Ask Not . . . What the Press Can Do For Obama

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 4, 2008 8:48 AM

When Ted Kennedy backed John Kerry for president in 2003, no major newspaper outside Massachusetts bothered to cover it, and even the Associated Press kissed off the event with a 200-word item.

When Ted and Caroline Kennedy gave Barack Obama their political blessing last week, it was treated as the second coming of Camelot: live cable coverage, lead story on all the newscasts, anchors intoning the old JFK line that "the torch has been passed."

Why the difference? The liberal lion's embrace of the rookie senator seemed to wave away objections about Obama's inexperience and to serve as a repudiation of Hillary and Bill Clinton. But it would be hard to overstate the excitement of many journalists too young to have covered the Kennedy presidency, who see Obama as a charismatic champion of another New Frontier.

In short, some Kennedy envy may be at work here.

"The endorsement included two things that media people like: Barack Obama, and the memory and glamour of the JFK years," says Slate writer John Dickerson, whose mother, Nancy Dickerson, covered and socialized with the late president. "Kennedy loved the press, loved the back and forth. He made it a Hollywood show, and you wanted to be part of the show. You were on the team if you were with Kennedy."

Roger Simon, a Politico columnist, says Ted Kennedy is a strong campaigner but that the family "mystique" drove the story. "It was a Camelot moment," he says. "It was a huge, emotive outburst for the candidate who's won a lot of hearts in the press corps already. The fact is, we don't know how important it is."

If Kennedy had backed Clinton instead, it's hard to imagine he would have drawn the same blowout coverage as did his appearance with Obama at American University, which was so packed that some journalists couldn't get in. Indeed, Clinton's endorsement by Robert Kennedy Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was relegated to a mere footnote.

The story got huge play because it fit into a larger narrative involving Obama as an avatar of the politics of inspiration, as contrasted with what is depicted as the old-style Clinton "machine."

The Boston Globe referred to "Democratic royalty" and "past legends." MSNBC's Keith Olbermann asked Obama whether he was "being positioned as the John F. Kennedy of the 21st century." (Obama said he was "not comfortable" with the comparison.) Chris Matthews said the moment gave us "a glimpse of the early 1960s, when politics was alive."

"Barack Obama, touched by the legacy of Camelot," said CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"Ted and Caroline set to hit the campaign trail after they announce the heir to Camelot," said CBS's Harry Smith.

Camelot is a retrospective label, inspired by Jackie Kennedy after the assassination, when she told Theodore White of Life magazine that her husband had loved the song from the Broadway musical bearing that name. But JFK's thousand days was clearly a riveting time for the press corps.

Its members matched wits with the young president during the first news conferences televised from the White House. Columnists such as Joseph Alsop and Charles Bartlett gave Kennedy private advice (and hosted him at dinner parties) in ways that would be considered fatally compromising today. Kennedy himself leaked stories to favored scribes. He once grabbed Ben Bradlee, then with Newsweek, at a White House dance to tell him of a prisoner exchange with the Soviets, and briefed New York Times columnist James Reston immediately after a summit meeting with Nikita Khrushchev.

"He liked journalists a lot, and some of his best friends were journalists," says Bradlee, now a Washington Post Co. vice president. "We saw in him so much hope and promise. A lot of journalists did identify with him because of that. They knew he liked newspaper people." These days, he says, "you get the feeling with most of these guys that they hate the press."

Bradlee says only a couple of paragraphs in any given Newsweek story came directly from Kennedy, but that he and Time's Hugh Sidey would grouse if the president gave the other exclusive tidbits.

Obama, by contrast, has never cultivated close relationships with journalists, but some began likening him to JFK even before he formally entered the 2008 campaign.

While the glittering Oprah Winfrey endorsement was a huge media windfall for Obama, it was the 75-year-old Massachusetts senator -- and Caroline Kennedy, likening Obama to her father in a New York Times op-ed -- who provided a living link to the martyred president. The carefully leaked subplot -- that Ted Kennedy had warned Bill Clinton he was unhappy with his tactics, derided by critics as racially tinged -- added to the melodramatic plotline.

In case anyone snoozed through the coverage, Obama launched a television ad that began with black-and-white footage of Kennedy and closed with Caroline Kennedy's warm words.

"A lot of journalists have shining memories of JFK and Bobby, and always hoped someone would recapture it," says National Review Editor Rich Lowry. " 'Passing the torch' -- that gets all the high-end pundits really excited. With average voters, I can't believe that makes much of a difference."

