"The US News Media" - The Threat to Obama's Presidency-By Robert Parry

[kpete]

The Threat to Obama's Presidency

By Robert Parry
March 9, 2009

Less than two months into Barack Obama’s presidency, it has become clear that the top threat to his ability to accomplish his goals – from reversing the recession to reforming health care to building a greener economy – is not just an obstructionist Republican Party but a U.S. news media that remains largely tilted to the Right.

There is the powerful right-wing media – with its many outlets in print, radio, TV and the Internet – but also a mainstream/corporate media that can’t escape the old dynamic of framing stories negatively about Democrats and granting Republicans every benefit of the doubt.

So, when Obama pushed for a $787 billion stimulus plan, it was treated as too big and too bloated – at least until the new GDP and unemployment numbers came in and suddenly the package was too small and too modest.

When the New York Times and the Washington Post wrote about the stunning 6.2 percent decline in the gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2008, their stories focused on Obama’s policy failures, without mentioning that George W. Bush was President throughout the fourth quarter.

Mainstream pundits also are echoing the view from the right-wing media – and from CNBC’s business boosters – that Obama has become “the great wealth destroyer” because of the stock market drop from the Nov. 4 election to today.

Left out of many of these commentaries is the fact that the sharp declines were already underway and were clearly the result of the Wall Street financial crisis that occurred under Bush.

Simply put, Obama is taking the heat for today’s economic catastrophe -- and that will inevitably erode his ability to govern. Ex-President Bush continues to be pampered, much as he was for most of his eight years as President.

more at:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/030909.html

[spanone]

1. k&r

[Atman]

11. Too bad you couldn't find three people outside of DU who know what the hell CN is.

I mean, really. GREAT article. But ask your friends at work tomorrow (oops, sorry...that was insensitive, and assume most of you are still working)...ask them what "Consortium News" is.

BZZZZZT. Nope, sorry.

Great article, though.

.

[Subdivisions]

30. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw that

the source was CN: 'Welp, great article but who's going to see it besides us?'

[Mike 03]

2. Great post, Kick and Rec. NT

[Supersedeas]

39. yes it is... spot on

[DJ13]

3. K&R

[rwheeler31]

4. The owners of th media are crap.

There are many talented people out there.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. This country should not be owned by the media we vote for our reps not media

when the Berlin wall fell and when the eastern European countries fell the first thing they did almost was take over the TV and radio stations. I wish.

[burythehatchet]

6. Sadly, Obama is near losing his liberal base as well because of his centrism.

I can guarantee you right now that he will not have a second term.

[vadawg]

8. yup unless there is a stunning turnaround, i tend to concur

[Cha]

16. Enough of your stupid

negativity. You can't guarantee us shit.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Hope Mobile]

47. OK Rove says Obama's popularity is average but that's just not true.

Moderates and liberals are nowhere near abandoning him. We all know that he's a heck of a lot better than the alternative and he's doing a lot more to make liberals happy than he was at first. He's a lot less concerned now than he was about appearing bipartisan.

[ohheckyeah]

18. ?????

I find it absolutely amazing how quickly some of the Obama supporters are turning on him. He certainly wasn't my first choice but I certainly am willing to give the man a chance. He's in a hellish position not of his making and if he fails the country fails to economically recover. Anybody who thought the economy would recover quickly was living in a dream world.

Why are so many of his previous supporters turning on him? I don't understand.

[burythehatchet]

22. Larry Summer

Tim Geithner
DLC Rahm
Defending John Yoo
More troops to Afghanistan
No single payer
More money for failed banks
No indictments of Bush officials
Bush era DOJ attorneys still in their jobs
Committment to continued use of mercenary armies like Blackwater


..but yeah, its only been 40 days. I'm sure he's playing chess.

[Enthusiast]

38. Has not reregulated the financial industry.

Want to generate much needed confidence. Reenact The Glass Steagal Act. We all know the laws invite corruption as written. Changing the law should be priority number one.

[roscoeroscoe]

43. riight!

from one infrequent poster, thanks for the common sense. why is everyone getting in a bunch?
thank you for the common sense!

[stillcool]

21. I think the only 'base' he is losing..

are those who weren't paying attention all along. His 'liberal' base did not win this past election for him, nor will they win the next. Too bad people aren't more 'based' in the reality of who we are as a country, and what we do. From the way some people talk, I think they would rather see a President assassinated for 'their wishes', than to see someone succeed in some degree for the greater good. I kind of hope the 'liberal base' gets what it wants, but I'd prefer it to be after Obama's first term is up.

