What is it with the Democrats and getting themselves in these political scandals. I know that some of it is an outgrowth of the 24 hour news media, the “CNN Effect,” as it is now called. Imagine if CNN existed during the Kennedy administration. There would have been Marilyn watch, or maybe it would have been called something funny like “Some like it Hot in the Lincoln Bedroom.” The first president who was, I don’t know the right word for this, subjected to this real scrutiny from the 24 hour media would be Clinton. From day one there was Whitewater, I don’t know how many “gates” they gave him, and then there was Monica, the sweetheart of the news media for a good long while. Now don’t get me wrong, Bush got it just as bad as Clinton did. He did way less stupid things in his personal life. News shows literally had countdowns of stupid things that Bush said or mispronounced. Now we have and all the right wants to do is find something that can cause a scandal in the Obama administration. There have been a few as well, birthers, umbrella bitchers, and church fixators.
I am only commenting on the way the 24 hour news media focuses on the private lives of political officials, or about the parts of their lives that have nothing to do with the way that he runs the country. There are plenty of political controversies that have to do with the way that a president runs his administration. I am only using him because there hasn’t been a her yet. I feel as though policy discourse is a good thing. I feel as though allowing the news to be a circus of “oh my god Obama let a marine hold an umbrella, and it was the same thing when Bush was photographed doing the same, then we are missing the point. The point of the news is to allow the will of the people to be known and to check the power of politicians, by not allowing him or her to do whatever he or she wants in secret. If all the news does is focus of personal scandal and political substance than the news isn’t doing its job.