At the same time, says Lowry, "the press hates Hillary. There's real glee over the prospect of being done with the Clintons."

Whether personal feelings are a factor or not, journalists surely love a good narrative, particularly during the 22-state blur that culminates with tomorrow's Super Tuesday voting. One factor hurting Mitt Romney, a clean-living governor's son and former CEO, is that he lacks a stirring personal tale. John McCain, by contrast, is the war hero who survived not just torture but all those premature political obituaries last summer. Clinton is the former first lady who overcame a husband's humiliation and would break the ultimate glass ceiling.

But Obama, born of a Kenyan father and Kansan mother, would shatter a racial barrier after 220 years of white presidents. His life story, at least as depicted in the media, makes every other candidate seem conventional. He may have been born seven months into Kennedy's presidency, but journalists have conferred the legacy on him anyway. That may be unfair to the other candidates, but as JFK famously said, "Life is unfair."

Fox Faceoff

Advisers to Hillary Clinton and John McCain felt misled yesterday when "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace prodded the candidates into talking to each other after they had agreed to be interviewed separately.

While McCain was being interviewed in Washington, Clinton aides grew suspicious when producers asked her to remain in the interview chair in St. Louis for 15 minutes--ostensibly so she could hear his comments--and refused to turn off her mike so she could have a private conversation. That enabled Wallace to tell McCain he was about to interview the former first lady and "well, actually, she's right there right now. Senators, do you want to say anything to each other?"

No harm was done--both candidates said they looked forward to a "respectful debate" if they face off in November--but the McCain side was particularly unhappy.

Hometown Hero

At Wednesday's Republican presidential debate, John McCain had a ready comeback when Mitt Romney said the senator must not be a conservative because the New York Times was backing him.

"Let me note that I was endorsed by your two hometown newspapers who know you best, including the very conservative Boston Herald. . . . I'll guarantee the Arizona Republic will be endorsing me, my friend."

It was a pretty safe bet; the Phoenix paper had endorsed McCain the previous Sunday.

But it was no sure thing last time around. During the 2000 campaign, the Republic editorialized about McCain's "volcanic" temper and said there is "reason to seriously question whether McCain has the temperament, and the political approach and skills, we want in the next president of the United States."

Editorial Page Editor Phil Boas says that eight years ago McCain "was still angry at the newspaper" in a dispute over coverage. "It was a very icy relationship, but there has been a real thawing in the last several years. It's a new cast of people here."

Waiting Too Long

"Nell and Wallace Crain, a couple who were featured in an Express-News Page 1A story and photo on 'the secret to a happy marriage,' died between the writing of the story last summer and its publication in the San Antonio Express-News on Monday. . . . The Express-News apologizes to family and friends of the couple, and to our readers, for the egregious omission."

The author, J. Michael Parker, retired from the paper after the fiasco.

Furthermore . . .

One day to Super Tuesday, and here's what's going on: McCain is predicting victory "as a cascade of Republican endorsements added to the sense that he is on the verge of knocking out former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday," the Chicago Tribune says.

Of course, that's only the case if you take endorsements seriously, which journalists do--sometimes too seriously.

Mitt's not catching a break here: "His chief opponent, Romney, who backed away from earlier refusals to say whether he would continue his campaign after Tuesday, spent most of Saturday attending the funeral of Mormon Church President Gordon Hinckley in Salt Lake City. The funeral cost Romney time on the campaign trail and served as a reminder of his faith to voters who are suspicious of the Mormon religion."

The NYT uses that same passive formulation, questioning whether Romney "can overcome the growing sense of inevitability that has begun to attach itself to Mr. McCain." As if the media are playing no role in the attaching.

Could we see a few upsets tomorrow? Rasmussen has Romney tying McCain in California, 38-38, and Obama essentially tied with Hillary in the Golden State, up 45-44. Didn't the media assume that Clinton and McCain, backed by Arnold, would win the state easily?

Mitt is getting it from both sides, the L.A. Times notes:

"Romney also withstood a withering new assault from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who called on him to drop out of the race. Huckabee ridiculed Romney as a recent convert to conservative ideals, saying he had rankled many by 'shouting 'Hallelujah' louder than the rest of us who have been in church a long time.' "

Is this, as reported by Politico, a sign of desperation:

"Rick Santorum, one of Mitt Romney's new, he-can-stop-McCain supporters, has recorded a tough robo-call for his candidate, raising the issue of the Arizona senator's temper. " 'As a conservative I don't agree with McCain on many issues and I don't think he has the temperament and leadership ability to move the country in the right direction,' Santorum says, sandwiching in the charge that has largely been absent from this campaign against McCain."