[burythehatchet]

23. I hear you. UNfortunately liberal soltuions are the only ones left and the only

ones that work. He is going down the same road that brought us here. When the new and improved health care plan is passed, I will guarantee you that the winners will be the insurance companies

[stillcool]

26. I can guarantee you...

that anything else is impossible..unless of course a President had enough support from 'we the people', and the United States Congress to push it through without risking too much. But there we have that 'risk' thing.. How powerful is the Insurance/Financial Industry anyway? That 'bottom up', 'we the people' thing is obviously not going to work. Seeing how we've had this President for less than 2 months and his most 'ardent supporters' don't have the desire to do much of anything but 'dissent' on the internet.

[Kansas Wyatt]

29. Obama should pull a BushCo & Republican, Inc. trick out...

By getting them all warm and fuzzy about the thought of having insurance companies, otherwise known as Death Merchants, play a big part with a big reward. Then slip a few changes in at the last minute, kicking their fat greedy asses to the curb, and RAMMING it through Congress before anyone notices.

Funny how Republicans can always do that, but Democrats never even consider it.

[Grinchie]

61. Sure thing, Turn into a Repug to teach them a lesson...

I don't think so.

[burythehatchet]

31. Well judging by your comments your interest is in attacing

as opposed to debating. You can make all the internet-assumptions you want but the reality is that you will not silence me or anyone else. PRINCIPLE OVER PARTY. The party can kiss my ass. My principles will not be compromised.

[stillcool]

32. did you mean 'attacking'?

who is it you think I am 'attacking'? And who, what, where, when and how in the world is anyone trying to 'silence' 'you'?

[CLANG]

55. It's not a secret

that even federal programs like Medicare, and Tricare, are farmed out to private insurance companies.

[Jennicut]

34. Oh really? That is laughable. His approval ratings are extremely high for most Dems.

Maybe its just you that never liked him to begin with?

[burythehatchet]

45. Yeah, maybe. When you awake, try not to panic.

[certainot]

56. did you hear that from limbaugh, or hannity?

[Divine Discontent]

65. guarantee? look, I don't like some of the stuff he's done (but he knows what things we're not

allowed to know), but overall I think he's done fair so far, and to say that you know for a fact he won't have a 2nd term really exposes you, because there's no way you could know that - it has appeared many times in political history that someone was going to lose and they won, and vice versa. McCain looked totally out of the GOP running 1 1/2 years ago and he got their nom - Hillary looked unbeatable about the same time. You just never know. I'm expecting President Obama to get a 2nd term. He will not be blamed for the coming (I think it's very possible) collapse. He will take bold moves to fix it if it occurs and no one will be able to question his plans. The guy has gotten pretty much most of what he wanted in the first 50 days - and you do realize it's only been less than 2 months, right????

[Triana]

7. think it's bad now? Just wait for the "Broadcaster Freedom Act"

...this is an ANTI-Fairness-Doctrine bill which was stuck inside the recent DC Voter rights bill.

LINK:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.00034:

Haven't HEARD about this from the lame$tream media? Well...that's sort of the point - they want it snuck through without our knowledge. There are a LOT of things we don't get wind of from the corprat-pwned media...

The only point of this Broadcaster Dictatorship provision is to make the current extreme wingnut bias of our media permanent, and to hold the DC voting rights provision for ransom to do it.

PEN has an Action Page: http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum943.php

[Kalyke]

37. Signed.

Thanks for that!

[Enthusiast]

40. Done! nt

[Grandrose]

9. Outstanding Article (K&R)

This article should be mandatory reading...thank you for posting, it's the real deal!
Just seeing this in print helps me realize, I was not insane or hallucinating.
The "so-called media" are right-wing thugs!:mad: :kick:

[Enthusiast]

41. MSNBC was horrible

yesterday early evening. Anyone that didn't agree that President Obama was a failure was browbeaten. Turn it on right now, you will see it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

10. Please...how do we fight this?

When even many so-called liberals and Democrats believe that Obama has been treated with kid gloves, how do we fight back against the M$M who has been anything but kind to Obama.

[rwheeler31]

14. It is these damn business people who cannot think

about anything but money. $$$$$$$

[anonymous171]

12. K&R. nt

[G_j]

13. K&R!

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. Well stated, but nothing any of us haven't noticed. What is to be done?

The incompetent Bush with a zillion friends in high and loud places...the competent President Obama with a zillion obstructionists in high and loud places.

I was sick watching thing under B*sh, but am disgusted with what I see happening now, since it is much more damaging and damning for our country.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. And this will not change UNTIL we split it

and get a fairness doctrine AGAIN

[Cha]

19. Robert Parry thinks like a lot of

us and it's no surprise corporatemediawhoredom is raging against the people and humping the fascist elephant.

