January 17, 2007 -- 9:37 AM EST // //
MEDIA ALREADY SIGNALING THAT COVERAGE OF 2008 RACE WILL BE VACUOUS AND CHILDISH.
Updated below: The Note slams Milbank as "childish."
If you were hoping that the press coverage of the 2008 Presidential race wasn't going to be marred by the vacuousness and childishness that saturated the coverage of the 2004 and 2000 contests, guess what: It is.
The signs are already everywhere. Check out, for instance, the coverage of Senator Barack Obama's entry into the race yesterday. It was shot through with efforts to portray Hillary Clinton as "threatened" by Obama -- which would be fine but for the fact that these efforts were deeply, almost comically foolish. Here's the New York Times's Anne Kornblut, yukking it up on the paper's Caucus blog as she struggled to make this case:
So what does Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton think of Senator Barack Obama’s exploratory entry into the 2008 race? Or, for that matter, her very recent trip to Iraq?As of Tuesday evening, she wasn’t saying. Brushing past reporters in the Senate, Mrs. Clinton — conspicuously talking into her cell phone; whether there was anyone on the other end of the line, or not, could not be confirmed — went into the chamber to vote, then posed for an all-ladies photograph with Diane Sawyer and female senators.
Breaking: Hillary faked cell phone call! Look, this is probably meant as a gag -- part of the paper's efforts to let its hair down and be freewheeling and "blog-like" -- but it's deeply fatuous all the same, and it's not even an isolated incident. Indeed, the press corps and cable TV went mad yesterday trying to prove that Clinton had canceled her post-Iraq-trip press conference yesterday because she was worried about being eclipsed by Obama's announcement.
The Clinton people tried to explain that the schedule change took place because a fellow member of Congress set to attend had fallen sick. But that didn't stop the Washington Post's Dana Milbank from devoting virtually an entire column to this question, skewering Clinton spokesperson Philippe Reines' explanation that the sick Congressman had stayed behind in Iraq to recover as follows:
"We knew that yesterday, but didn't have a new time for tomorrow because the members were in the air, and because the Radio & TV Gallery was closed yesterday," Reines continued in his email. "We were only able to lock it in this morning."And we lost the phone number. And the dog ate my homework. And I think I hear my mom calling.
It was awfully early in a presidential campaign to be getting so defensive -- but such is the tone of the accelerated 2008 race.
Yep, gotta love it. The press manufactures a non-story, and then when the Clinton people offer up information about it, they are being defensive. Neat trick. And "such is the tone" of the race -- that is, the tone that Milbank and his frolicking friends are already trying to set. Look, I like a little fun in my political coverage as much as the next guy -- and sure, the Clinton and Obama camps will be dueling for attention -- but can't we inject a little wit into our coverage without being so damn babyish and frivolous about it? Am I wrong here? What do you all think?
Ah, our Peter Pan Press, at it again. And only two years to go until Election Day.
Update: Media Matters has a great rundown on more of this madness here.
Update II: Looks like ABC News' The Note agrees with our description of Dana Milbank's piece today as "childish." The Note's link to the piece was accompanied by the following blurb:
Most absurd over-the-top analysis of Clinton versus Obama: Dana Milbank's childish Washington Sketch in the Washington Post.