Multiple diaries and articles have been written about the fact that the media refuses to ask why Clinton cannot win Obama voters. I must say that I view these diaries with some skepticism. We all know the reason that the tm will not ask Clinton those questions. The answer is that once they ask questions like that it becomes obvious that the Clinton candidacy is really over. The media, as Chris Mathews pointed out the other night, is holding up the Clinton campaign and the idea that she still has a legitimate shot to win.
The hesitance of the media to delve into real questions is not limited to the Clinton campaign itself. It has been said several times, sparingly on pundit shows, that the issue based campaign ended long ago. It ended at the time that Clinton really lost a legitimate shot at winning. That time is right after the Potomac and Wisconsin primaries. After that point it became a series of he said she said distractions.
Think about the constructed dynamic of the race. Clinton is the establishment candidate. The accepted and bloviated wisdom is that the insurgent must fully knock out the established candidate to win. The established candidate is the default candidate. The media has perpetuated this idea of the knock out blow that forces Clinton to leave. That is why you hear the, "why can’t he close?" questions. However, the real knockout blow was the blowout wins long ago. The media chose not to recognize this and insisted that Clinton could turn it around in Ohio and Texas and later Pennsylvania. The over allowed the spin and over extended the process.
The way things have been set up if the media begins to ask those tough questions the Clinton campaign is over. There is just not a legitimate way for her to win. Therefore, the focus must remain on Obama. The media continues for two reasons then, they make more money this way and they save the real embarrassment of people finding out they do not know what they are doing. The media often talks about Obama being gracious and leaving an opening for Hillary to leave with grace. What they do not say is that that they need Clinton to use that opening to keep what credibility they have left.
How will it look when Obama is declared the nominee and people look at the race and notice that nothing really changed after Wisconsin? That is the current scenario. The media is aghast at the idea that Obama can just run out the clock. That simple and safe plan defies the constructed knock out narrative. Even though they recognize that Clinton will not catch up in delegates they need to keep the race going for their own benefit. it it too late for them to completely reverse the narrative of the campaign to one that reflects reality. All they can do is hope that something bails them out.
Most of the media people are fairly intelligent. They know Clinton cannot win. That is why they are so shocked when polls come showing that her supporters still think she can win. They do not buy their own hype, yet they are surprised that others do? It is almost like they do it just to pay the mortgage. Go on T.V. or write a column that you do not really believe because that is your job.
So there will be no questions to the Clinton campaign about there incredibly shoddy logic and vanished rationale. Those types of questions bring the Clinton house of cards down. The media just cannot have that, sorry. They have too much money and too much credibility riding on the continued process. I trust Rachel Maddow when she says that the media could still write on issues if they wanted to. They don’t and they won't.