# Is it true that Obama "should" be way more ahead than he is now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 4, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849 "2008-08-04T22:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/41 "2008-08-06T02:53:47Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Fairly provocative and perhaps insightful. Strangely, I think he might do well to talk about his mother’s family more. I think it would help to give him a better sense of roots and less “otherness.” [/QUOTE] Yeah ok, he can throw more of his white family under the bus, by saying ANYTHING about them of course. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/42 "2008-08-06T03:09:17Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] Yeah ok, he can throw more of his white family under the bus, by saying ANYTHING about them of course. [/QUOTE] Why would that be throwing them under the bus? There’s a good story there. His mother’s family was absolutely middle America. His grandfather and uncles all fought in WWII. They are his real family, both by nature and by nurture. All the public ever hears about is his African, “Muslim” father, who he left him when he was two and who he barely knew. His real roots are pure Americana. He should emphasize that more. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/43 "2008-08-06T05:48:31Z")
I don’t put any stock at all into TV polls. The media will always choose the poll numbers closest to even, because they want to make it sound like a tight race. “Who’s gonna win! Stay tuned to find out! (And buy our sponsor’s products!)” It’s okay, though. I’m actually against the reporting of polls which predict a large victory margin, since that could potentially cause millions of voters to stay home thinking their candidate will win for sure. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/44 "2008-08-06T11:35:33Z")
It is nearly 4 months until November. A lot can happen between now and then. I do not think McCain’s ads will make any difference They turn me off. I think the world,economic situation will all make the difference in November. Monavis ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/45 "2008-08-06T11:52:44Z")
[QUOTE=monavis] It is nearly 4 months until November. A lot can happen between now and then. [/QUOTE] You might want to flip a page on your calendar. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/46 "2008-08-06T14:25:28Z")
[QUOTE=KGS] I don’t put any stock at all into TV polls. The media will always choose the poll numbers closest to even, because they want to make it sound like a tight race. [/QUOTE] This is nonsense. Polls are not cheap: TV news doesn’t have the luxury of paying for a poll and then shelving it because it isn’t exciting enough. They use the polls, but spin them to make them exciting. If there’s no news in the poll, they do make news: “Obama’s 8 point lead in the polls has continued for seven months straight… BUT CAN HE KEEP IT UP? Here to talk about it is Chuck Todd and Larry Sabato…” ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/47 "2008-08-07T10:50:54Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] You might want to flip a page on your calendar. 😉 [/QUOTE] So it’s 3 months that is still a lot of time. Mc Cain has already turned me off with his immature ads. Maybe that will change, Who knows? Monavis ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/48 "2008-08-07T12:13:02Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] This is nonsense. Polls are not cheap: TV news doesn’t have the luxury of paying for a poll and then shelving it because it isn’t exciting enough. [/QUOTE] I took **KGS** ’s remark to mean that they’ll report on whichever of the latest polls from other organizations is closest. If Gallup is Obama +5 and Rasmussen is +2, we get “Dead heat in Rasmussen poll!”. If Gallup is +1 and Rasmussen is +5, we get “Gallup’s nine point lead _vanished!!_” When Newsweek has that poll with Obama +15, all we heard was how the poll _had_ to be wrong (which I agree with). A couple weeks later when Newsweek had it closer to Obama +6, the story was “Obama LOST 9 points in the Newsweek poll! What happened??” with no mention of its previous dismissal as an outlier. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/49 "2008-08-07T13:47:03Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] Halo Wars has no official release date, Phish broke up years ago, Quantum of Solace doesn’t come out until November 7th and MySpace is only used by people too young to vote. Ladies and gentlement, I present to you the next President of the United States, Barack Obama! [/QUOTE] Well, there’s always Halo 3… ---
**Author:** ![ManiacMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@ManiacMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManiacMan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/50 "2008-08-07T14:55:53Z")
With regards to the OP… I would say yes he should be more ahead than he is right now, but only because the entire mainstream media has decided to back Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/51 "2008-08-07T15:27:32Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] With regards to the OP… I would say yes he should be more ahead than he is right now, but only because the entire mainstream media has decided to back Obama. [/QUOTE] Thanks for bringing the funny this morning, I needed a good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![ManiacMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@ManiacMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManiacMan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/52 "2008-08-07T22:21:30Z")
