Obama's Biggest Media Challenge: McCain

MarketWatch Columnist Jon Friedman Says, To Win, Obama Must Trump McCain In The Press

(MarketWatch)  Now, Sen. Barack Obama will face his most significant media challenge.

He has all but sewn up the Democratic nomination, and can look ahead to taking on Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Illinois' Obama has been a media favorite ever since he started his campaign and consistently got more favorable press reviews than his chief Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Much of Obama's success stemmed from his uncanny ability to charm the media and, through them, the voters, who often make up their minds based on what they see and read about a candidate.

While Clinton has resisted calls to drop out of the race, the media have concluded that the shouting is over. Last week, Time magazine published a photo on the cover of a grinning Obama. The blurb hammered home the point: "And the winner is..."

Obama's task

To keep the momentum going, Obama will have to understand -- every day -- that he will face even more media scrutiny.

Mainly, he will have to try harder to be as assertive as possible. Journalists -- especially the New York Times' brilliant, acerbic columnist Maureen Dowd -- have hounded him and suggested that he has looked weak because he couldn't vanquish Clinton.

Obama will have to realize that whatever he accomplished in the Democratic primaries will now pale against the sexier news peg: that he may not be presidential material because he couldn't convince Clinton to drop out of the race.

Then there is the challenge posed by McCain. Obama will be taking on an adversary who is also very popular with reporters. McCain is often seen as having a "one-of-the-boys" appeal with journalists.

I witnessed the McCain phenomenon first-hand a few years ago at a magazine conference in Puerto Rico. The night before he was scheduled to deliver his remarks to a ballroom full of influential editors and publishers, he spent a few hours shooting craps at a casino. McCain was having a good night and punctuated his successful throws by throwing his fist in the air triumphantly and shouting to the fascinated press corps who watched his every move.

McCain's popularity sometimes surfaces in bizarre ways. TVNewser reported Friday that a 24-year-old Fox News Channel production assistant was fired after she was overheard telling him, "I voted for you in the primary; you're going to win." (Fox, like MarketWatch, the publisher of this column, is a division of News Corp.) McCain, appearing at the time at Time magazine's Time 100 gala, was in turn overheard saying to her, "You're not supposed to reveal that."

Popularity

Recently, when the New York Times published a story loosely insinuating that McCain may have had an improper relationship with a female lobbyist, the paper was blasted by politicians and members of the media alike. They saw it as a cheap shot, partly because McCain had built up so much good will.

I doubt that the sympathetic outpouring on McCain's behalf would have been so strong if a rather unpopular politician had been the target.

Yes, America, for better or worse, journalists are human, too, and we sometimes play favorites in our coverage.

Baggage

Obama must be rather cynical about the media by now. He was their favorite son early in his campaign and yet the more successful he was in the primaries, the more skeptical journalists acted toward him.

Obama is certainly smart and savvy enough to recognize that once the media build you up to unrealistic proportions, the only direction that you can go is south.

McCain's opportunistic camp will surely have noticed that Obama was unable to put away the highly determined Clinton, and even allowed her to dictate the media debate in such industrial states as Pennsylvania.

That means Obama will have to convince reporters that he can thwart McCain. McCain has proven himself to be just as dogged as Clinton -- remember, McCain was given up for dead shortly before the primary season began late last year. Undercapitalized and plagued by image problems, McCain survived on grit and thrived by demonstrating his poise under pressure.

Obama took a different route with the media. He burst from the Iowa caucus, winning stunningly and basically ending any discussion of whether a man of color could win a national election. Obama relied on wowing crowds -- especially young people and other traditionally disenfranchised voters -- on the strength of his inspirational speeches.

Now that Obama is on top, he'll need more than inspirational speeches to continue to dazzle the media.

[bigal321321]

I think Hillary should drop the democratic party and go independent. The democratic party has shown her no support.Posted by ranger1948......I agree. It worked for Leiberman. It would prove to the rest of us that she cares more for her country than her party. It would make her electable. The challenge with this scenario is that Hillary is out of money. It was a good thought ranger1948.

[noloyalisti]

Remember that Obama is half white even though the mainstained media calls him black. Reverend Wright did go overboard but on most of the issues he was pretty much right on. It''s too bad the American sheeple have been so dumbed down they don''t even remember history. We need a smart person as President, be he or she white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. Time to grow up and lose the racist trash.

