It's not the media. It's the "old vs. new" factor.

[Colobo]

Apparently, voters want a new face in the WH. Someone with no direct relationship with past administrations or past presidential aspirations. Hillary Clinton is being the victim of her strongest argument: experience. She represents the Clinton era, the 1990's; she's the poster face of the political climate then, and no matter how hard she tries, her last name and her husband's image will haunt her throughout this process. She's extremely skilled as a politician and her candidacy would have been a success had there not being a figure that people couldn't somehow link with the past.

John Edwards is a victim of the same- he's being linked with a failed VP effort in 04, with a ticket that wasn't able (I'm sorry for the "it was stolen crowd", but stolen or not, they lost) to get rid of a very unpopular, weakened president in GWB. Iowans demonstrated this: they knew him well, they knew his message, they knew a win in Iowa this time could have sealed the deal for him, but they flocked to the new kid in the block, leaving Edwards in a considerably distant 2nd.

Barack Obama has the "new" tag on him for several reasons: he's an African-American who is not part of the African-American old-school "leadership" (Jackson, Sharpton, etc.), who has a family history that reflects the diversity so many Americans are familiar with and have embraced as a symbol of the country, is a new figure in American politics (the only old memory people have about him is the sensation 04 speech), is a superb, skilled orator (compare him to what we have now), has a charisma American voters -including many young voters who are new to politics- have not seen probably since 1992 (channeling Bill Clinton), and is breaking totally with what has been the political themes of the last 7 years: FEAR AND DIVISIVENESS. Obama is selling HOPE, and he is linking himself indirectly (and sometimes directly) with other reformers America has had during recent perilous times (MLK, JFK, RFK).

Look at the Republicans, and you will notice the same trends, because many of them are NOT excited AT ALL about their candidates, and they are willing to consider Obama because they are attracted to what he represents. Obama is a possibility, a new chance, and it seems like Americans are willing to take it.

[Sparkly]

1. Good points. nt

[Colobo]

2. Thanks.

[elleng]

3. Katzenjammer, you're drinking their Kool-Aid?

'Immediately after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the front page story in the Washington Post about Pakistan and the presidential campaign did not even mention Joe Biden, the only candidate who seriously distinguished himself on the Pakistan crisis.

Upon reflection, the Washington Post editorial page, which has supported Bush on the Iraq war as Pravda supported Leonid Brezhnev, followed up with a lead editorial on candidates and Pakistan, which, incredibly, did not even acknowledge of Joe Biden.

Here is why the major media, including the daily newspapers, has lost such credibility with the American people and in the case of insider print media, so many subscribers who moved their business to internet sites, including this one.

It is not only Biden. The insider political media is now embedded with, and morphed into, the insider political classes to the point where they part of the same beast. The insider political reporters have moved beyond the courtiers that Stephen Colbert so brilliantly satired two White House correspondents dinners ago; and have fully joined the home team of the insider Washington establishment.

This class decided a year ago which candidate was inevitable, and which candidates were exiled into the insider media gulag, destined to disappear as though they never existed.

By any standard, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd stand at the top of the list in presidential qualification, stature, substance and a lifetime of depth and achievement. A reasonable person might conclude that each of these three, has equal or greater qualification to be president as any of the three leading Democrats.

Yet from the beginning, they were banished by the insider classes like the Soviets banished dissidents in the Gulag, like Pinochet banished the disappeared in the darker days of Chile.

Biden, Richardson and Dodd simply did not exist in the eyes of the annointing class, a group of political insiders with an extremely narrow life experience beyond their life as political insiders with each other.' >>>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-budowsky/media-insiders-shaft-bide_b_78823.html

[Triana]

4. Look at this and tell me it's NOT the media...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/31/141617/72/752/428416

[indimuse]

5. MSM's >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Election 2008" American Idol!"

What a joke! Very sickening.:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[niceypoo]

6. It's the media

Don't fool yourself. Edwards placed second in Iowa and the media totally ignored him because of their Hillary obsession.

As far as republicans being attracted to Obama, don't hold your breath, that is fantasy at best, delusion at worst. Democrats have gotten screwed so many times on that "unity with the republicans" and "healing with the republicans" fantasy. The present congress is a good example of what it leads to. The definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over always expecting a different result. If Obama gets the nod from Democrats, the republican reaction will be rabid and sustained and Obama better not think he can tiptoe thru the tulips with them otherwise he will get chewed up and spit out.

As far as "Old vs new" goes, what new will Obama do? He has given nothing but lip service with no details. Hope might be stirring while singing kumbaya, but it is meaningless in application. He will be in the same system. Reality is a bitch. The system wont change until there is campaign reform and publicly financed elections. Until that happens we are stuck in a corporatist system. Everything is fueled by money and corporations have lots of it to spare. Promises without substance are cheap. While his message might be stirring on some emotional level, it rings hollow for its lack of concrete material. Emotional appeals will only carry you so far. I hate to say it, but thus far he is an empty suit.