Laugh all you want now… [http://journalism.org/node/12009](http://journalism.org/node/12009) Read it and weep. > [@](#): > > Last week, Obama was a significant presence in 83% of campaign stories studied, vs. McCain in 52%. (To be a significant presence in a story, 25% of the story must be about that person.) > [@](#): > > That advantage for Obama is only slightly higher than what he has enjoyed throughout this early phase of the general election period. In the six weeks since Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign and the general election phase began, Obama has been a significant factor in 78% of the stories and McCain in 51%. The closest they have come in coverage was the week of June 30 through July 6, when Obama enjoyed an 11 percentage point advantage (73% of stories about Obama vs. 62% for McCain). The media LOVES him…and is guilty of force-feeding Obama to all who care to listen/watch. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/53 "2008-08-07T22:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] Laugh all you want now… [http://journalism.org/node/12009](http://journalism.org/node/12009) Read it and weep. The media LOVES him…and is guilty of force-feeding Obama to all who care to listen/watch. [/QUOTE] Umm in all fairness a lot of McCain’s commercials are about Obama. So if Obama has more coverage it is partly McCain’s fault for talking about Obama when he should be talking about himself. If there is one thing that Obama and McCain both agree on, it’s that Obama deserves more airtime. I can’t tell you how many McCain banner ads I see online that are pictures of Obama’s face. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/54 "2008-08-07T22:34:25Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Why would that be throwing them under the bus? There’s a good story there. His mother’s family was absolutely middle America. His grandfather and uncles all fought in WWII. They are his real family, both by nature and by nurture. All the public ever hears about is his African, “Muslim” father, who he left him when he was two and who he barely knew. His real roots are pure Americana. He should emphasize that more. [/QUOTE] Why was it throwing her under the bus last time? Because people wanted to create a narrative that he’s eeeevvvviiiiillll of course. It doesn’t have to be rational, it just has to be a clever sound bite. There are plenty of parrots who hate him, it’s not about actually having a real opinion it’s about group identity. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/55 "2008-08-07T22:41:32Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] Laugh all you want now… [http://journalism.org/node/12009](http://journalism.org/node/12009) Read it and weep. The media LOVES him…and is guilty of force-feeding Obama to all who care to listen/watch. [/QUOTE] Most of the Obama coverage is negatice, so I wouldn’t call getting _more_ of it an advbantage. The assertion that the media loves Obama is pure moonshine. The media loves Mccain and has been doing everything it can to chop Obama down to size while polishing Mccain’s apple and glossing over his many gaffes and shortcomings. Imagine what the media would be doing to Obama if were an admitted serial adulterer who had dumped his first wife for a beer heiress because she’d lost her looks in a car accident. Imagine what the media would do to Obama if his wife was a drug addict who had admitted stealing from her own charity. Never ending media assassination is not an advantage. It’s to Obama’s credit that McCain’s media advantage has not significantly damaged him. ---
**Author:** ![ManiacMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@ManiacMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManiacMan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/56 "2008-08-07T23:41:22Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Most of the Obama coverage is negatice, so I wouldn’t call getting _more_ of it an advbantage. The assertion that the media loves Obama is pure moonshine. The media loves Mccain and has been doing everything it can to chop Obama down to size while polishing Mccain’s apple and glossing over his many gaffes and shortcomings. Imagine what the media would be doing to Obama if were an admitted serial adulterer who had dumped his first wife for a beer heiress because she’d lost her looks in a car accident. Imagine what the media would do to Obama if his wife was a drug addict who had admitted stealing from her own charity. Never ending media assassination is not an advantage. It’s to Obama’s credit that McCain’s media advantage has not significantly damaged him. [/QUOTE] Quoted for complete and total BS. