The Media is Not Our Friend!

It looks like at the end of the night Hillary Clinton will have picked up about 15 delegates overall. Considering Obama's 162 pledged delegate lead going into the night, the 15 delegate deficit is nothing - and it will be made up in Wyoming and Mississippi. All things considered, this was a perfectly good night for Barack Obama.

But the media will not portray it that way. They will scream "Comeback Kid" and "buyer's remorse" and "Hillary's going all the way." Why? Because the Clinton campaign badgers the media to accept its narrative. They go negative with innuendo and spin, and they feed into the "momentum" narrative. They know that the media is not on their side - to be fair, it's anti-Clinton overall - but they don't sit and take it. They work the refs and push their story come hell or high water.

It is time we did the same thing, folks. We've gotten complacent here in Obama country. We've let the media carry Obama's water, hoping that a few good Countdowns would even things out overall. But it doesn't work that way. While we don't need to sink to the level of sleaze of the Clintons, we need to be much more aggressive. We need to mock - yes, mock - the Clinton narrative of momentum as desperate and meaningless. We need to raise very legitimate questions about Hillary Clinton's fitness to lead - where are her tax returns, for example?  We need to cast Obama again as the insurgent - the outsider - who is taking on the Clinton machine against all odds.  We need to reset expectations and remind the media how improbable Obama's run has been. We need to force the media to respect us. The media is not our friend.

Yes, we have friendly voices out there, but overall the media is out there to make money. And it makes money through a long and drawn-out primary. The media doesn't really care if Barack Obama wins or not, as long as there is a story. But we need to be setting that storyline instead of reacting to whatever garbage the Clinton machine throws at us. Again, the media is not our friend. Stop assuming it will treat Clinton's Potemkin celebration today as anything more than a silly consolation prize.  It won't unless we push it.

•  Tips n/t

  Time to go on offense, folks! Not against Clinton per se, but against Clinton's bogus talking points.

  by Elrod on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 11:16:01 PM PDT

•  for a contrast

  Of the last eleven contests before this superawesome amazing comeback, three of them yielded 15 or higher delegates. That should be said again and again.

  Maryland 20.
  Virginia 15.
  Washington 26.

  I'll expect the media to put it in proper perspective... or something. Oh yeah, did I mention Obama won eleven in a row before the superawesome comeback?

  by Trips on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 11:27:41 PM PDT

  •  12 In a Row nt

    by Gooserock on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 11:46:56 PM PDT

    •  aye but

      the people who will swallow the Hillary momentum deal probably would just be confused by the Democrats Abroad thing (if that's what you mean)... keep it simple. Guess I shoulda said states instead of contests, but you get the drift.

      by Trips on Wed Mar 05, 2008 at 12:23:22 AM PDT