Commentary by Varrick Douglas Jr.
Since his victory as the presumptive Democratic nominee, it has been starkly apparent that Barack Obama has received a vast amount more media
Obama and McCain Fight For Media Attention
coverage than his opponent John McCain. An ongoing study by Pew Center for the People and the Press shows that Obama is more visible to the public over McCain, 76% to 11%. It was only the last week of July that McCain came close in media coverage compared to Obama according to a report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
The question here is, why is the media obsessed with Obama?
I would imagine there are many reasons for this occurrence, however I will limit my speculation to three.
1). Part of this is a conscious strategy by Obama’s campaign for massive exposure and promotion. Rolling Stone magazine did a feature article on him that practically worshipped the ground he walked on, the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman is virtually in love with him, and several major news stations covered his catwalk around the world in mid July to promote American Imperialism. His campaign team is obviously working hard to seduce the major media camps.
2). Part of it is also a conscious effort by the U.S. ruling class (the people who actually own and fund the major media camps) to excessively scrutinize him to see if this junior politician with very limited experience, can act in their domestic and global interest. Every “scandal” in the Obama campaign has been exhaustively magnified—his stint with Reverend Wright, Jessie Jackson’s infamous statement about wanting “to cut his nuts off”, the controversial satire of the New Yorker cover picture, etc. The media is obviously watching every move he makes to handle these issues.
3) All of the above I believe to be true, however the fundamental reason for the excessive coverage of Obama is ironically the biggest elephant in the room when it comes to the U.S. media’s discussion on the elections: RACE! Yes, Obama is the first Black man in AmeriKKKa to ever get this far as a Democratic Nominee. (How that happened, I still don’t know). Nevertheless, he’s there, and Black, something that he, nor the media, wants to overtly talk about, and both, in an awkward symbiotic means, do a great job of avoiding this issue. We shouldn’t be surprised though, the U.S. has a history of ignoring the race elephant since the ebb of the civil rights movement. Apparently because Blacks were granted voting rights and (overt) segregation was considered unconstitutional, the idea of racial inequality is no longer anything to speak of. And they don’t speak of it. In fact they speak directly to the results of it. Obama scolds Black fathers for not being “man enough” to take care of their children in June 2008 while the increase of unemployment of black males has escalated since the 1980’s. McCain accuses Obama of playing the “race card” because Obama said he didn’t look like other presidents on the dollar bill while no other non-white male over fifty does. It’s just not something for direct public discourse. This may be why Obama’s campaign may have employed the media seduction strategy for his election. If you have an obvious “raced” candidate who doesn’t speak of any issues regarding the matter of it, he has a better chance. This may even be why the ruling class has their media hound dogs scrutinizing every move he makes. It’s best to make sure that he is a “good darkie”; to pose for commander in chief (which might explain why the original “good darkie” Jessie Jackson, who couldn’t dance well enough for them, wants to cut his nuts off).
One way or the other (whether he wins the election or not) it’s going to get talked about and neither he, or the media, can avoid it.
A Separate (but not unrelated) Tangent
Speaking of the media and elections, John McCain’s campaign has been nothing short of a political debacle in their media relations. In June 2008, Charlie Black, one of his advisers claims in an interview with Fortune
Paris Hilton For President TV Ad - In response to McCain
Magazine, that a terrorist attack would be an advantage for McCain and the Republican Party. In July 2008 Senator Phil Gramm, one of his economic advisors told the Washington Times that America was a “nation of whiners”, and that they were suffering from “a mental recession”. He practically egged Obama to take an overseas trip that proved to be single biggest political success thus far for the Democratic nominee. And up until now, this train wreck of a campaign has simply been amusing. However, his latest blundering fiasco, which is an ad that compares Obama to Paris Hilton, is just plain annoying. This comparison is an insult to every party involved. Obama is not an air-headed self proclaimed “iconic blonde” who’s known for making a reality TV show that god knows why ever even fucking existed. And Paris Hilton is not a U.S. imperialist representative who advocates government wire tapping and plans to withdraw troops from Iraq only to place them in Afghanistan. (Well maybe, who knows). What’s worse (and intolerably aggravating) is that this prompted the brainless waste of carbon to create her own mock presidential ad (which was featured on CNN for god sakes!!). I understand that the elections of the 21st century are hardly more than a media circus for politicians to dance for the country‘s ruling class, but please for fuck sake leave Paris Hilton and any bullshit related to her, out of it!
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