The media's job is to make Obama a great President

newsbusters.org...

Chris Matthews won't be working alone. Back in November, the Hardball host said it was his job to make Barack Obama's presidency a success. Today, another TV journalist expressed a similar sentiment. Tavis Smiley has declared that "we're all working for Barack Obama" and that "we have to help make Obama a great president."

SMILEY: I believe that he can be a great president. But only if we help make him a great president. It is not left to his own devices, it's not going to happen. We have to help make him a great president......So I believe Obama can be. I want him to be. But we have to help make this guy a great president.

When a Republican is President it is the media's job to be critical of the President, but when a Democrat is President it is the media's job to ensure he is successful?

I've known this for years, it does feel good to know you are right....I kind of feel vindicated!

Meh i'm not surprised to hear things like this. It's the media's job to cause a ruckus, to make people angry, sad or happy. They do whatever they're told by Rupert Murdoch and the kind folks at Viacom and Time Warner.

They're not gonna make or break this president, he's gonna do that himself. The media isn't to blame for George's horrible presidency...he is. The media was just there to see him shoot himself in the foot.

I listen to Lou Dobbs... and he was bashing Obama for using the politics of fear for not using his inspiring rhetoric a while ago. Dude, not all sources are biased. Lou Dobbs bashes both Republicans and Democrats. You just have to find the right source.

en.wikipedia.org...

A cult of personality or personality cult arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships.

A cult of personality is similar to general hero worship, except that it is created specifically for political leaders. However, the term may be applied by analogy to refer to adulation of religious or non-political leaders.

This describes Lord Obama to a tee. I'm watching some of these pre-inaugural rallies and it is freaking scary!

"Should we keep chanting 'Obama' through the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance?"
"The what? Obama! Obama!"

Have you seen the interviews where Bush is asked questions like, "Do you know the name of the general in Macedonia?" and other obscure questions like it was a game show on pop culture knowledge? I'm with you in expecting that same reporter to lob softballs for the rest of his career.



..............................................................................
[edit: removed unnecessary quote of entire previous post]
Quoting - Please review this link

[edit on 18-1-2009 by 12m8keall2c]

reply to post by RRconservative


No it doesn't. Not everyone agrees with everything Obama does. Do you know any Obama supporters in real life? You seem to have fallen under the GOP propaganda to make all Obama supporters seem ignorant like they're supporting a celebrity! People who are supporting are just supporting the Democratic party, not really Obama, and would support any other Democrat. Get a grip on yourself.

The problem is I do know some Obama supporters, and they can not even tell me why they support (worship) him. Using words like "Hope" Change" or saying it's because he is black, really don't count.

I would say the majority of Obama supporters are ignorant when it comes to politics. I've seen plenty of studies and questionaires given to Obama supporters to back up my claims.

A "Cult of Personality" is the only way to explain this.

reply to post by RRconservative


The same could be said about any politicians! These people are like sheep... they flock to their leader with submissiveness in everything the leader says or does. I worry more about the people that want hope and change than the ones who like Obama because of his policies. I am one of those that support him because of his policies and his political affiliation.

Excellent piece RRConvservative:
Do any Obama supporters find it curious that the Media practically drools over "Obama, the 21st Century Adonis" yet mere years earlier Bush's exercise regime was "selfish, indulgent and negligent"?

"Fair and Balanced" media my...

Originally posted by RRconservative
The problem is I do know some Obama supporters, and they can not even tell me why they support (worship) him. Using words like "Hope" Change" or saying it's because he is black, really don't count.

I would say the majority of Obama supporters are ignorant when it comes to politics. I've seen plenty of studies and questionaires given to Obama supporters to back up my claims.

A "Cult of Personality" is the only way to explain this.

Funny...I know some vehemently anti-Obama people and when I ask them why they're so much against the man, I'm met with blank stares. If they manage to utter a response, it is just the typical partisan, meaningless drivel, not a real response, just something they got off Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hanity or Bill O'Reilly.

But, I'll call your claim and raise you. I would have to say the majority of Ronald Reagan's supporters are ignorant when it comes to politics. I would have to say the majority of H W Bush's supporters are ignorant when it comes to politics. I would have to say the majority of Clinton's supporters are ignorant when it comes to politics. I would have to say the majority of W Bush's supporters are ignorant when it comes to politics. I would have to say the majority of Americans are ignorant when it comes to politics.

I would have to say that the majority of people are ignorant when it comes to politics. (And that is why the system is designed as it is.)

I've seen plenty of studies to back up my claim.

It is a bit of the "cult of personality"...and none of us are immunie to it. Republicans, Democrats, Independants, Greens and those with no party affiliaiton...none of us...and "we" (the "Collective We") have been falling into the trap for thousands of years, and will likely continue to do so for thousands to come.

