[kj] OT: Obama and Fox

[The Mighty TB]

nicholas fitzpatrick wrote:

This is the first time in ten years I've created a Gathering thread that's 
had more than three responses.

I was on holiday in the US on election night, which was cool, staying in a 
hotel in Burlington, Vermont. I was suprised in a positive way by the TV 
news in the US. I had been led to believe that US news is very parochial - 
what with only 15 Americans holding passports and 55% of them thinking China 
is a small district of Manhattan (joke guys, ok, just a joke) -but I thought 
the news reporting was as good as we get in the UK. There seemed to be a lot 
of international coverage, and in terms of Iraq/Afghanastan some coverage 
was given to non-US troops. Probably this should't be surprising but it was.

I binged on a lot of US TV. If anything annoyed me about it, it was that in 
almost every programme there seemed to be members of the public standing 
around shouting "boo-ya" a lot and waving at the cameras.

IN terms of Fox being allegedly anti-Obama, what about comdians that appear 
on the likes of chat shows, like SNL (though I don't know if that's Fox). 
Bush gave them loads of material, but I imagine these comedians are pretty 
liberal East/West coasters who would back Obama. Do they rip the shit out of 
Obama too, or have they had to find other material?

+++++++++++

I think the post-election afterglow is starting to wear off and a few 
comedians and network comedy shows like Saturday Night Live are taking 
tentative, soft jabs at Obama but nothing like what any other President in 
recent memory (not just Bush jr) has endured.  I think there's a healthy 
amount of anti-discrimination at work - no tv show or celebrity wants to 
really mock the President for "comedic value" and risk being labeled racist. 
The level of political correctness prevalent in our society basically 
shields most minorities from ridicule.  I believe people are starting to 
realize Obama wasn't and really can't be the savior many on the Left thought 
he'd be and are growing impatient with the slow pace he's moving on key 
issues.  Unemployment is still a major problem nationwide, the twin wars 
seem to be on autopilot and the gap between the wealthy and the middle class 
is dramatically wider while the gap between the middle class and truly poor 
is shrinking.

IMO, the media and most of the American people have taken a complete 180% 
turn from the past 8 years of viciously and openly loathing and attacking 
the previous administration to fawning blind admiration for the current one. 
There is no middle ground anymore.

T.B.