I know 99% of the people hear are going to think I'm all wet, but I find Keith Olberman's fawning praise of every major speech of the convention to be not only blatantly unobjective but totally over the top in almost Faux-Newsian fashion
I hate to say it, because Keith is on my side and folks like Peggy Noonan and Scarborough certainly are not, but they were right to be wretching into their microphones this morning over Keith's blatant sucking up. I watch MSNBC because I think its the only network that occasionally gives our side a fair hearing, which I think is all it needs to get across to most reasonable people. CNN has vacuous empty suits like Blitzer running around and Fox is Fox, but MSNBC usually does its best to present both sides (to the extent that any corporate bohemoth can, let's be realistic), and while Keith is openly partisan and hardly ever presents opposing views on his show, I do think that some of his condemnations of Bush/Cheney needed to be heard on air.
But last night, and the other great speeches of the week (Biden really had me fired up), don't really need worshipful praise to make their impact. I think there was a way to talk about masterful political theater, which it was, as well as a skillful rhetoric, without getting down on your knees. I actually think Chris Matthews has been doing a great job of this. He openly confesses that Obama inspires him, but he generally sticks to making the case how it all works as politics, without falling into the trap of thinking that you'd have to be nuts to resist it. Face it, the numbers show that roughly half this country holds views in direct opposition to us here at Dailykos, and most of them are not likely to fall for a sweet talkin' liberal. Remember what they called Bill Clinton - "Slick Willie"?
So all this fawning doesn't help Obama, because his admirers don't need it and his opponents are only sickened by it. The important thing is what do the people on the fence think, and I think they can smell partisanship from a mile away. Most importantly, he doesn't need it! Put Obama up there, let him talk, watch the audience swoon and the pictures and words speak for themselves. Please Keith, I love ya, but reign it in a little.