It’s not a subject likely to go away anytime soon. The US Presidential race is bringing out the worst in the profession of American journalism. It has become a situation where the leading candidate,

Senator Barack Obama, the first African-American to have made it so far into a race for the White House, not only has to watch every word that comes out of his mouth, but also every word that comes out of the mouths of every snorty-nosed reporter trying to advance his or her career.

When Obama won the first primary in Iowa earlier this election season, beating former first lady, Senator Hillary Clinton, it was a surprise to a lot of people. Iowa is a predominately white state, and the foregone conclusion was that white people wasn’t going to vote for a black man. But whether it’s Obama’s ancestry (having a white mother), his personal style, his message or a combination of all the above, plus his credentials, background, etc., his appeal to white folks as well as to Hispanic-, Asian- and African-Americans, and to young people, and people not traditionally party supporters, is unprecedented.

So what’s the problem? We’ve all heard of the unscrupulousness of the American media, purveying its corruptive influences on the minds of the susceptible, but such criticisms aren’t usually directed at the news reporting machinery. However, this campaign season seems to be highlighting the viciousness of the major news networks’ brand of journalism. It appears that freedom of speech is no longer a treasured feature of the American Dream when a candidate such as Barack Obama is running for president.

One can argue that facing an interrogation squad that calls itself a news reporting team of political analysts helps to prepare a candidate for the tough job of running a nation such as the US, which is fast tumbling from its pedestal of power and glory. Who ever inherits the task of getting American back on track has the job cut out for them. In my opinion, based on real problems in that nation; social infrastructural decline (bridges collapsing, failing schools, inadequate medical services for the poor, rising cost of living, joblessness and homelessness, among other things), America is rapidly joining the ranks of the Third World, even if no one has the gall to admit it. Just recently I heard one TV show host say something similar to that effect. Imagine financing a war with money borrowed from the Chinese? And being three trillion dollars in debt?

And one man stood up and said it is time for “change we can believe in”. Change the conduct of business at the White House;  level the playing field between the haves and the have nots; share the pie so that everyone gets a piece, not some having their bellies full to bursting and others empty, “bitter and frustrated”. But it seems that some people wouldn’t have it any other way, and any talk of change is a great threat to their establishment. And the weapons of mass destruction to any idea of change are the journalists and the media networks that uphold such establishment.

If you ask me, the real threat to Barack Obama’s safe arrival to the White House is not some lunatic with an AK-47, or an organized racist gang with a collection of OSPRs, AMP Auto Mags, Colt SSPs, HK 45s, Desert Eagles, Sphinks 3000s, Brownings, Besa Thunders, VEKTOR CPIs or any of the most popular modern firearms available to who want them. It looks like it will more likely be a media conspiracy of the worst kind. The kind that spins other people’s flaws on an innocent by-passer, creating a villain out of a victim and giving the public chalk for cheese. With a straight face.

The first of such fandanglings came about with the comments of a pastor of the church Obama attends. Analysts claim that the pastor is going to be a problem to Obama’s success because he hasn’t crawled under a rock and disappeared. When Obama called an Ace an Ace and a Spade a Spade in describing the poor folks in small-town America, who everyone knows can be bitter and frustrated with good reason, the media tried to crucify him for saying what he sees.

Then some dude who rebelled against the system in the 60’s (when Obama was in primary school somewhere in Indonesia and every youth in America back then was into something suspicious whether it was the hippy Hari Krishnas, the Black Panthers or the Weather Underground), but is now a respectable citizen serving on a board that Obama also serve on, has become a political land mine. Suddenly, Obama is guilty by association of something that happened 40 years ago. Because the news media says so.

How it will play out is anybody’s guess. Hillary Clinton’s campaign is stirring up unrest, providing fodder for the press that never gets enough of the worst that political campaigns can offer, by claiming victory in states (Florida and Michigan) that have violated their party’s rules and became disqualified in the primary delegates’ situation. But as old folks say: what don’t kill will fatten.

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Copyright © 2008 by CMS Literary Services

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