Obama Team is smart enough to know this and no doubt has plans to go around them to get their work done just like they did in the primary and the general.

And, we can do our part by at least letting them know they smell like a rotting, steaming pile of shit.,

FrenchieCat (1000+ posts) Thu Feb-26-09 02:13 PM
Original message
**PROPOSED BUDGET - ACTION ALERT**
Edited on Thu Feb-26-09 02:14 PM by FrenchieCat
We, who comprise 98% of the population (i.e., the working stiffs and the unemployed) need to Counteract the 2 Percenters current assault on President Obama's budget proposal via their Paid-for Media's apparent disinformation campaign by contacting your congresscritters, the White House, the Media, and your local Paper NOW!


We all need to be sick of this obvious shit!

Contact your congresscritter using this tool: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.t...

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Also, contact the various medias and tell them you aren't taking this anymore!


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[upi402]

24. Thank you Robert Parry! Now - on with the trials in prime time TV

Mandated coverage, for patriotic reasons of course, of the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Republican corporatists MIGHT salvage our country -forget the presidency.

[Cha]

25. "Is Obama Awakening His Base?"

"So far, Obama has not called on his millions of supporters for help. That might be changing."

—By David Corn

<snips>

"It's a rather low-key pitch, delivered in a flat, no-drama manner. It's not pegged to any specific fight under way or to come. Stewart makes no reference to recalcitrant Republicans. And on the web page next to the video is "The Pledge" he wants supporters to sign. It is simple and two sentences long:

I will support President Obama's bold approach for renewing America's economy.

I will ask friends, family, and neighbors to pledge their support for this plan.
That's it. Nothing about bothering your House member. Nothing about lobbying your senator. Nothing about giving money.

It appears that the Obama political machine is rebuilding its activist base--rather than presuming it is there--and renewing their list of millions. They are prospecting and looking to see who among Obama's campaign supporters are still out there and ready to do political battle on his behalf. And they are easing Obama's base into the conflict. After all, it doesn't take much to sign an on-line pledge and promise to jawbone friends and relatives. But Stewart adds, "We'll be asking a lot of you in the weeks to come." He's foreshadowing something."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/03/obama-awakening-base

[hay rick]

27. K & R

[inwiththenew]

28. Good story, thanks for posting

Sadly the American populace is ignorant and has a short memory. I worry that as we get a year or so down the road and things still have not recovered people will "forget" or not remember who got us into this mess in the first place and take it out on the sitting president. Hopefully I will be proven wrong.

[Laelth]

33. k&r for the truth. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[FlyingSquirrel]

35. This is the real, most important truth that still has not penetrated

and it needs to be spread every day to everyone you can mention it to, in passing, at the bar, wherever.

[FrenchieCat]

36. The Corporate media of this country are traitors......

They walk around satisfied because both the right and the Left hate them.

What they fail to realize is that one side is correct in their hate,
while the other side uses it as cover precisely because the media is on its side.

All anyone has to understand is that the media is corporate, and that is who's interest they serve.

The "Liberal Media" garbage is a bunch of bullshit to provide an excuse for the Corporate media
to continue to bash the left and all that it represents.

Even the reporters at the top of the ranks are Corporate republican leaning talking heads....
and it shows.

Will they ever truly be exposed to the American Public, or will they continue to shape public opinion to conceed to their agenda?

It is already known that many in the public have learned for themselves the bias held by these corporate entities, although most would deny the collusion practiced every single day to make
sure that the entire media apparatus is pretty much "on message".

We really need to change this before the next four years are up. It is the only way that America can be what it is supposed to be.

[Enthusiast]

42. The corporate media is

the worst culprit in our national trouble. The single most responsible. They are the reason we are in the financial mess, they are the reason we are mired in two wars, they are the reason we can't have a decent healthcare system and they need to be called out.

[Echo In Light]

44. Very true. MSM has sold the public BIG cover stories to suit artificial "reality"

The fascists running the show could NEVER have pulled off what they have w/o an obedient mass media apparatus to LIE to the public - and the world - and "sell" cover stories for the real agendas. What's amazing (and horrifying) is just how effective this media-induced "reality" is, and how many mindlessly abide it. These are often the same ones who decry "conspiracy theory" anytime someone questions the motives of these people and organizations who LIE to us with their every fuckin breath.

The mind boggles...

[GreenTea]

46. So it was hardly a surprise that as CNBC blames Obama for not cheerleading on an underperforming

market (because of mismanagement and greedy financial plays by many CEOs and their maSo).

"Big Media" is still one big corporate shill for the most part, some more egregious in their public relations role for the rich than others.

CNBC is in the shameless "red alert" category, but it's not unique.

