Marty Kaplan wrote a brilliant piece a while ago that has stuck in my memory. Talking about the mainstream media:

"Reality isn't real any more; to the press, all the world's a stage. Or rather, all the world's an onstage and a backstage. Candidates don't have beliefs; they have positions. Campaigns don't have meanings; they have narratives. In the postmodern funhouse that imprisons prestige media, the job isn't to cover events, but rather to reveal their theatricality; the trick isn't to find truth, but to disclose "framing"; the task isn't to establish facts, but to transform them into he-said/she-said Mexican standoffs."

One of todays political headlines: "Nasty Clinton-Obama Fight Descends To "Plagiarism" Accusations" brought this to mind.

Desperately searching for anything to help stem Obamas momentum, the Clintons campaign manager Howard Wolfson must have though hed struck gold when he came up with a charge that put into question the acknowledged strength of Obama's candidacy - his oratorical skills. Wolfson accused Obama of plagiarizing Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Ive read the transcripts. Yep, theres little doubt he borrowed some lines.

Obama, campaigning in Ohio, was forced to respond, admitting that he probably should have given his friend credit. But more importantly, Obama said that Gov. Patrick suggested that he use the lines to respond to Clinton's suggestion that he is more of a talker than a doer.

So, here we are the day before the all-important primaries in Wisconsin and Hawaii and were distracted by this piece of political theatre. The public would be better served if the campaigns and the press would focus on the issues.


last edited: 9 months ago