Questions
There's been a disconnect between the GOP driven Washington CW and the substantiated opinions of America. (TPM has a speculative post, and Politico posts a piece surprised that Americans still like Obama.)
So here's the question: If the CW becomes the GOP driven Washington CW is wrong, that people really do like Obama regardless of what reporters hear from their sources, does that create an inertia of its own?
Is the near term working assumption going to become pro-Obama against what they're hearing or will they simply snap back to the "Obama bad" CW and repeatedly express surprise that all of us rubes think more highly of him?
So here's the question: If the CW becomes the GOP driven Washington CW is wrong, that people really do like Obama regardless of what reporters hear from their sources, does that create an inertia of its own?
Is the near term working assumption going to become pro-Obama against what they're hearing or will they simply snap back to the "Obama bad" CW and repeatedly express surprise that all of us rubes think more highly of him?
posted by mikevotes at
6:00 AM
4 Comments:
Even more startling polling results are here.
This isn't making the Republicans look good at all. In spite of massive support efforts by the media/punditry, public opinion is firmly on the side of the Administration on the stimulus. It was a lousy issue to turn into a "death match" in the first place. There will be much better opportunities for the GOP, but they have chosen to cast themselves in a poor light from the start.
If the CW becomes the GOP driven Washington CW is wrong, that people really do like Obama regardless of what reporters hear from their sources, does that create an inertia of its own?
Not sure what you mean by "inertia" in this case, or who the inertia would be against.
It's clear that the punditry moved into a mentality years ago where it is proud to be wrong and out of touch with public opinion. The (barely) subliminal message from the media is that Obama is an immense mistake and that the public will turn against him rather quickly, but that the "will of the people" must be respected in a marginal and snarky manner until then.
Realistically, given the track record of the media/punditry over the past few years, it would make the Administration look bad to have them on their side.
The media is trying to sell politics as some weird kind of "WWF Smackdown", and in order to do so the opponent (the GOP) must be built up into a fearsome and worthy foe or the whole thing fails to draw viewers.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 11:33 AM
I realized I wasn't really clear on inertia.
I meant that does that realization that what they're hearing in Washington not match the rest of the country, does that mean that they will then "check" their stories against that CW? Does the realization that they've been wrong create a forced framework that Obama is more popular than they're hearing?
Plus, since they'd be forcing that perspective, it would be forced to wait to change until they got polling data saying Obama wasn't so popular, so, it would lag. So, there would be an inertia towards popularity in that forced framework on interpretation against what they're hearing.
I know this isn't really clear, but I hope you get what I'm saying.
The other possibility is they keep slipping back into the Washington CW, and have to be dragged back out, repeatedly, by blogs and polls.
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mikevotes, at 11:48 AM
I meant that does that realization that what they're hearing in Washington not match the rest of the country, does that mean that they will then "check" their stories against that CW?
Okay, I think I get what you are driving at.
I'll stick with my WWF analogy in that case. The meme just shifts slightly in the current situation.
It's the unpredictable but popular Obama versus the burly and crazy GOP. The crowd knows a folding chair will smack Obama in the head when his back is turned, but they don't know when...so stay tuned.
This is why we will continue to see losing Party-line votes hailed as great victories by the Republicans and pundits alike. They need the GOP to appear to be stronger than they really are, and they need the GOP to be opposed to everything Obama says. It's not a fight if the two guys come out and drink a beer together while chatting about sports. Nobody would pay to see the Undertaker beat up somebody's granny, even if she were a scrappy old lady. Eventually we will see the GOP praised for "going the distance" against Obama while shaking their fist and promising retribution in the 2010 Smackdown re-match...so stay tuned.
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Todd Dugdale , at 12:49 PM
I get you point and there is some necessary binary in the coverage, but it's my opinion that the GOP skew is happening mainly because after all the intense business and issue lobbying, and the eight years of Bush, the Washington social circuit is dominated by very political Republicans.
The political reporters go to parties, they run into people working them at the gym, etc. The frameworks is still very Republican.
By
mikevotes, at 1:14 PM
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