January 25, 2007
by Daithí Mac Lochlainn
Now, that the 2008 Presidential race is heating up with Senator Hillary Clinton's announcement of her candidacy, it is important to take in the news reports (or lack thereof) thoughtfully and analytically.
Recently, Noam Chomsky made the following observation about political coverage on the part of U.S. mainstream media:
"Just to give one last illustration, I was driving home from work the other day and torturing myself by listening to NPR...But they had a section on Barack Obama, the great new hope. And it was very exuberant: what a fantastic personality he is and a great candidate, thousands of people coming out. And it went on for about 15 minutes of excited rhetoric. There's only one thing missing. They didn't say a word about what his policies were on anything."
Professor Chomsky's comments about the media's reportage on Senator Obama are applicable to coverage of all candidates. Americans today tend to be overly practical in regard to politics, while eschewing ideology.
For this reason, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would do well to remember that the Democrats did not win last November's elections.
Rather, the Republicans lost!
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Six years ago, a repeated failure gained enough votes to fudge his way into the White House, because Karl Rove convinced voters that he could "get the job done", whatever that job might be.
Mention "Neo-Conservatism", the driving force for the Dubya Administration's foreign policy (Other than savaging the Bill of Rights, do they even have a domestic policy?), and most Americans, even and perhaps, especially, Bushling-voters will give you the usual blank stares.
The mainstream media is of no help here, given their near total disregard for the issues.
A cursory attempt to research Senator Obama's positions yields little enlightenment. Some of what I read about his is favorable. Some of what I read is disturbing.
Senator Clinton, on the other hand, has a longer record on Capitol Hill and her positions are easy to discern for those interested.
For me, her voting record on the Iraq War, her statements with reference to a just Israeli-Palestinian peace, and sources for campaign contributions completely disqualify her for the Presidency of the United States.
Her other positions also require scrutiny.
Senator Clinton's entrance into the race may be the political story of the year.
However, the Senator is not an enigma herself as much as is the public's perception and response to her.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why "liberals" love her, and "conservatives" loathe her, other than ignorance or disregard of her positions on the vital issues of our day.
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Daithí Mac Lochlainn [send him email] is a researcher, journalist, conceptual artist, community activist and shameless agitator. Find all of his writings at http://gaelicstarover.blogspot.com/
