Is The Media Obama's Biggest Enemy?

One of the push back strategies regarding Obama's olympian fail is that all presidents and world leaders actually participate in trying to secure the Olympics for their nation. That's true. But who cares? Who even remembers after just a short year. But because the media can't get over its love affair with Obama everything he does takes on a larger scale.

Of course, the proposed city being his own, Chicago, didn't help him. But why wouldn't any president want to see his hometown secure an Olympic bid? It's common sense.

Unfortunately, there is nothing common about Obama when it comes to the fawning media so much a part of his governing universe. He relied on them to get him elected, unfortunately now all they do is build up attention and expectations around everything he does.

Funny that. They say what the media creates it will always one day destroy. Only this time it isn't by design. They are simply covering Obama the way they have been since he announced. And that, more than anything, may be Obama's biggest problem right now.

They say life in the spotlight can be a real bitch. I suspect a once pleased with the attention is now finding out just how bad it can be. Unintended consequences ... and a delightful irony who came to dislike both the media and Obama due to their cozy relationship. If Obama needs anything right now, it's probably a little less media love, not more. But without that, he might not have anything at all.

Comments

[John]

The New York Times is taking the Chicago loss as a chance to really slam Obama over the White House's effort with the IOC. It's been obvious over the past two months the left is getting more and more frestrated with Obama's failure to lead, but unlike on health care or cap and trade, the Times can take him to the woodshed here and not worry about it giving Republicans any amunition to fight those or other liberal pet projects.

They're frustrated with him, but it's still frustration from the left, not the right, that he's not getting things done. Like Michael Moore, the folks at the Times are hoping Obama will bang heads, show some backbone and really start sticking it to those Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats causing all these problems.

[Andrew X]

It seems brutally obvious to declare this, but this posting has suddenly really clarified something for me that I "knew, but didn't quite get".

Namely, that Obama's entire persona, rise and story is that of the celebrity. He was in large part "famous for being famous". He was the hot, fresh, good-looking and sounding new kid on the block. Like Luke Perry or something.

And what happens to virtually every, and I mean EVERY, celebrity out there, unless they truly possess immense innate talent AND are profoundly grounded with a strong streak of personal humility (which Obama ain't got on either score)?

They are torn to shreds by the same media and culture that raised them up to start with. Every time.

How many times do we have to re-live this to see its truth? Of course, we have never seen any celebrity invested by circumstances with the enormous political power Obama now holds. But the dynamic is the same, and virtually inescapable.

As an aside, soon after he was elected, I said this to many friends and colleagues who voted for him. I said, "Watch yourself - If you ever, and I mean EVER, find youself feeling sorry for your President, batten down the hatches. Because it means he is blowing it big time..... big." Did any conservatives ever really feel sorry for George Bush, much less did his adversaries? Or Ronald Reagan? I remember as a teen feeling sorry for Jimmy Carter (little did I know).

Conservatives no, but I know many of Obama's supporters are starting to feel sorry for him. "Oh, the job is SO big..... his enemies are SO mean!.... He a nice fella at heart.... how awful it must be to hold that job!......"

Uh oh. BIG red warning lights on the dashboard.

[Duke DeLand]

Speaking of MSM covering PrezBOs axx....

Could not help but note the Tampa Tribune today buried the failed effort in world news, 2nd section of the paper under the head "Rio gets 2016 Olympics!"...Then a sub head about Obama. I am sure had the effort by Obama been successful it would have been page 1 banner.

[Janet]

Why does it matter that every president goes to pitch the Olympics? Because it, um, places Obama's action in context rather than portraying it as a self-indulgent, egoistic act as you and other right wing bloggers have. Being able to place events in context is what one does when analyzing and thinking rather than lashing out.

There was nothing unusual about Obama trying to get the Olympics to home to his country. What was unusual was that the opponents of the head of state were so enraptured that their country didn't get the Olympic bid

[Andrew X]

Janet, without supporting or condemning the act of "trying to get the Olympics", that is not the issue here.

The issue is whether this whole thing, particularily how it was done and the prominence of it, was a boneheaded move, handled with appalling incompetence, by Obama and his advisors.

Nooz flash: It was, big time. Savvy Chief Executives do not set themselves up so that the rest of us can even have this conversation to start with.

And in case you haven't noticed, maybe there are a whole bunch of people who are not Americans, who seem to just plain hate Obama, because they have noticed with great clarity that he came out of this looking like a doof, and are not shy about saying it.

Here's an idea: If Obama really doesn't like being attacked by his oppostion, how about not handing them issues like this on a silver platter?

Just a thought.

[Mad Monica]

I have believed all along that this, along with the funds to ACORN, etc., have been all about payback for election 2008. Sean and Rush (I believe) have said they believe Daley had something on Obama or forced the issue. That doesn't seem too far off to me.

Wasn't it the Daley faction circa the 1960s that helped a bunch of dead folks vote Kennedy into office in the Chicago area? I suspect what we're seeing is a scramble to find some way to pay folks back for their hard work getting the new guy into the White House.

It should be really interesting to see what comes next. The sad thing is, for every claim the failure was Bush's, every pointing finger claiming racism, politics in the ICO, etc., the weaker this makes the president appear. And the man does NOT need any help with that right now. He already appears to be a tissue paper tiger facing a coming sh!tstorm of major proportions.

I just pray every day we don't have to watch more Americans die because of it. And Mr. Riehl, your comment about the Rio Olympics village needing to be an armed camp is VERY apt. If I were the Israelis, I would seriously consider sitting 2016 out. Of course that would only be necessary were there still an Israel to participate by that time... but that's another issue... sorta...

[Clavius]

I think it was Taranto who pointed out that continued positive feedback from supportive media makes one susceptible to being blind sided by reality. Reporters are supposed to be adversaries. If they aren't for a time, public figures get lazy. In this sense, the media is Obama's worst enemy, since he gets a pass on everything.