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What goes up must come down. That is an experience Barack Obama is making right now. Gone are the days when it seemed like the world media were entangled in a love affair with the candidate. In those days, it seemed like no story about Obama could be published that did not include a comparison of him to either JFK oder MLK. No story could go online without declaring that he represented the "politics of hope."
Epitomizing the Obama swoon was conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks. "It may not be personally convenient for him, but the times will never again so completely require the gifts that he possesses. Whether you’re liberal or conservative, you should hope Barack Obama runs for president," Brooks wrote in October 2006, calling the Illinois senator a "new kind of politician."
Less than two years later, disappointment has set in. In his latest column titled "How Obama Fell to Earth", Brooks notes that "Obama has emerged as a more conventional politician and a more orthodox liberal."
Brooks is not alone. The media are taking a second look at the candidate. Statements or actions by Obama that wouldn't have been newsworthy a year ago now make the headlines.
Is that fair? Perhaps not, but who said it would be. |
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