Big Dogs Weblog

Media Gets Tough with Obama

by Big Dog on Mar 4, 2008 at 17:51 Political

Ever since Barack Obama came on the scene he stole the thunder from Hillary Clinton. The Clintons had experienced great media coverage for years with the media holding or burying stories harmful to the clan. That all stopped when Obama became the new darling of the media. They have fawned over him and a parody on Saturday Night Live was not far off considering how he has not drawn tough questions (until the last debate) or close scrutiny even though he says a lot about absolutely nothing. It is really bad when even Democrats who doted on the Clintons for years have turned against them, media or otherwise.

Perhaps the portrayal of the media as Obama’s toadies on SNL sparked a fire under them because the party seems to be over and it would appear that Obama has been stung by the unexpected attacks. At a speech Obama took questions and the media zinged him right off the bat asking him about the secret meeting with the Canadians that he originally denied but later acknowledged. He said the standard stump answer about not knowing or going with the information he had but it gave the appearance that he lied.

Then the media began with the Tony Rezko questions. Rezko is a friend of Obama who happened to buy a piece of property right next to him on the very same day. Rezko bought the property that Obama did not want (the seller required it to be part of the purchase) for $625,000 and then sold part of it to Obama so he could enlarge his yard. This political favor coincidence has significance because Rezko’s trial for corruption started today and Obama’s name is likely to come up. The fact that Rezko is involved in corruption and has been close to Obama is not happenstance. Obama is from Illinois and is a member of the Democratic Party that has been so corrupt that it has received its own name, Chicago Style Politics.

Obama has benefited from Chicago Style Politics and that is why, as a first term Senator, he is on top the political world. He has given the appearance of impropriety with regard to Rezko and the Canadians. Even if Obama turns out to be squeaky clean, he has acted in a fashion that appears improper and for many, perception is reality. A man who claims not to be part of the old political system and who claims to be looking to the future (which all presidential candidates say, by the way) does himself no good by looking like a politician of old. He is part of the Daley political scene and that makes him part of the past, a past that is rife with corruption.

It is nice to see the media finally stop drinking the Kool Aid and start asking tough questions.

Sources:
Daily News
Daily News 2
Washington Post

Tags: attacks, lies, media, nafta, Obama, rezko