And in regards to it being "the media's job to make Obama a great President." Big deal, one presenter goes on air and says something stupid...doesn't prove a thing. Now, when there is a whole news organization dedicated to disseminating that politician's party's talking points...that is a bit of a different story...but we all know that the truth is that the news media, in the state that it is in now exist solely for TPTB to manipulate the populace into further valleys of ignorance.

Every president in the last 50 years has been potrayed, by the media, as great, until there was a reason to potray them as not....for the media, it is merely about what makes the money, what gets people to watch, and what keeps them lulled full of apathy.

[edit on 18/1/09 by madhatr137]

Okay let us try and put this in a different light.... just for a minute then I will bow out.

First and foremost it IS the MEDIAS JOB to CODDLE the PUBLIC at large! I don't care who or what they are talking about its their JOB. They are told when to scare the crap out of the sheep and then when to calm them down. Look at 9-11 think back to everything that went flying past on the TV in those days. WHAT happened when they had gotten Homeland Security and the Patriot Act passed? IT STOPPED. It was then "time to morn", "time to move past"," time to look to the FUTURE". It wasn't till THEN that people calmed down and wanted a sense of normalcy back. They where TOLD it was okay to calm down so they did.

Now TODAY...we have the worst financial crisis in decades, there are wars everywhere you look, we have 2 of them that are going to heck in a hand basket , shipping is grinding to a halt worldwide, there is rouge countries talking about making nuclear bombs and on and on. So what is the CODDLING media to do?

Get us to focus on something else and using the failed past presidency against the NEW "Change we need" presidency is numeral uno. They have to get peoples spirits up, they MUST get people behind the new president or risk all out civil war with in our borders. They have to make Obama and his people look like the ones who can fix this horrid mess. If they cant we are in a world of hurt and FAST.

In the past all of this hurrah WAS about parties and who paid the most. But at this point in time it is strictly about calming the masses and trying to keep the worst of whats going on from their eyes. They already have enough on their plates and to much more will push way to many people over the edge. The media knows this it's their job to know this. They are playing the right cards at the right time. Do you think it was an accident that the recent Hudson river plane accident was spread across the waves for hours on end? Of course it wasn't it was a plane crash and NO ONE DIED IN IT. Every person who was watching it was HAPPY because everyone LIVED. It gave them something GOOD to look at. Something GOOD to talk about at the water cooler!

If you really want to catch on to this and see it in real time pay attention to how the news is being played out now. IF they have to put out a bad story it IS followed by something on the totally mundane or look be happy side. Media is all about controlling the masses and telling them what they are allowed to know without causing mass panic. Right now to keep people from panicking about the state of affairs they have to kick up the happy factor and get people behind the new Government. If they CAN people will feel more secure in the short run and if they keep it up they will keep a mass panic from happening from the east coast to the west coast! It is that simple and it has nothing to do with who supports who right now. It has to do with keeping our society from completely crumbling into a mass of hysteria and absolute civil war.

It's the media's job to make him a great president?

That's scary. If he were truly going to be a good president, he wouldn't need the media to do what they do best.

Spin lies.

reply to post by xoxo stacie


Pretty much exactly what I was trying to say at the end of my post, but said much better than I was able.

Information is power.

[edit on 18/1/09 by madhatr137]

reply to post by RRconservative

What a load of BULL!!!! The function of the media should be to simply report the facts in a unbiased way and inform the reader without the spin without being pro- administration or lobbying groups like AIPAC or corporate interests groups.
The reason Americans are in the mess they are in now is because they have been lied too by the press the news media the leadership of this country for years. We as a people have been marginalized as insequential factors in the greater equation of of human determinism and free will which is our legal right under the original constitution of the United States we are considered too stupid to make informed decisions or draw conclusions for ourselves. They , the people behind the people who tell you what to think, fear the massess.

I'm no fan of McCain and didn't fall for the hype of 'change'.

What happened during the primary/election season this past year was downright frightening! Sure, once Hillary threw her hat in the race it seemed like she'd be the chosen one. But then something happened...Obama won the first primary.

&, in comparison, Hillary leaned far more to the right than McCain in many ways! Even Ann Coulter (who I'm no fan of!) said she'd vote for Hillary over McCain if it came down to the two of them.

Check out the videos on howobamagotelected.com

Classic perception becoming reality! "Which candidate said she could see Russia from her house?" Of course Tina Fey said this, but when repeated over and over, by Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow etc etc it then becomes true.

And stay tuned for Bernie Goldberg's new book, "A Slobbering Love Affair Starring Barack Obama, the True and Pathetic Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media"