As Jon Stewart recently pointed out while guesting on the Letterman show, the Wall Street cheerleading (advertising) that CNBC does is pretty typical of the financial networks. Why you even have CNBC -- after the complete failure of de-regulation due to greed and legalized financial gambling debts in the hundreds of billions of dollars -- blaming Obama (who has barely got his feet wet) for the drop in stocks because he won't hype their "salesperson value" over their actual value.

http://buzzflash.com/articles/node/7906

[Uncle Joe]

48. They wanted him to cheer lead instead of leveling with the American People so they could pin

"a major combat operations in the stock market is over" type of spin on him.

I imagine they would have creamed their jeans had he done it in a flight suit.

[Lorien]

49. Yet Obama continues to oppose the Fairness Doctrine

that one is already biting us in the ass.

[fascisthunter]

50. the Argument against the Fairness Doctrine was Asinine

freedom of speech in the corporately controlled media???? heh? No such thing... regulate THEM and break up the monopolies which controls all media info being distributed to every family in this nation. Right now we are living in the opposite extreme of what the USSR had to endure.... the only difference is that it is corporately controlled. Yet regulating scares people???? Uh-uh.... sorry. Something smells phony with the whole argument against the Fairness Doctrine.

[certainot]

57. 1000 radio stations lying, distorting, swiftboating 24/7/365

do the groundwork for the GOP and enables the rest of the media to put the flat earthers on.

that's the root of the problem

[defendandprotect]

51. Agree . . . but who is watching or reading this garbage . . . ??

[certainot]

59. limbaugh and sons and the GOP talk radio monopoly reach a crowd

the size of the one that voted for obama.

in most of the red states there are no alternatives for people trying to get current events /politics while working or driving.

and those who find alternatives are ignoring obama's biggest obstacle.

[defendandprotect]

63. Whose word are we taking on Limbaugh's popularity . . . his ratings?

Randi Rhodes always did better than Limbaugh --

that's why he had to threaten to resign if Clear Channel syndicated

her -- and why should that have bothered Clear Channel unless they

were worried about appeasing the right wing?

Only a crowd that is really dense would listen to someone like this.

And if you or I couldn't find "alternatives" would we listen to Limbaugh?

The truth is obvious -- the right wing fears any truth even leaking thru

a crack in the right wing corporate-media monopoly!

Their propaganda/myth is as fragile as a mirror -- a tiny pebble would shatter it!!

Limbaugh is an idiot and we should all be saying so much more frequently!

Especially making him laughable.

[Faygo Kid]

52. Agreed, and now Howard Fineman has joined the chorus.

The piling on grows by the day.

[G_j]

53. Kick

[AlbertCat]

54. Ex-President Bush continues to be pampered, much as he was for most of his eight years as President.

Eight years as Prez?????

That good-for-nothing waste of DNA has been pampered HIS WHOLE MISERABLE LIFE.

His presidency went just like everything else he's ever tried. He putzed around while Daddy's friends "took care" of everything until it fell apart (and the friends made a bundle).

[Belial]

58. WTF?? Give me a BREAK.. I feel like I have been part of the

biggest bait and switch ever.. Does anyone not remember all the talks about plans.. the meetings after the election.. the "Office" ot the President Elect? The only plan ANYONE has seen is spend spend spend.. while we are struggling to find a job.. keep a job.. try to keep food on the table.. the ONLY place that's hiring is the Federal Govt.. President Obama was given a pass.. I read and read and all I ever found was a "concept" of a plan. President Obama KNEW the issues going in.. I honestly thought we were going to see some shakeup.. all we have is the SAME people that we have had in Washington.. just in different jobs.. OK.. that being said and off my chest.. things could have been a HELL of a LOT worse..

[blue neen]

64. Whoa...let's start looking at where some of the blame really lies...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=7132692

Of course, we don't hear about crooks like Phil Gramm in these days of the corporate media's "Let's Blame Every Problem of All Time on Obama" Fest. Do you have a hangnail today? It must be Obama's fault! It's raining again today--that Obama has been president long enough to have this damn weather under control! Tune in to CNN tomorrow to see the footage of Barack Obama injecting Roger Clemens with steroids...


President Obama has been in office for 50 days. He has accomplished a helluva lot in that amount time, in spite of Republicans in congress who can't get their heads out of their rearends AND in spite of a media that bombards us with "the sky is falling messages" 24/7 AND in spite of unpatriotic jerks like Rush Limbaugh who actually want to see out country fail.

[Kat45]

60. Bookmarked the article to pass on to as many as I can.

Excellent information that should be widely disseminated.

[Fire1sKid]

62. We have to understand

That the majority of the U.S. media is in fact RIGHT WING MEDIA!