Curiouser and Curiouser

It is practically beyond dispute that what is refered to as the country's "mainstream media" - ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Newsweek, and Time - have been so far in the tank for Barack Obama that they've grown gills. They have done an absolutely masterful job of keeping their coverage of troubling information about Obama - and, indeed, many of his own more potentially damaging statements - down to blurbs that are quickly followed by their dismissal. As to most of the damaging info about Obama - Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, ACORN, etc. - and his own potentially damaging statements - for instance, his numerous reversals of policy over the last 12 months, not to mention his silly charges of racism against John McCain - they have received wide discussion on Fox News and in the conservative blogsphere, but have mostly been effectively muted by the outlets mentioned above.

This is why I have been very suprised by the info that has gained considerable traction over the last few days: first the LA Times suppression of the Khalidi tape got wide coverage, now an audio interview Obama did with the San Francisco Chronicle back in January was discovered on the Chronicle's own website, in which he promises to bankrupt the coal industry (details that were - surprise! - left out of the original article).

My first reaction to hearing the tape was "I wonder how the folks in Pennsylvania and Ohio feel about this...". My second was "What an incredibly stupid thing for Obama to say."

My question about this latest Obama admission is: Why has there been no pushback by the Obama campaign or from the media outlets listed above? Both parties pushed back ferociously to Obama's Wright and Ayers connections, pushed back ferociously to Obama's "Spread the wealth" reply to Joe the Plummer, pushed back ferociously in defending the LA Times' not releasing the tape...but about this latest potentially damaging statement - nothing.

My suspicion is that Obama and co. think they have the election sown up, so why bother? They've already started celebrating, and his backing out of his pre-presidential campaign agreement to participate in a series of townhall-style debates with McCain and the fact that he had not held a press conference since September seem to indicate that he figured that he is comfortably ahead and need not take chances. The myriad of polls have, for the most part, backed him up on this notion, though they have tightened somewhat in the last week.

I can't escape the feeling, however, that the Obama camp and the press, sensing that a) Obama was a shoo-in for the nomination and b) that there was quite a bit of negative feelings coming their way for their shamefully biased election coverage, have let their guard down a bit in the last few days, and some info poured through the cracks. In doing so, I believe that they have a) vastly underestimated John McCain and Sarah Palin, b) vastly underestimated the resourcefulness of the conservative blogsphere in accessing this info, and c) overestimated the reliability of the pre-election polling.

If my suspicion is correct, I think Obama and his champions in the media might be in for a bit of a surprise come Tuesday night.


We shall see.....