Monday, August 17, 2009

Watch for the Signs

By Alan Caruba

There are some lessons one learns from a life spent first as a journalist and then for many decades as a public relations professional. You cannot succeed in PR if you cannot spot the early signs that the media herd is heading in one direction or the other.

It was obvious from the beginning that the mainstream media (MSM) fell in love with Barack Obama. Like Chris Matthews, it was a complete crush. Obama was the anti-Hillary, come to save America from her shrill voice and to redeem our sad history of racism.

At this point, however, it is just as obvious that he has managed to say and do any number of things that have aroused the distrust of the all but the 28% of those convinced he is a dandy President. The rest no longer feel that way.

The MSM is presently sticking its finger in the wind to find out which way it is blowing. They are checking Rasmussen and Gallup polls. Once they conclude that Obama is unpopular to a point beyond which they can no longer obscure or influence, they will do what all fearless MSM do; they will begin to gang up on him.

By the time Jimmy Carter left office, even the Peanut Farmer’s Gazette was glad to see him go.

Watch the signs. The week that either (or both) Time Magazine and Newsweek publish a cover story asking, “What Went Wrong?” or “Healthcare Reform is Very Sick” or anything similar that suggests—gasp!—Obama has suffered a major political setback, you can be confident that, in their editorial board offices amidst leather chairs and a huge polished mahogany table, someone will have intoned, “It’s not going well for Obama.”

The other beacon to watch is, of course, The New York Times. When Maureen Dowd can tear herself away from berating Sarah Palin to say an unkind word about Barack Obama, you know the beginning of the end will have arrived. When Paul Krugman thinks out loud that maybe a three trillion dollar debt is probably not a good idea, the banana peel will have been thrown into the Rose Garden.

When the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson can no longer find an excuse for Barack Obama’s blunders and inability to sell a very bad healthcare reform and even worse Cap-and-Trade tax on energy, you might as well break out your GOP lapel pin and start to wear it in public.

There’s a reason for the rapid demise of the Obama Dream. It’s called reality.

Americans are not great fans of those who spend all of their time “apologizing” for the U.S.A. and blaming others for why the job they wanted has turned out to be a real stinker. It is now Obama’s foreign policy, Obama’s economy, and Obama’s gay rights agenda. Despite all the “green shoots” and other alleged signs that the economy is getting better, real people know it’s not.

Coming to a town near you or maybe your street, will be more mortgage foreclosures. Banks are being closed and their assets sold to other banks, but while that is a palliative measure to protect customers, it doesn’t change the fact that credit flow is still a trickle. A credit card meltdown is likely on the way. Job losses? Yes, that too.

Plainly speaking, the federal government is running out of monetary tricks to make the Recession go away. It will never dawn on them to actually cut spending. It is only now just dawning on them that the public hates the billion-dollar “bailouts” and “stimulus” bills.

The MSM is shedding jobs as if a plague has struck their newsrooms. And it has. First they shed their credibility as objective and reliable sources of news and now they are shedding consumers of news who prefer Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

We are all just weeks from the first significant cracks in the MSM herd mentality regarding Barack Obama, his ever growing circle of “czars”, and those wacky Congress critters like Pelosi and Reid. By the end of the year, the MSM will desert him.

As a PR Counselor, I would advise Obama to say something critical about al Qaeda’s perpetrators of 9/11 and not blame the victims when that anniversary comes around. Otherwise, he’ll be able to watch the slow drift of the MSM turn into a stampede.

10 comments:

Buzzg said...

I really hope you're right Alan. It would be fun to watch the cheerleaders abandon the field of play.

BuzzG

libertyforusa said...

Obama has ordered the ship pretty far out to sea for the rats to jump off now. Somehow or other I get the impression that everyone will go down with the ship on his orders as he opens the scuttling valves.
Like a crazed and jilted lover he will tell them 'if you don't love me, you can't love anyone!'
The Dems that now on recess are telegraphing their intended vote for a disaster, while trying to avoid hearing or seeing the wide spread dissent!
Maybe if they jump ship soon they too will make it to the shore of reality! Right now they dutifully have their augers in hand helping drill holes in the hull. If they remain loyal much longer they will certainly go down as one of the "stupidest" crews in history.
I hope your experience and gut are right Alan, I sure hope so. The press could have such a field day should they throw off their chains!

Alan Caruba said...

Liberty:
If there is one thing I know, it's the media.

As for politicians, they do not like being associated with failure.

Dave's Daily Day Dream said...

I'm all for the scuttling of this ship of state. My hope is that most of the crew (cabinet and non-accountable appointees) are securely chained to their oars, whilst the passengers (media) enjoy another round of drinks topside, basking in the sunset and wondering why there is so much heavy mist and an occasional wave crossing the bow.

kerrjac said...

There are some interesting similarities between our current state & the late 1970's: Highly popular yet ineffective Dem presidents coming off unpopular Rep presidents in the face of severe economic downturn. Moreover, you look at the UK today (who elected Thatcher before we did Reagan) & can see the seeds of a conservative rally.

Any thoughts about whether we'll see something similar today as the Reagan/Thatcher revolution of the '80s? I wasn't born until the mid-'80s, but as a someone into PR/journalism, do you smell anything similar in the air today as back then?

Alan Caruba said...

No, sorry, I don't see too many, if any, similarities with the Reagan/Thatcher era and anything that might occur in the future as the GOP looks around for new faces and tries to recapture its original values.

I thought Bush was a big spender (and he was), but Obama has made him look moderate.

Louise W said...

Alan, this was a lovely thing to imagine....the MSM deserting Obama. I don't know about others, but I will not forgive nor forget how they sold out the American people to help elect a President just because he was black and gave speeches that caused chills on any part of anyones anatomy.

You won't see me watching Charlie Gibson and all the rest of the traitor-loving, so-called journalists. If I had a bird I wouldn't line its cage with The New York Times nor any other big city newspapers.

I have a very long memory!

Anonymous said...

I cannot see an Obama/Cameron relationship at the same level as the Reagan/Thatcher relationship; more a strained version of the Bush/Brown love-in.
Thatcher had a backbone that Cameron can only dream about.
Reagan, an aura, had substance; Obama has a chimera whose serpent's tail is coming into view for us all to see.
Yes, if we folk can see it then the MSM are being double duplicitous in not voicing any warnings.
The Obama honeymoon is over; the MSM should tell it as it is if only to recoup their lost, damaged credibility with their once-upon-a-time readership, otherwise they may as well shut-up shop and leave the real news to real retailers of the truth.

selsey.steve said...

Reagan/Thatcher? Who here in the UK's present line up of politicos can come anywhere near Margaret's stature?
As Ronnie so rightly intoned, Thatcher had more balls than the rest of her Cabinet put together.
Our present set of politicos in the UK would be hard pressed to put together a decent pair of cojones if they were all in the same room.

kerrjac said...

re: "I cannot see an Obama/Cameron relationship at the same level as the Reagan/Thatcher relationship; more a strained version of the Bush/Brown love-in."

Just to clarify, the analogy likens Obama to Carter (& Bush to Nixon).

"Thatcher had more balls than the rest of her Cabinet put together.
Our present set of politicos in the UK would be hard pressed to put together a decent pair of cojones if they were all in the same room."

Not too familiar with UK's politicos, but either way it's not so much about the personalities currently in power, but the sway of the public & the sort of personalities they're looking for. Among the 50+ million of them, if they wanted to find & elect a strong character like Thatcher they could. They maybe far off from doing that; at the same time I understand public opinion is swaying pretty strongly away from the Liberals.