Creation of the Media
The Press Created Barack Obama
By Daniel Muniz

During the 2000 presidential election, the media bombarded the public with Arizona Senator John McCain. The press constantly referred to him as a maverick and gushed over this politician as if he were the next best thing since sliced bread. And since McCain was also willing to publicly bash Republicans and many conservative organizations as well as adopting several liberal political positions, the media couldn’t get enough of him. There were many times that the press did in fact admit to its love affair with John McCain.

Consequently, the media depicted McCain as the alternative to George W. Bush for the 2000 presidential race. This newfound popularity allowed him to believe that he could actually win the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. It also encouraged plenty of Democrats who could vote in open primaries to cast a ballot for the Arizona Republican which produced the image of viability for his political campaign.

But illusions are not real.

His support was shallow amongst the GOP rank and file and he was eventually trounced. Regardless of how badly Democrats and the media wanted to see this maverick nominated to the top of the Republican ticket, it was the GOP faithful who had the real power to decide who their standard bearer was going to be.

Although there are still plenty of elected Republican officials who want to be associated with McCain, it is only because he was constantly surrounded by a friendly media and these opportunists wanted some of that lavish attention to rub off on them. But as for the rank and file in the GOP, they weren’t exactly thrilled about one of their own who kept trashing their political values. It would be like grassroots Democrats viewing former Senator Zell Miller in a favorable light. That isn’t going to happen.

Accordingly, John McCain was nothing more than a creation of the media.

That happens all the time. The press loves extremes and they love sensationalism. If somebody has a decent biography along with being photogenic in front of cameras and he is willing to say the right things and bash the right people, then the media is going to have a feeding frenzy.

It happened in my home state of Texas in the past gubernatorial race. The national press went hog wild with humorist and folklorist Kinky Friedman. He was the perfect media darling with a big cowboy hat and a fat cigar. Kinky presented a superb image to news cameras about being a rebel. As a result, the national press couldn’t get enough of him and the major news outlets across the country flooded the airwaves with stories about him.

It was entirely irrelevant that Kinky was inconsequential in Texas. Outsiders were more interested in his candidacy than actual Texans so it wasn’t any surprise that he was trounced in the election.

The media also created former Senator John Edwards. He was a Southerner with a big smile and a congenial personality. The press thought that he was going to be the next Bill Clinton so they fawned all over him especially with the idea of another Southern Democrat retaking the White House. After winning his upset Senate victory in North Carolina, major news outlets across the country flooded the airwaves with stories about him especially about his future presidential aspirations.

It was entirely irrelevant that John Edwards also became inconsequential in North Carolina. His victory in his Senate race was a fluke because his Republican incumbent imploded. Although the media loved Edwards, his support among Democrats was shallow and worse, he still hadn’t mastered party politics like the way John Kerry did. And even as the 2004 vice-presidential candidate, Edwards was unable to carry his own home state in the presidential elections. Today, Edwards is more popular to liberals nationwide than he is in the state that he held his one term Senate seat in.

And once again, we see the same thing happening with Barack Obama. Obama captures the media’s imagination even though he has absolutely no real experience.

In fact, it was pretty amazing to see how the press completely ignored two presidential Democratic candidates like senators Chris Dodd and Joe Biden who have a plethora of experience in the Senate (two decades each instead of two years). Incidentally, Hillary Clinton should have been the media darling but she has too much political baggage that could implode at any moment.

Obama has no baggage. He is photogenic in front of the cameras and he has the perfect story to sell to the public. He too won his Senate seat by a fluke but the major difference is that Obama resides in a solid Blue state unlike Edwards who lives in a staunchly Red state. And unlike Edwards, Obama can actually carry his home state in a presidential election.

The issue about Obama is that his national support was created by the press much the same way that the press hyperventilated about McCain and Edwards in 2004.

But can a creation of the media actually win a big race?

Of course it can. If such people got to where they are at by a fluke, then it doesn’t take much for another fluke to occur.

John McCain was never a Republican powerhouse. He did have superstar celebrity status with the media but he never had that kind of grassroots popularity within the infrastructure of the GOP. The same could be said of Kinky Friedman who had the national press constantly hovering over him even though he was next to irrelevant in Texas. And if John Edwards was so popular, then why couldn’t he carry his own state in a presidential election?

Yes, the press gushes over the people that they want to win and Obama is just another such example because it was only a few years ago that hardly anybody even knew who he was. But what is most disconcerting is that the media plays a major role in politics because instead of reporting the news, they end up telling people what they should be thinking.

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