There is also a certain elitism at work here. People who present stellar academic and intellectual credentials can bring many liberals, who are usually difficult to impress, to their knees. In this regard Barack and Michelle Obama are the new generation’s ultimate power couple. They possess Ivy League educations, complete with law degrees. The President worked as a law professor at the prestigious University of Chicago law school and Michelle served as Executive Director of Community Affairs for the university hospital after serving a stint as a practicing attorney at a downtown Chicago firm. The media stars see the Obamas as a couple of upper middle class high achievers just as they see themselves and they extend sympathetic coverage to their own class.
In addition to the class issue involved we can also see an undeniable racial strain just below the surface. Many reporters, anchors, and commentators believe that they will earn their liberal bonafides by showering effusive praise on this historically significant figure. Many of these same media personalities are too young to have covered the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s and they now see themselves as participants in the Final Act of this grand struggle. Also, many white reporters, anchors, and commentators who heaped ridicule, mockery, scorn and abuse upon George W. Bush and, to a lesser extent Bill Clinton would not dare to subject Barack Obama to the same type of character assassination for fear of the racial backlash.
Finally, and most convincingly, there is the question of ideological affinity. The first 100 days of his Presidency revealed Barack Obama as the most ideologically leftwing Chief Executive in American history. While he has disappointed some extreme liberals by not moving fast enough on their pet issues, this simply reflects those groups unrealistic expectations and does not change the fact that Obama has turned the nation sharply to the left. When liberal media figures see one of their own they will close ranks to protect that individual. Who can forget Eleanor Clift stating in 1992 that most reporters were willing to give candidate Bill Clinton wide latitude with the truth because they shared his basic ideological views?
So, people should not expect this love affair to end anytime soon. The public can expect more leg-tingling, more schoolgirl crushes, and more generally fawning media. The Barack Obama media honeymoon shows few signs of concluding. More likely this is one romance that will last until the tropic sun grows cold.