Idolatry Versus
Ideology
The
news media do not usually cover news media. They are a club. They are
perhaps the most insular profession in America. There might be
pecking orders and rivalries and jealousy but they are good at
keeping their grievances in-house. They like to refer to one another
as colleagues.
Bernard
Goldberg reminds us that there is no secret handshake. None is
needed. In this finely-screened guild, dissidents are not recruited
or welcomed. They often graduate from good schools but nonetheless
they do have dimwits in their ranks. They are not necessarily stupid
but they will consciously promote stupidity when duty calls.
Members
of the news media are haughty and cavalier and every word in the
thesaurus for both haughty and cavalier accurately describes them. No
exceptions. They are parochial and provincial and every word in the
thesaurus for both parochial and provincial accurately describes
them. No exceptions.
Smugly
superior, tirelessly loyal to their clan, secular in the extreme.
Secularists are notoriously vulnerable to cult leaders. Offbeat
religions have much better success recruiting at Harvard or Yale than
at Brigham Young or Oral Roberts. The Cult of Obama would find the
ranks of the secularist media to be their Happy Hunting Ground.
Observers
might denounce media bias but they often mistake loyalty to proper
noun for loyalty to principle. In the case of Barack Obama, idolatry
is often mistaken for ideology. The Obamacist media practice
unconditional love for their beloved leader.
A
purely objective press has never existed. We have discussed press
prejudices and how they have evolved over time. Yes, there has always
been a bias against dissent, an endorsement of pack journalism for
the good of the pack. What was absent until 2008 was an ongoing
consensus on behalf of matters related to one man and his agenda.
The
news media might have been chummy and sniffy but they were also
independent. Even during times of war—World War II being the
possible exception—news media expressed diverse viewpoints. That is
no longer the case.
“Mysticism
is unifying. Reason is divisive. “ So says Thomas Szasz. Ideology
has its limits. An idea as simple as “the government should help
the poor” immediately encounters an obstacle course. How do we help
the poor? Should we first help those who help themselves? Should we
first help those who cannot help themselves? Should we first help
those who will not help themselves in hopes of lifting their spirits?
Should we help poor people find work or just give them cash? Would it
be better to give poor people food stamps and free education and
subsidized housing than to give them cash? Should we help intact
families more than single mothers or vice versa? Reason divides.
George
Patton said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't
thinking.” To that, our news media reply in unison “Yes we can!”
For many journalists, Obamacism is their first religious experience.
For most journalists, Barack Obama is the only deity they love and
revere. For all members of the Fourth Estate, Obamacism is the only
religion that matters.
Issues
do not matter to the Obamacist. Candidate Obama excoriated President
Bush for his profligacy, “two wars on a credit card...Bank of
China credit card...” more references to credit cards, calling
deficits unpatriotic, etc. President Obama would ultimately spend
more rapidly and more recklessly than any president in history,
arguably with little or nothing to show for it. The press are behind
their deity all the way, They are zealots, not ideologues.
President
Obama bears no resemblance to Candidate Obama in 2008 or even
Candidate Obama in 2012 when the press adroitly assisted the
incumbent in running against his own record. Republicans. The Tea
Party. Congress. His rivals who acted as rivals. Rush Limbaugh. These
entities all served as scapegoats for the Administration's ongoing
failure. Never is anything the president's fault. Never.
The
Obamacist media mob praised the Affordable Care Act without reading
it. Through executive order and Secretarial fiat, the ACA morphed and
shape shifted and evolved into something much different from its
legislative form. The chorus backed their deity every step of the
way. Changes in law were but words on paper. Love and worship of
their leader is all that mattered.
Previous
executives waffled or flip-flopped. Barack Obama pivots and grows and
evolves. Never indecisive, always reflective. One Obamacist even
coined a term to prop up their divinity: He leads from behind.
Unconditional love. Unending loyalty. Consensus achieved.
Obamacism
is a media-created, media-generated, media-fed religion. A land of
skeptics found its savior. Finally, there was someone worthy of their
deference. We will examine the techniques of persuasion and deception
that made Obamacism possible. We need to reemphasize Obamacism's
universal support from the Fourth Estate. Their unanimous, total and
unending loyalty has made the impossible a reality.
