OBAMA PROMISED CHANGE -- CHANGE FROM BUSH AND CHENEY
SO WHY DO THE MEDIA
FOMENT FAUX CONTROVERSY?
I'm getting a little -- make that a lot -- annoyed at the well-paid
pundits around the TV dial, who continue to poke holes at Obama for
surrounding himself with a lot of people who've served in previous
Democratic administrations.
Their rationale is that Obama promised a new order and that his
taking counsel from many whose names are very familiar means he has
somehow fibbed or at best is backtracking on pledges made to the
American people.
I've written before how the media seem intent on doing whatever they
must to justify the huge salaries many of them enjoy -- especially
those in the stables of the broadcast networks and the major cable news
services. They're on the air almost daily and have to say something to
avoid the ever increasing presumption that maybe they're not all that
necessary. So, they pump up McCain after the third debate when it's
clear he pretty much imploded. They inflate Palin after her bout with
Joe Biden, because she was able to string coherent sentences together.
They just as venally and perhaps unfairly tear her to shreds using
unnamed McCain campaign workers as their sources.
And now they try to taint Obama by implying he has reneged at least
in part on his change philosophy. Yet, according to Webster's New
Collegiate Dictionary, change is defined as "To make radically
different. The act, process or result of changing."
To my mind, Obama wants to radically disassociate this country from
the habits and policies of the past eight years. To put into place
acts, processes and results far different from those we have
experienced under the administration of George W. Bush.
To accomplish this, he has surrounded himself with people who are
familiar with how to make that happen. Many were part of the Clinton
administration, which left us with high employment and a huge economic
surplus. Obama never delineated his definition of change to mean that
he wanted no one to join him who had ever served in Washington or
government at all. This is why it was rubbish when the media deflated
Obama's choice of the highly qualified Joe Biden by suggesting that the
selection was hardly an indication of change. All this while they
pointed to the real "change" exemplified by the inexperienced Sarah
Palin, a pick which made no sense at all irrespective of your political
views.
Obama wants change in our economy so that there are more employed,
more people don't lose their homes and investments remain secure for
the future. Obama wants change in our health care system so that
everyone is covered or has a chance to have reasonable options with
efficiencies built into the medical care conundrum. He wants a change
in our foreign policy, first and foremost to get us out of the morass
in Iraq. He wants to bring a sense of equilibrium to Afghanistan so
that we can get out of that mess, too. And he wants to restore the
esteem and respect we had among the world democracies. His election has
already achieved this last point in striking numbers.
To effect these goals he needs people who have been tested, who know
the territory and who have proven for the most part that they can
deliver positive results as they have in past administrations. True,
everything didn't go swimmingly in all instances, such as health care
and equality for our gay brothers and sisters. However, in direct
comparison I believe most would be relieved to have the kind of
personnel in place just prior to when Bush took office than the sort of
greedy and insensitive people with whom the current president and vice
president have surrounded themselves over the past two terms.
Change is coming no thanks to many in the media, who, perhaps
looking at the gloomy economic forecasts, are more concerned at being
downsized themselves. That's why I believe they keep yapping along in
the hope of keeping their inflated paychecks, getting tenured
university professorships and securing lucrative book deals.
Change is coming to our society, but I'd also like to see a bit of
change in the media's behavior to one that is not so transparently
self-motivated.
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