CNN is warning Americans that already making Barack Obama into one of America's greatest "heroes" may not be a good idea. Despite the fact that Barack Obama has yet to take office, despite that he has yet to really do anything to earn that status, CNN is saying that "already, he's being compared to the most remarkable leaders."
It might make one amazed that now, after cheerleading for him for the last four years, CNN suddenly finds that calling Obama a hero is not necessarily the best idea. "The Americans who are comparing him to those remarkable predecessors," CNN warns, "are putting a lot of faith in a man they barely know."
And why do we "barely know" Barack Obama, CNN? Is it perhaps because the American media never took the time to vet this man? Is it because all we've gotten is hero worship from the media?
Still, CNN is quite right that putting Obama on a pedestal before he has even done anything is quite dangerous. In contravention to all of America's past notables that became national heroes after they actually achieved something above and beyond, the media has bestowed this status upon Barack Obama ahead of any such achievement. Unfortunately, this sort of sycophantic deification undeserved risks a crash-and-burn greater than that of any other public figure in history and also courts an increase in racial tension that might seem to have been tampered by his election. As Obama fails to live up to the glorified hype the fall back retort to detractors will be to claim that they are racists. This will not help the US at all.
I seriously hope that Obama is at least an adequate chief executive for these United States. If he is not, this country could be in a serious mess both socially as well as politically.
But, I am afraid that what we are seeing with this CNN report is an early example of the media attempting to claim that it "warned" us all that things might not be so wonderful in Obamalot, a sort of plausible deniability of their complicity of hiding his past so he could win election. Even as the media is a chief reason that Obama became president in the first place, some outlets have begun to act as if they are now interested in "truth" and the "news."
