Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A news media double-standard in Obama oath flub

If it had been George W. Bush who had flubbed his own inaugural oath, the news media, pundits and comedians would be crowing about how stupid the man is. They'd actually be questioning the man's intellectual ability to do the job.

But when Barack Obama does it, the media seeks out explanations and lays most of the blame on Chief Justice John Roberts, a Bush appointee.

If I could ever get my colleagues to stop and listen to more than themselves, people who liked Bush -- including me -- or even members of his own party who got tired of him might see this as a continuing double standard in the media when it comes to the treatment of Democrats versus Republicans.

Truly, Bush would have been savaged. Obama has been excused.

A lot of Americans are watching, and the media are just going to lose more audience and readership if they continue with the bias -- on something so minor but in the future something major.

3 comments:

Litzz11@yahoo.com said...

Maybe because Obama did not flub the oath, John Roberts did. Obama waited for Roberts to correct himself, then repeated the oath correctly.

Apparently Roberts' attempt to wing it without notes didn't work as well as he thought it would. Though some say Roberts actually was making it more grammatically correct by putting "faithfully" in the wrong place, and that he's a little obsessive-compulsive about editing.

But regardless the error was Roberts;, not Obama's, and I don't think we should hold the Chief Justice up for national ridicule. Unless you really really want to, however.

t-goat said...

C'mon Tim, you are doing exactly what you are claiming your colleagues are doing. Obama knew the oath, the judge messed them up. Obama was gracious in how he handled it, trying not to embarrass the judge. You claim no lean, but this is another example of your severe lean to the right.

-Seattle Goat

Tony L. Williams said...
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