dear news media: pick a finger
by Ian Schuldt
Published: April 22, 2008
The honeymoon is over. As any married couple can tell you, the longer you live with the same person, the more of their little quirks you find out about, the more of their crazy friends and relatives you have to meet, it doesn’t matter how amazing your spouse is, you start to get sick of them. The reality is people are human. The more you learn about them the less magical they are.
The same is true of our leaders. This is why we will never have another leader like Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, FDR, JFK, or Thomas Jefferson. We know too much. More than we need to or want to. How many racist preachers do you think MLK Jr. knew? How many friends of Thomas Jefferson were pro-slavery? How many endless hours do you think CNN would have talked about George Washington’s “Cherry Tree Gate?”
I highly doubt any of those politicians could have been elected in the age of the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle. No wonder these men were looked upon as heroes. It wasn’t because they were great - it was because they didn’t have to deal with Wolf Blitzer. “Tonight on the Situation Room, Does Abraham Lincoln love America? We’ll find out when we ask our panel why Lincoln doesn’t wear a Red, White and Blue Top Hat.”
“A New Factor Poll asks if America is ready for a president in a wheel chair. Find out what the country thinks tonight, the O’Reilly Factor is on!” Imagine if one bad interview with Bill O’Reilly could have stopped the New Deal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to have your leaders checked out before we hand them the reigns of the country, but how does a news organization manage to go a full 60 minutes into the last debate, before the biggest primary of the season, without asking a single question that is relevant to the voters?
There comes a point where the news media isn’t helping us pick a president. They are simply trying to get ratings anyway they can. Last Friday, the front page photo on foxnews.com was of Barack Obama scratching his eye during a speech using his middle finger. The story was questioning whether he was secretly flipping off Hillary Clinton. The answer was obviously “No he wasn’t, don’t waste the peoples time covering it.” But somewhere there is an idiot who decided not to vote for Obama based on it.
This endless game of trying to find any little thing we can to ruin these candidates doesn’t help us pick a leader. It simply makes the entire country less confident in whichever one gets elected. It turns a competition to see who’s the best, into a war of attrition to see who can last the longest.
Since the mid 90s, the Internet and the 24-hour cable news programs have given us more information about our elected officials then we could ever want. Over the last ten years, our public officials have jumped through more hoops then at any point in or nations history, and what has it gotten us? George W. Bush - twice!!
We’ve done no better at picking our leaders under the watchful eye of CNN, NBC, FOX News, or Politico.com then we did in the day of 4 channels, or no channels. What we have done is create a governmental system where the only way to get elected is to put forth a fake shell of a human being and hope you can find more dirt about the other guy than he can about you.
You ask almost anyone in America if they think all these side issues about preachers and religion and flag pins and sniper fire really matter to them, and you’ll find that you get a resounding no. The problem is that until we start voicing that opinion with our votes, things will never change. You can talk about how you don’t like those tactics all you want, but as long as you vote for the people who use them you continue to create the problem.
From day one Barack Obama has tried to run the cleanest campaign he possibly can. Cleaning up the old-time politics that has plagued Washington for decades has been one of his chief talking points. But, unfortunately, that’s not newsworthy. With all the completely un-realistic reality shows out there, you can’t get people to tune into the 22nd debate of the primary with questions about the economy. The truth is, the Clinton campaign and the news media can’t find any real faults with Obama’s policies, decisions or leadership ability. At least not any that would scare voters away.
These same tactics that got George W Bush elected work because we let them. They don’t help us find the best leader, they simply tear apart the few good ones we have. People always talk about how they want our politicians to be honest and forthright, but when we finally have one that is, we let people like Hillary Clinton tear him apart. These tactics will stop when we tell people like Hillary Clinton they don’t work. If you still have a vote, send a message with it. Whether Hillary likes it or not, we need change. We need Barack Obama.
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April 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
I really like your argument, all except for that comment “As any married couple can tell you…” - and unfortunately you started your article with it.
My marriage has done absolutely nothing but get better and better over the years. I’d never want to “start over” because “things were so much better then.” Marriage is a commitment, and when you take it as such, the silly things that build on top of each other, often causing divorce and the feelings of “sick of each other” don’t rear their ugly head.
As for the news media and stupid politics - amen! “Is America ready for a president in a wheel chair?” Ha! Perfect illustration.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Your logic is as solid as it gets but it’s just a well stated wish. The media needs to sell ad space and subscriptions. Telling people how great someone is will bring in a fraction of the revenues of an expose. The fact is that your asking humanity to stop being human. Really, the advise given to voters is a waste. Barack, faced with the facts you’ve laid out, needs to come up with a more cunning approach. He’s gotta outflank the broad.