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.

St. John Loves Constant War

E.J. Dionne, Jr. has a useful column for the Democratic presidential candidates in today's Post. The basic thrust of Dionne's argument is that Obama and/or Clinton should not hesistate in critiquing McCain's view, and the neoconservatives (which McCain is, in fact, now among), that terrorism comprises the greatest struggle the U.S. has faced since the Cold War. Dionne argues, in effect, that McCain places too much emphasis on terrorism and too little on other foreign policy dilemmas. He lists strained relations between Latin America and the U.S. and poverty in Africa among others as issues that deserve more focus. It seems to me that reducing poverty aound the world would restore much of the goodwill the rest of the planet use to have for America. Needless to say, if America adopted a foreign policy guided more by humility and compassion, it would do more to combat terrorism than a million-man army.

Tuesday White Man's Burden Blogging

Bill Kristol's latest column in the Times is a joke. In fact, calling it a joke is probably too kind. In his column, Kristol argues that Democrats would be much better off if they read Rudyard Kipling. I mean, what? He envisions the Republicans as the heirs to Kipling, whereas the Democrats are the opposition. Kipling, while a talented writer, was a rascist bigot and an imperialist. In his defense, Kristol does briefly mention that Kipling was "politically incorrect." However, that's like saying the Joker has a screw loose.

Go Vote!

Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, has just contacted me with a request for all you Wisconsin people out there. He would like you to support democracy and vote! I really don't want the Avengers coming after me, plus Steve is a really good guy, so please go and vote!

Apologies

Sorry for the lack of blogging today. I had a big meeting at work today, and it turns out that one of my co-workers is leaving. Everybody have a great President's Day Weekend! I'll be back on Tuesday.

Go Crew!

This article from Tom Friend of ESPN magazine is probably the best piece of sport's journalism I've read in an extremely long time. Although the article isn't necessarily about Tony Gwynn Jr.'s hitting ability, after reading it I am more convinced than ever that he should be the starting centerfielder this year. Sorry, Mike Cameron. Anyways, please read this post, and pass it on to any Brewer's fans, or really, baseball fans in general you might know.