Obama: Leading the Char… Wait, What?

A presidential candidate is going to Iraq – finally!  Just when you thought the candidates had forgotten the wars in the Middle East, Obama steps up and paves the way.  He’s such a leader.

 

 

Of course, we forget that McCain went in March. 

 

 

McCain’s trip received little fanfare, and he didn’t have the bragging rights of all three network anchors in tow.   In fact, John McCain has taken three foreign trips in the last few months, and not one included a network anchor.  In March, he traveled to Britain, France and Israel.  NBC and ABC sent correspondents.  CBS sent no one. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer even managed to turn this trip into a taxpayer-funded issue.  His trip to Canada in June was not covered at all by the evening newscasts, and very little coverage was given to his trip to Colombia and Mexico a few weeks ago.

 

 

Obama has not been to Iraq since 2006 and has never been to Afghanistan.  This lack of direct knowledge of the situation has, so far, qualified him to push for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq should he become president.  I presume Obama’s trip is as equally political as it is legitimate, but that’s no surprise at this point.

 

Media Research Center reports:

 

“During the week of March 16, McCain’s trip received only four full-length stories during the combined ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news program coverage. Three of those stories were on NBC’s “Nightly News,” one of which focused on McCain’s mistaken comment about Iran funding Al Qaeda in Iraq. ABC’s “World News” did only one full-length story on McCain’s Iraq trip, which mentioned the gaffe. The CBS “Evening News” was by far the worst, devoting only 31 words, a grand total of 10 seconds, to the Republican nominee’s Iraq visit during the entire week of evening news coverage.”

 

Even the Daily Kos acknowledges “Obamamania.”  But, get this, they say that McCain is getting less coverage because the press likes him more than Obama.  You read that correctly.  Daily Kos believes that Obama increases ratings in a way that McCain doesn’t, and that’s why he’s the media superstar.  “Media people,” they claim, “hate it.  But they follow what sells.” 

 

So it’s really the viewers who determine coverage, not network heads with a personal interest in politics.  Right.