When I say it, I'm a right-wing nut. Howabout when a "left-wing nut" says it?
Obama's approach to the establishment media -- the TV and radio networks, wire services, newspapers and magazines that still cover the White House -- doesn't differ all that much from George W. Bush's. As in, their correspondents are not getting much access. They are tightly managed. The White House press office doesn't say very much, and what it says isn't very revealing. What's more, it's signaling that past press rituals will not necessarily be observed. The Obama team declined to give the New York Times a pre-inauguration interview. Yesterday, the White House didn't even let press photographers in to get some shots of Obama working in the Oval Office, provoking an AP announcement that it would not distribute what amounted to "visual press releases."
I find it almost amusing that people who marched in the street because they were lied to, are shrugging their shoulders now that "their guy" is in office. With Clinton it was "just sex", now with Obama its "just lies".
The implications of the policy of deception are very interesting. In the short term, it bridges the gap between the unreasonable expectations of his political supporters and the practical requirements of national security and other considerations.
In the long term it will prove amazingly corrosive.
The most obvious repercussion is that the die-hard Obama supporters--the one's swooning at his rallies, are going to be utterly demoralized to realize that we're staying in Iraq, we're going to escalate in Afghanistan, and the internment and interrogation policies will remain the same, although the names will be changed to protect the guilty. I'm reminded of the movie "Primary Colors"--a barely fictionalized account of the Clinton's rise to political power. The Clinton's, er-r-r Staunton's loyal political operative Libby Holden (played by Kathy Bates) commits suicide when the understands how her ideals have been manipulated to help people whose goals are diametrically opposite her own.
Obama may be able to throw over that constituency (everybody else has at some point), but the media is a a whole other kettle of fish.
A Night Gallery episode comes to mind...
A man gains control of an unstoppable malevolent force which he unleashes on his enemies with great effect. However, when all his enemies have been destroyed, the beast remains, demanding to be "fed". He finds himself forced to start delivering his friends to the beast to keep it satisfied.
There are no more Bushies to feed to the beast of media talking heads, so it stands to reason that they will begin eating friends. Factor into this Obama's apparent policy to starve the animal and the dangling fruit of obvious mendacity, and you have a recipe for disaster.
