I read an interesting article on Newsweek.com citing how the media is already calling Obama a failure. (I'm not sure if this was covered already, so I'm posting it for DKos)
Usually this kind of rhetoric is coming from the Far Right, so I normally take these comments with a grain of salt. But what is troubling is that we are seeing these headlines everywhere. This bothers me to no end because I feel like they aren't really giving him a chance. And what is worrying my about that is the rest of the masses might start buying into their bullshit. You know how impressionable these young kids are nowadays...
The last couple days, I've noticed a spike in negative publicity, where the media is asking the question "Does he have what it takes?". Here's an exerpt:
Surfer that he is, President Obama should know a riptide when he's in one. The center usually is the safest, most productive place in politics, but perhaps not now, not in a once-in-a-century economic crisis.
Swimming in the middle, he's denounced as a socialist by conservatives, criticized as a polite accommodationist by government-is-the-answer liberals, and increasingly, dismissed as being in over his head by technocrats.
Luckily for Obama, the public still likes and trusts him, at least judging by the latest polls, including NEWSWEEK's. But, in ways both large and small, what's left of the American establishment is taking his measure and, with surprising swiftness, they are finding him lacking.
I think this question on whether he is doing enough or not enough is absolutely ridiculous because 1) we aren't even close to the first 100 days yet and 2) we are in a huge mess left by the last administration and finally 3) the guy has been working non-stop since day 1 to fix this huge mess we are in.
Can't we give the guy a break?
I feel like some of these media types are expecting too much. Did they actually think that he would have fixed all our problems in the first 50 days? I know I didn't. Did they think he would be able to solve everything with a quick fix? I defiantly don't expect that. In fact, I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking this mess is going to take years to correct.
I know we all joked around the election that he was Superman. I certainly would hope so. But some people seem to forget that he is just human. Plus, how much can the guy do when he has to fight tooth and nail just to get something done around here? Every time he wants to take a step forward, he's got the Obstructionists trying to sabotage his every move. And now, we have the media helping them with their goal by calling him a failure before he's even got a chance to make a difference. We never gave Bush such expectations in his first term and his election was highly contested. Why are they expecting Obama to have everything fixed already?
Personally, I find this kind of talk from the media to be dangerous. The reason obviously being that if the masses start feeling disappointed that he hasn't fixed everything yet, we are going to have some problems when the next election comes around. And obviously, the GOP will jump all over this with their I-told-ya-so's, and believe me, that's the last thing anyone here wants is to make them look like they were right all along.
I'd love to hear from you guys on the media and how they influence the masses.
You can read entire the article here:
A Turning Tide?
And a poll on newsweek:
Obama Overreaching?