[dotindixie]

Obama''s biggest challenge is the voters like me who would vote for Bush again before they''d vote for a member of a black liberation church. God#### Wright!

[omaar-101]

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=HILLARY+CLINTON LIAR&search_type=


Hillary Clinton is ...TOAST !!



Hillary''s ...TOAST !!


The Clinton''s have so much Arab Millions,You might as well call Hillary & Bill ''Hussein'' Clinton.


Bill Clinton: ''Change'' You now see the benefits and effects of (NAFTA), Giving Communist China Unlimited Access to the White House and Classified Documents (Norman Hsu), Bill''s 10 Million $ per year Saudi Arabian Money, Bill''s United Arab Emirates (Dubai Ports Deal), Millions, Kuwait & Qatar Millions, and You people are worried about ...

Obama...Puh-Lease...Spare Me !!


George Bush Jr: He was ''Change'' for the Good Huh and you voted his A!! in the Oval Office Twice !!


You see the, over 4000 Dead Honorable USA Soldiers, 100,000 Dead Iraqi''s under False Pretenses (WOMD), 20 Billion Dollar Per Month War, a Devalued Dollar, Lower than the Mexican Peso, Massive Foreclosures, Outsourced Jobs, to Foreign Countries and Most of You A!! Holes, Voted for him !!


None of you will Admit, that you Voted for either of these Presidents, but they served 2 Terms !!

PS: No more talks of Obama not being ''Experienced Enough'' because none of the Past or Present Presidents, had National-International ''Experience''

Otherthan...Fmr. CIA Dir. and 2 Term Republican VP (George H. Bush Sr), and his A!! lasted only 1 Term !!


State Governorship is Regional...that does not Qualify for ''National-International Policy or Law Making .

[omaar-101]

Posted by coloradoind: Clinton/McCain/Obama Nothing makes me more nervous than Obama "experience" as we face Korea, Iran, Israel, world unrest and world opinion.

Everybody likes to be "liked", Obama oozes that impression. And I like him...but not as US President. World leaders don''''t go about being likeable. I''''ve easily voted Democrat since Nixon, although I''''m Independent. If it''''s no Clinton in Denver... Thank God I have McCain to vote for ...unnerves me he''''s Republican, so be it.


Are You F--kin Serious !!!


Name a Person that wants to be ''Hated'' and I''ll show You a ...Hated Man !!!

John McCain Or Hillary Clinton, they must want to be ''Hated''...Huh

I guess thats why Hillary Cried before the New Hampshire Primary and before ''Super Tuesday'' to be Scorned & Hated by the Public & Mass Media.

President Bush did not Care what he did and you see, where that has left Over 4000 Dead US Service Men, Over 100,000 Dead Iraqi`s under False Impression, (WOMD`S) The USA Economy, at its Very Lowest, Bush is the Least Liked President on his way out of the White House. The Dollar De-Valued , Lower than the Mexican Peso, High Unemployment and All Time High USA Foreclosures.

How''s that for Not Giving a D@mn, and for Appearing ''Fearless'' & not trying to be ''Likeable''..Because Bush is Not Liked nor is he, Likeable!!

[ranger1948]

I think Hillary should drop the democratic party and go independent. The democratic party has shown her no support.

[tawpdawg11]

Hillary and the press are putting the rope-a-dope on Barack. Nothing else has worked. Ali used it to perfection to surprise George Foreman.

[pensacola88]

McCain''s biggest headache is not from the Democratic Party, instead, it is from the Republicans who abandoned the party to support Barack Obama. More defectors are walking out daily, and McCain is doing everything to safeguard the Republican playbook, so he doesn''t repeat Jimmy Carter''s careless error.

Republicans that converted did so out of their disbelief over John McCains ability to beat down the evangelicals and keep them from influencing foriegn policy. It has been clear that foreign policy failure has taken the wind out of the economy and sustained attacks from evangelicals will never allow the economy to ressucitate. John McCain''s deepest losses are yet to be felt, because he can''t do anything to change the extremist image problems of his hardliner conservatives associated with his age group. Male spinsters don''t get popular by condeming their opponents. The open and blatant disrespect just sank the party.

[joyous88]

than your parents are fools,

Obama is the only decent choice in this election,

McBush is older than dirt and not quite as smart

hell even fighter pilot bush was able to avoid combat

but not McSame, not bright enough

[joyous88]

yhan your parents are fools

obama is the only decent choice in this election