Ah, the Iowa caucus. Such an innocent time, when race and gender weren't issues, nobody knew who Mike Huckabee was, and our biggest concern was the war in Iraq.
What? What do you mean that was only three weeks ago?
Somehow in the span of three weeks we've seen the Democratic race degenerate into some sort of race war and the Iraq war take a backseat to the economy. Three weeks ago everything was fine, there was nothing wrong with the economy. Three weeks ago Obama was something of a long shot running against the Clintons (yes, he is running against both of them). Now here we are, older and wiser, somewhat jaded already to this year's political going-ons.
How the hell did we get here?
I'll admit that is a bit of a rhetorical question, I have a pretty good idea how we got here. Still, it somewhat disturbs me how much the mainstream media dictates what is and is not important to the American people. I would be willing to bet at least 75% of the public did not have a concern in their heads about a recession until news outlets started going on about it ad nauseum. Now we are approaching mass hysteria, but don't worry, we also have a stimulus package! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the American public has come to the realization that the economy is about to go horribly wrong, but I can't help but wonder if the economy hadn't become the topic du jour if anyone would be thinking about it. Would we all still be stuck on Iraq?
Contemplate this; in the span of three weeks we have gone from an administration saying the economy is hunky-dory to one who is waiting on Senate approval for a stimulus package to help the economy. You also didn't hear any Presidential candidates (except Paul) talking about the economy. Now we all know the economy didn't go sour in just the past three weeks, so why the sudden shift in concern? Oh yeah, the TV told me the economy is the biggest problem facing me now.
I can't blame the Bush administration for acting as it has. Bless their hearts, they denied there was anything wrong until they couldn't deny anymore. Its an election year damnit, they had to do something quick to make it look like they had a handle on things. The media done went and told everyone we're heading for a recession, the villagers will be at our door with torches any minute. I know, let's give them some money we don't have! That'll shut them up fix the problem. Woo-hoo.
On to the race issue. I think this bothers me more than the economy issue as far as the media is concerned. Why does it seem like the mainstream media is hell-bent on turning the Democratic race into a race war? Every minute quote that can be taken out of context and misconstrued into being a racial slur they take and run with as the lead story on the evening news. I know racism makes for good TV, even better than the economy, but don't they see what they're doing? It's ugly, it's sick, and we should be far past this as a society. The media should be ashamed of themselves for stooping so low. Yes, race is an issue in this race and it would be disingenuous to pretend that it isn't. To take it this far and make the race all about race is shameful and ugly. There are much bigger issues on the table that are getting overlooked in the mad rush to analyze everything that is said about Obama for racial undertones.
Yes, it is scary how much the media dictates the tone of the nation isn't it?
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I am the co-founder of the pro-Constitution website Ron Paul Chronicles, http://ronpaulchronicles.com/
We haved vowed that no matter what happens in the 08 elections to carry on the revolution and point out when our beloved Constitution is being tread upon and name the names of the people doing it.
The revolution will be documented!
2008 J Monroe, all rights reserved.