigot & Co. did their best to sound the alarm before the election.
Because the goal of the Times criticism is to pull Obama farther left faster, it really doesn’t help our side all that much.
Stephen—How does one do what you did above?
I will be singing it to my hubby when he comes in. Only wish this were an operetta instead of real life…
Is someone in the traditional media going to report that there is a tricycle parked outside the Oval Office? No. Becasue as mentioned above they would be excoriated if they reported the truth. And their media would be punished swiftly. And the death would be swift and bloody (that’s figurative).
I predict in about about 34 months the blinders will slip off as they become the saviors of the Republic and pick the next king. And they think the public will have forgotten their unconscionable role in this travesty.
They will have their socialism and their cake too.
Wait - Is the traitorous “MSM” declaring an end to the affair and turning on “THe One,” or is it trying to “right the good ship Obama”? I know you wingnuts aren’t known for your critical thinking skills, but come on! This is illogical even for you guys.
Objective journalism in the MSM died last year! What we have now is a propaganda arm of a soft tyranny in its infancy stage. The more media coverage Obama gets, the more he is revealed for the hard left socialist he really is. I’m not so much concerned for the honeymoon to end between Obama and the media (it never will because they stand to lose too much) as I am hopeful for all those Americans to finally wake up and realize the mistake they voted into the Presidency in 2008. The media cannot right the ship, but the American people surely can in 2010 and 2012.
Bravo Stephen #3! Very well done. The treatment could go on considerably, but the song is only so long and stands on its own.
Objective journalism in the MSM died last year!
Objection your honor, it died around the time of the Vietnam war, when it discovered it could enable a US defeat, and turn over the White House while at it.
Of course, it had died a few times before, too. To war with Spain, remember the Maine - Walter Duranty, on and on. It divorce from general news was also stoked further with its creation of Obama (glib lefty with no national accomplishments nor experience) as a celebrity candidate at the 2004 Democratic Convention. He was featured as a media weapon in the relentless 4-year negative campaign against the Bush administration. There was a second media weapon in that campaign too - one Cindy Sheehan. Remember her? Wonder what part of the Obama administration she’s hiding out in, and at what salary and percs.
Why shouldn’t the media quest to right the “good ship Obama?”
After all, if they scratch his back, he’ll scratch theirs.
Sadly I must agree. Objective journalism in the MSM died last year!
Eating disorders have always been around. But the increase in number of these eating disorders, I think, can definitely be blammed on the media! Look around you - everywhere, there are bulletins with skinny, “beautiful” models. Watch TV, commercials, movies - the majority of the women are underweight. However, since this is glorified, teens think that being skinny is what being beautiful is. Big mistake!
March 25 at 11:37 pm | #1 | Link
Official Theme Song of the Obamedia:
I’ve thrown away my toys
Even my drum and train
I wanna make some noise
With real live aeroplanes
Some day I’m going to fly
I’ll be a pilot too
And when I do, how would you
Like to be my crew
———
On the good ship lollipop
Its a sweet trip to a candy shop
Where bon-bons play
On the sunny beach of Peppermint Bay
Lemonade stands everywhere
Crackerjack bands fill the air
And there you are!
Happy landing on a chocolate bar
See the sugar bowl do the tootsie roll
With the big bad devils food cake
If you eat too much ooh ooh
You’ll awake with a tummy ache
On the good ship lollipop
Its a night trip into bed you hop
And dream away
On the good ship lollipop