I know the media is supposed to be the governmental watchdog, but my goodness, this clip from CNN is downright voyeuristic:
This just in: Barack Obama is normal guy. Full story coming up in the Situation Room.
Why on Earth would CNN dedicate a camera crew to just follow Obama around? Is it so hard to believe that when he is not giving speeches, meeting with foreign leaders, and giving people hope that he is just regular, wealthy American father and husband?
I can only think of two reasons why Obama walking into a barber shop would merit Michael Jackson-courtroom-level coverage. The cynical explanation: those people would love to be the first ones on the scene if Obama makes a gaffe—such as if he accidentally gets caught praying to Allah or Michelle calls someone “whitey” or something. Or the “Animal Planet” explanation: they are trying to catch the candidate in his natural habitat, getting him so used to the media’s presence as to provide a glimpse into his everyday life; it’s similar to a human interest story, if the “storytelling” were reduced to “stalking.”
It is true that politicians are expected to be increasingly open to the public as cameras and new means of communication proliferate. From 1896 when William Jennings Bryan started the revolution of presidential candidates physically campaigning for office; to FDR’s Fireside Chats over the radio; to the Nixon-Kennedy television debates; and now the discussion over whether the Supreme Court may be the next target for C-SPAN’s cameras. Government officials find it either mandatory or beneficial to submit to the media’s probes (and often are able to control the terms of engagement). But following the guy to his daughter’s soccer game and videotaping him yawning, using his Blackberry, and cheering on his daughter? The guy can’t even scratch his balls without Soledad O’Brien checking in “on the eights.” Take five, CNN; there’s probably a cat stuck in a tree somewhere that needs to be covered.
By the way, my favorite part of the video is at 1:40, where Michelle Obama starts playfully slapping her husband around and you can hear the gasp of the correspondent. If a few fake bitchslaps can momentarily shock an intrepid reporter, perhaps she hadn’t noticed the daily “parade of horribles” of death and violence that comprises CNN programming.
8/7
One Comment
As usual good post. I agree with you. I believe the press is just looking for something, anything to report. It’s kind of hard for the radical far right to accuse him of something terrible or un-American, but I’m sure they’ll do what they always have done, make up something.
I wonder what a video of John McCain would be like. Perhaps showing him sitting in a rocking chair with a blanket over his lap screaming at the neighborhood kids walking on his lawn.
Maybe playing a rousing game of horseshoes or checkers in the park.
Perhaps doing what he enjoys doing, Bar-BQ in the back yard.
I’m just kidding. I’m sure he’s a regular dude too. I hope he has the chance to do all the BBQ he wants after November.