The Hard Part Begins

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Mega-Media Trends

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

When Barack Obama formally announces his presidential run Saturday, "[r]eporters, perpetuating the boom and bust cycle of a ravenous media culture, will try to make up for fawning coverage of the past." At least according to Mike Allen, whose piece on the "Coming Effort to Dismantle a Candidate" is worth a read.

The story goes through Obama's weaknesses and notes that "[o]fficials at the top of both parties calculate that Obama has risen too fast to sustain his popularity in the cauldron of a presidential campaign." Obama's inexperience, "anemic" policy record, liberalism, and past disclosures are his weak spots, Allen writes. (He wrote in one book: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it.")

But The New Republic's Michael Crowley says "there's nothing terribly damning here --at least not beyond things we know." The problem isn't what's here, he warns, but what's not: "the really saucy stuff," he suspects, "will spill in more dramatic fashion" down the road.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by ronmwanga February 9, 2007 11:04 PM EST: This insanely early Presidential campaign has a long way to go. A lot can happen. Edwards just dodged the blog bullet. If Al Gore is waiting this out because he can (he is now independently wealthy from his media channel and various corporate boards), he may well be hailed as politically wise to sit back and let his opposition implode.; Reply to this comment


by memekiller February 9, 2007 7:34 PM EST: What the media defines as fawning: accusing Obama of going to a terrorist school, making jokes about his middle name and Osama's, and accusing him of purposely dressing like the leader of Iran because, like many in the administration, he doesn't wear a necktie.

If that's fawning, I sure hate to think of what you slime him with to make up for it.

(BTW, when can we expect an end to the fawning over Lieberman, Gulliani and McCain?); Reply to this comment