The news media are giddy with excitement as Barack Obama’s Inauguration Day approaches.
But it would be a mistake to think reporters are always so worshipful of new presidents. While most presidents do start with a media honeymoon, a review of the past 20 years finds reporters are more celebratory when Democrats are taking over the White House, while coverage of GOP inaugurals has included a fair number of anti-conservative stinkbombs:
■ 1989. President George Bush; ABC’s Richard Threlkeld went to Overtown, a riot-scarred area of Miami, for Inauguration Day: “a lot of those who lived through this week in Overtown seemed to think the best thing about George Bush is that he is not Ronald Reagan,”
On NBC, anchor Bryant Gumbel praised Bush’s speech as signaling “a new activism, a new engagement in the lives of others, a yearning for greater tolerance....Basically a rejection of everything that the Reagan years had been about.” [but Bush won]
■ 1993. Bill Clinton; The New York Times asked in a January 3, 1993 headline: “Clinton as National Idol” Newsweek magazine ran TV ads touting its commemorative edition “that’s sure to be a collector’s item because it covers the most important inauguration of our lifetime.”
■ 1997. Clinton-2; second inaugural inspired just as much hero-worship. Howard Rosenberg reviewed Clinton’s speech for the Los Angeles Times: “His sturdy jaw precedes him. He smiles from sea to shining sea. Is this President a candidate for Mt. Rushmore or what?...”
■ 2001. Bush 43: NBC’s Maria Shriver emphasized “millions of people who felt disenfranchised by this election, who don’t feel that he’s their President” [despite 18 recounts and a Supreme Court decision]
■ 2005. Bush43-2; ABC’s Terry Moran worried “In a time of war and natural disaster, is it time for a lavish celebration?” The AP’s Will Lester “22 million children in regions devastated by the tsunami [i.e., outside the US] Do we need to spend this money on what seems so extravagant?”
ABC’s Web site pleaded for tips of “any military funerals for Iraq war casualties scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20.” Sure enough, then-ABC anchor Peter Jennings got his wish to report how “just about the time the president was speaking, there was a funeral for a young Marine reservist: 21-year-old Matthew Holloway was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb.”
I wouldn't look for the networks to use such tactics to sour Obama’s celebration.
[Pattern? Trend? You're imagining it - move along.
BTW: the "45 million" cost figure the nets keep referring to is only what Obama’s 'inaugural committee' will be spending - the overall costs are expected to be closer to 150M$: At $150m, Obama inauguration could be most expensive ever ]
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