The media is misframing Obama

Here we go again. Much of the progressive media is playing by what it considers fair rules, while the conservative media is pulling out all the stops in attacking Obama. Responding to the whining from the McCain campaign, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other such print media went to great length to give equal space and attention to McCain during Obama’s Middle East and Europe tour—although McCain produced no real news. Moreover, a good part of the text on Obama’s very successful journey was dedicated to raising questions about his appearances and attributing motives.
McCain dared Obama to make the tour overseas, hoping it would highlight his lack of experience. The media was just salivating to find some gaffe. When he made none, the media first let its disappointment show, making the headlines for its report on the historical visit to Iraq “For Obama, First Step Is Not a Misstep,” (The New York Times, July 22, 2008). It then cast new doubt on his series of alliance building visits, pronouncing— without any evidence—that the public may view Obama as presumptuous for looking presidential! Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Meanwhile the conservative press is not preoccupied with providing balanced reporting on Obama. Richard Allen in The Wall Street Journal writes “Obama’s Experience Doesn’t Match Up.” In The Weekly Standard Peter Wehner writes “Obama, then, was not only wrong about the surge; he was spectacularly wrong.” And “Democrats, then, have compounded their initial bad judgment about the surge with reckless obstinacy.”

Worst of all, the progressive media wove into the reporting text, which supposedly gave just the facts fit to print, an attribution of motives. The most common line was that Obama was on the trip to “burnish his credentials,” to “reassure skeptical voters about his ability to function as commander in chief,” and “to counter charges that he lacks foreign policy experience.” No staffer was quoted, no memo cited, no email uncovered that showed that this was indeed the overriding goal of the trip. One may say that this was “obviously” the case, that this is what motivates all politicians. If this were true, it is hardly news. No need for reporters to travel ten thousands of miles to report that politicians act, well, politically,

Desperate to find some fault, to provide for “balanced reporting” on a series of events that was clearly a major “one-sided” success, the media complained that Obama’s speech in Berlin lacked specifics! “He was vague on crucial issues of trade, defense and foreign policy that currently divide Washington from Europe,” and “there were numerous policy pronouncements, all of them hazy and nonspecific.” Note that neither Reagan nor Kennedy provided wonkish policy lectures in Berlin during their historical speeches. And sure, it would have been truly inappropriate for Obama to lay out the details of how many troops Afghanistan needs, or what is to be done about Russia’s control of the energy Europe needs, before he moves into the White House, has access to the needed intelligence and the staff work provided by the federal agencies. Obama showed that he could appeal to Europeans, restore American goodwill in the world, rebuild American alliances, and work with our allies in the Middle East. It is time for three cheers; leave the catcalls for when he does make a serious mistake.

Also note that presidential candidates, like all human beings, have multiple motives for what they do. Obama surely cares about the issues at hand, such as the fact that the Bush war in Iraq turned Iraq into a training ground for terrorists, while their old haven in Afghanistan is falling back into the hands of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. He surely is interested in learning, first hand, what people like General Petraeus and President Karzai have to say. And he may well also wish to respond to McCain’s dare. If the media is going to enter into three penny psychoanalysis, why reveal only selfish motives and not point to the very wholesome ones?

Amitai Etzioni is Professor of International Relations at The George Washington University and author of Security First (Yale, 2007) www.securityfirstbook.com email: comnet@gwu.edu

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