I bet that makes McCain mad!

Former McCain strategist John Weaver says Santorum "begged" Mac to campaign for him in 2006.

Why has the McCain-Romney battle gotten so personal? The LAT provides a clue:

"On Sept. 19, 2000, John McCain rose in the Senate to rail against what he called the 'staggering' sums that the federal government planned to spend to help Salt Lake City stage the 2002 Winter Olympics. 'The American taxpayer is being shaken down to the tune of nearly a billion and a half dollars,' McCain said.

"The Arizona Republican vowed to 'do everything in my power' to delay or kill 'this pork-barrel spending' and to end the 'fiscal abuse' related to the Olympics. 'This is preposterous and it must stop,' he said."

And who was running the Olympics? Willard Mitt Romney.

The Tribune, meanwhile, gives McCain a 43-20 lead over Romney in Illinois. No surprise that Obama is trouncing Hillary in his home state, 55 to 24.

What, asks the Boston Globe, does Hillary stand for?

"With so much on the line as 22 states go to the polls Tuesday, the passion that has gotten her through all those years in Washington, all those months on the campaign trail, has not yet come across in the form of a clear message to voters . . .

"Hillary Clinton's campaign has continued to try on -- and then quickly sweep out of view -- various themes and tactics, whether it was offering in-depth policy details, criticisms of her main rival Barack Obama, or attacks on President Bush.

"And up on a stage, even in a sea of thousands of cheering voters, Clinton continues to seem emotionally far away. She promises to get up every day in the White House and go to work for the American people, yet in place of soaring rhetoric or quiet inspiration, her most urgent, feverish applause lines remain small-bore, even disjointed promises, like 'high-speed Internet access across our country!' or 'enforce the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act!' "

Yayyy!

While plenty of conservatives are savaging McCain, Jonah Goldberg refuses to join them:

"This disaster talk leaves me cold. McCain wouldn't be my first pick. Then again, none of the candidates were really my first pick. But I think the notion that, variously, conservatism, the country or the party are doomed if he's the nominee or the president is pretty absurd.

"And I find such claims odd coming from some people who've insisted for a couple years now that the war on terror is the #1 overriding issue of this campaign. Some people who said as much, used that logic to support Rudy Giuliani. Maybe they were right that Giuliani would be a better wartime president than McCain. But, that's an argument that requires a pretty substantial leap of faith given Giuliani's very meager foreign policy experience (never mind that Giuliani is now endorsing McCain). I haven't heard anyone make a credible case that McCain wouldn't be a good commander-in-chief. So it's a bit hard to believe McCain would be a disaster given that he would be -- at minimum -- pretty good on the single most important issue facing the country."

Dick Polman rates the action at the Kodak Theater:

"Most cringe-worthy imagery: Democratic party leaders were not well served by CNN, which kept training its cameras on the Hollywood celebrities in attendance. Look, there's Diane Keaton wearing white gloves! And Stevie Wonder in cornrows! And Rob Reiner (twice)! Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are on stage trying to talk about the everyday vicissitudes of the average Joe . . . and, meanwhile, the cameras are focused on people who probably define 'poverty' as the inability to afford a Porsche Cayenne Turbo SUV. This kind of imagery hurts the Democrats in the heartland."

At Pajamas Media, Roger L. Simon says what many conservatives are saying privately--that Obama would be tough to beat:

"Hillary is lucky the primary is Tuesday. Another week and she could be toast. In the long run, she could be anyway.

"What does this mean for the Republicans? Nothing good. Running against Hillary would not be difficult for them. The country is experiencing Clinton fatigue and what with recent revelations like Bill's nuclear finagling in Kazakhstan (probably just the tip of an endless iceberg) Hillary presents them with an easy target and likely victory.

"Not so Obama. He is the 'cool kid' on the block and getting cooler. Everyone wants to be part of him. 'Yes, We Can' - a new video by Black-Eyed Peas featuring Scarlett Johansson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, among others -- although based on the usual campaign rhetoric, radiates an optimism about a future with and through Obama, which we haven't seen since Reagan, ironically.

"Furthermore, Obama's lack of record or experience, while obviously something any concerned voter should be concerned about, may be an advantage for him. There's less to shoot at.

"In a head-to-head, Obama's glamour could be lethal."

I don't doubt the ability of the other side to rough him up. But his cross-party appeal is clearly making the Republicans nervous.