CNN Aggressively Defends Obama Against 'Smear' On His Indonesian Schooling

CNN heavily promoted an "exclusive" last night with stories by John Vause and Howard Kurtz rebutting an Insight magazine article on Barack Obama’s Indonesian schooling, that it occurred in a "madrassa," with the on-screen graphic "DEBUNKING A SMEAR." Conservatives shouldn't defend journalism from conservative media outlets if the story doesn't stand up -- if it carries a lot of shaky anonymous sourcing and can easily and passionately be portrayed by liberal media outlets as a "smear." Insight's story seems underbaked, not ready to face prime-time liberals like last night's fusillade from Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper and Paula Zahn, who brought on CAIR, not Obama, for outrage over "Islamophobia."

The sad thing here is that Democratic candidates (and the Democrat-dominated media) will follow the usual Clinton formula: they'll  push outrage at unsubstantiated charges, and then not really press the candidate about the issues raised. Obama's Illinois church and religious beliefs (and his former lack of religious beliefs) are very interesting topics. Like everything about Obama, they need more investigation from the media and less exaltation. But the media will quickly suggest (and have suggested) that Obama's exotic upbringing makes him more qualified to understand the world. He has certainly pushed that line. Take this AFP wire story where race-transcending Obama touted to the reporter that he was "greatly influenced" by his Asian sojourn:  

When he was six years old, Obama's mother moved him to Indonesia for several years, which he said, left a lasting imprint on him during his formative years.

"It was very powerful. I had an Indonesian stepfather. I went to an Indonesian-speaking school," Obama, a first-term US senator representing the Midwest state of Illinois, said in an interview.

"It gave me an enormous appreciation for the magnificent culture and history of Asia. It gave me a great love for the people of Asia," said Obama, who had returned to his native state of Hawaii by the age of 10...

The son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother from the US heartland state of Kansas, Obama identifies himself as African-American and is seen by most Americans as such.

But supporters say he also is a multicultural figure who transcends race, thanks in part to a childhood spent in Hawaii, where he was born, and Indonesia.

Obama said that his Asia sojourn gave him a greater awareness of Washington's global power, and its huge impact on average people around the world.

"It made me appreciate the role that the United States can play for good and for ill in improving the economies and conditions for people around the world," he told AFP.

Indonesia's ambassador to Washington Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat told AFP that he hopes Obama's Indonesia childhood has made a "positive contribution" to relations between the two nations, given "the office that Senator Barack Obama holds, and the leadership he enjoys."

He added that the senator "possesses a large amount of wisdom, the strength of which plays a dominant role in shaping his perception of the international world."

Obama in 2005 sponsored US Senate legislation to increase America's preparedness for an avian flu pandemic -- a subject of personal interest in large part because of his firsthand experience of Asia.

"That was an area where my knowledge of Indonesia and its landscape and how poultry farming is done there probably triggered a better sense for me of how much of a threat it can be over the long term," Obama said.

While Howard Kurtz was graceful enough to acknowledge the obvious gooey media coverage Obama has generally attracted in his CNN report, it's a bit jarring to see Washington Times-punishing journalism from a reporter for The Washington Post, not just CNN. Insight's a long-standing project of the Washington Times Company.

And never forget: Obama benefited far more from sleazy journalism (remember the Chicago Tribune knocked his Republican opponent Jack Ryan out of the '04 race by poring over his divorce papers for salacious allegations) than he's suffered from it.