Journalism Can Wait

Hey, who needs journalism when we can fawn over Obama like he is some sort of figure from Greek mythology. We don't need no stinking reporting! Even media analyst Howard Kurtz has noticed:

Perhaps it was the announcement that NBC News is coming out with a DVD titled "Yes We Can: The Barack Obama Story." Or that ABC and USA Today are rushing out a book on the election. Or that HBO has snapped up a documentary on Obama's campaign.

Perhaps it was the Newsweek commemorative issue -- "Obama's American Dream" -- filled with so many iconic images and such stirring prose that it could have been campaign literature. Or the Time cover depicting Obama as FDR, complete with jaunty cigarette holder.

Are the media capable of merchandizing the moment, packaging a president-elect for profit? Yes, they are.

What's troubling here goes beyond the clanging of cash registers. Media outlets have always tried to make a few bucks off the next big thing. The endless campaign is over, and there's nothing wrong with the country pulling together, however briefly, behind its new leader. But we seem to have crossed a cultural line into mythmaking.

"The Obamas' New Life!" blares People's cover, with a shot of the family. "New home, new friends, new puppy!" Us Weekly goes with a Barack quote: "I Think I'm a Pretty Cool Dad." The Chicago Tribune trumpets that Michelle "is poised to be the new Oprah and the next Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis -- combined!" for the fashion world.

Whew! Are journalists fostering the notion that Obama is invincible, the leader of what the New York Times dubbed "Generation O"?

Each writer, each publication, seems to reach for more eye-popping superlatives. "OBAMAISM -- It's a Kind of Religion," says New York magazine. "Those of us too young to have known JFK's Camelot are going to have our own giddy Camelot II to enrapture and entertain us," Kurt Andersen writes. The New York Post has already christened it "BAM-A-LOT."

"Here we are," writes Salon's Rebecca Traister, "oohing and aahing over what they'll be wearing, and what they'll be eating, what kind of dog they'll be getting, what bedrooms they'll be living in, and what schools they'll be attending. It feels better than good to sniff and snurfle through the Obamas' tastes and habits. . . . Who knew we had in us the capacity to fall for this kind of idealized Americana again?"

But aren't media people supposed to resist this kind of hyperventilating?

Yes they are, and the beauty of this whole thing is that no mere mortal can possibly live up to the hype accorded to Obama. I'm sure the Jerusalem Times was all ga-ga over Jesus when he made his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, but let's not forget that by Friday they probably ran an editorial calling for his crucifixion. The media is a fickle friend at best for those it temporarily chooses to fluff.

There has been a remarkable lack of journalism committed during this campaign, unless of course you werre an obscure Alaskan governor whose every waking moment was dissected and analyzed and mostly condemned by those who claim to be objective reporters. They certainly never laid a glove on Obama when it might have counted for something. If there was any critical reporting, it didn't come until it was way too late to influence the outcome. No major media outlet wanted to be responsible for turning the election away from The One.

The honeymoon will end. No one can possibly meet the lofty expectations that have been written and reported about Obama. And when that day comes, the media will do one of the greatest tap dances ever seen as they try and pretend to be surprised by what they learn when they finally start digging.