Posted by
Andrews on Monday, March 31, 2008 11:01:54 AM
You have to think the Democrats now wish the press had been a little less in love with Obama
1.
I have
said it before, but I think I need to emphasize the point that once the press develops a crush on a candidate, especially in a primary, it is bad news for that candidate's party. Think about it, and you will see it is true. Who else is going to do the necessary digging to find out if the candidate has any skeletons in his closet? His followers? The party? His primary rivals may do a little digging, but most scandals are unearthed not by the opposition, but by the press
2.
Primary races exist for several reasons. Yes, they exist to select a candidate, but that selection involves several parts. First, the voters need to see how well or poorly the candidate campaigns, in that area Obama acquitted himself
quite well. Second, the primaries exist to allow the candidates to refine their messages, an area in which Obama has not quite excelled, but apparently
said enough (or
little enough) to satisfy the Demcorats.
But the most important part of the primaries is to give the press and the opposition time to dig up anything which should be a problem for the candidate, give the discovery an airing, and see if it matters enough to eliminate that candidate from the race. And, in that regard, the press' crush on Obama has let the Democrat party down.
It still
amazes me that Obama did not take steps earlier to distance himself from Wright
3, but what is more surprising is that it is coming out so late in the campaign. Had Obama been another candidate, less beloved by the press I have no doubts that his association with Wright would have at least been mentioned, and mentioned prominently, by the press, if not before the primaries began, certainly once Obama won his first primary.
The fact that it was not, that the press ignored anything potentially negative about Obama, only hurt the Democrats. The press may have thought they were doing Obama a favor, but they were not. Had it come up after Iowa, or even before, either Obama could have addressed it earlier and put the entire issue to rest, or the voters could have decided they did not like Obama's ties to Wright and voted for other candidates.
As it is, there are now dozens of states where voters may have voted differently had they known the entire truth. There is the possibility that, should the remaining primaries go for Hillary, the
superdelegates my switch to her side, resulting in massive
voter defections. And Obama has less time to deal with this crisis before the convention, while the scandal itself, being that much closer to the general election, is much more likely to remain a factor come November.
But the Democrats should have realized this would be a problem. In everyday life, a girl will not ask her boyfriend which dress to wear, as he will say every one looks "fine". Likewise, the Democrats may not want to ask a friendly press which nominee to select, as to the press every Democrat is the next FDR. And, when they have a crush of the sort they had on Obama, their advice becomes even farther removed from reality.
So, while it may sometimes help to have a friendly press, it is more of a mixed blessing than it would first appear.
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1. The Obama candidacy was a bit of deja vu for Marylanders. Martin O'Malley was a similar golden boy in the Maryland press, and was similarly immune from criticism. Fortunately for O'Malley, he did not have the baggage that Obama appears to have, or he was better at hiding it. Fortunately for the rest of the US, HBO made such a
brilliant satire of O'Malley in "The Wire" that I doubt O'Malley has any remaining hopes of moving beyond the governor's mansion.
2. The Democrats were doubly hampered in the case of Obama, as even his rivals treated him with kid gloves. No one was looking into his background.
3. I do speculate on his reasons
here.