Wednesday, February 20, 2008

A Sign of things to come...

The indomitable Glenn Greenwald has a great post up about recent media coverage of Barack Obama. While the mainstream media's coverage of Obama has for the most part been fairly positive thus far, Greenwald points out that the week leading up to the WI primary saw an uptick in the amount of contentious coverage of his candidacy. I think Greenwald makes a valid point when he argues that what we saw last week was just a fraction of what we will see in the general election. The media will lay down in traffic for St. McCain of Arizona, son of God, heir to the throne of the Lord. The only reason they have been so positive towards Obama thus far is because he is running against Hillary Clinton, whom the media hate without regard.

I think Obama will be able to transcend any negative media coverage he recieves in the general. Obama's base of support (young people, college graduates, independents, African-Americans) is fiercely loyal to him, and it should be mentioned, they hold deeply suspect feelings towards the mainstream media. As long as Obama can manage not to commit any major gaffes, the media's undying love for holy John will not be enough to carry the day.

Well Played Wisconsin!

As I'm sure you know by now, Obama won Wisconsin. It looks like he'll be walking away with 38 additional delegates to Clinton's 27. Obama made significant inroads into working class voters last night and he won every age group under 65. This is very encouraging, especially as far as working class voters are concerned. He will need their support to have any shot in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I'm still not willing to count Clinton out, she's a brillinat person, and I'm sure she has few more cards to play. That being said, in order for her candidacy to remain viable, she's going to have to win Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania by huge margins. While this is not impossible, it is highly unlikely. Obama will get lots of positive media coverage as a result of his win in Wisconsin. Consequently, he will move up in the polls. Should be an interesting two weeks.

P.S. I still maintain that Chris Matthews is an ass, but this take-down of Texas State Senator (and Obama supporter) Kirk Watson is just damn good journalism.