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/57 "2008-08-07T23:44:34Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Most of the Obama coverage is negatice… [/QUOTE] Got a cite for that? The last time someone posted that, he cited a study done that actually said the vast majority of the coverage was neutral, and that the majority of the commentary was negative, although the commentary was a tiny fraction of the total coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/58 "2008-08-08T00:31:36Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Got a cite for that? The last time someone posted that, he cited a study done that actually said the vast majority of the coverage was neutral, and that the majority of the commentary was negative, although the commentary was a tiny fraction of the total coverage. [/QUOTE] [Cite](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/29/obamas-network-honeymoon-ending-study-finds/). > [@](#): > > Mr. Obama is getting more negative coverage than his Republican rival on network evening news shows, according to a study released Monday by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). > > But broadcasters were not all that kind to Republican John McCain either. > > Almost three quarters - 72 percent - of recent stories about Mr. Obama featured on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News’ “Special Reports” were negative, the study found, compared with 57 percent that were critical of Mr. McCain. There you go. 72% of the coverage of Obama is negative. Fox, of course, is even worse: > [@](#): > > Mr. Obama did even worse on the Fox News Channel´s “Special Report,” which runs nightly on the Fox cable network. > > The stories about him were 79 percent negative and 21 percent positive. Mr. McCain did better on Fox: 61 percent of the stories on him were negative, 39 percent positive. There you go, **Maniac man**. If you actually paid attention to the coverage instead of just swallowing whatever Sean Hannity tells you, you’d know that. I don’t know where this myth that the media loves Obama even comes from. When do they ever say anything positive about him? McCain’s wife steals from a charity to support a drug habit and they ignore it. Obama’s wife says she’s proud of her country and they go after her with a rope. The coverage is so one-sided it’s a joke, and the empirical evidence bears me out. It’s not my opinion that most of the Obama coverage is negative. It’s a demonstrable fact. ---
**Author:** ![ManiacMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@ManiacMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManiacMan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/59 "2008-08-08T02:52:40Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] [Cite](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/29/obamas-network-honeymoon-ending-study-finds/). There you go. 72% of the coverage of Obama is negative. Fox, of course, is even worse: There you go, **Maniac man**. If you actually paid attention to the coverage instead of just swallowing whatever Sean Hannity tells you, you’d know that. I don’t know where this myth that the media loves Obama even comes from. When do they ever say anything positive about him? McCain’s wife steals from a charity to support a drug habit and they ignore it. Obama’s wife says she’s proud of her country and they go after her with a rope. The coverage is so one-sided it’s a joke, and the empirical evidence bears me out. It’s not my opinion that most of the Obama coverage is negative. It’s a demonstrable fact. [/QUOTE] First, I don’t even watch Fox news… According to the cite you linked Obama was indeed the media-darling during the period of the campaign from January 8th until HRC dropped out June 7th. In the same time period John McCain’s was only 34% positive (v. 66% negative)…the obvious whipping-boy compared to Obama. The fact that Obama has been more visible since June 8th than McCain has nothing to do with an increased “negative” coverage? He now has 50% more coverage…of course it’s not all going to be “favorable”. He’s going to be asked more “tougher” questions and some pencil neck is going to mark that down as "negative-coverage-OMG! Oh and did you even read this: > [@](#): > > But now the networks are voting ‘no’ on both candidates," said CMPA director Robert Lichter. Sounds hardly one-sided to me. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849/60 "2008-08-08T03:13:49Z")
So you’ve got nothing, then. You made a claim that “the media loves Obama.” I proved you wrong. Obama’s coverage is more than 70% negative (usually focusing on complete bullshit like who his pastor is or whether he wears a stupid flag pin) The “liberal media” is a figment of right wing radio and paranoid redneck imagination. The media loves nothing more than trying to destroy Democratic politicians. I think even these counts are misleading. McW gets passes and help from the media that Obama would never get. No netweork would ever edit an Obama interview to remove all the factual fuck ups which is the treatment that McCain gets. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-obama-should-be-way-more-ahead-than-he-is-now/458849.md?page=4)