The Shape of Things to Come

Nina Mays clumsy article referenced earlier is just one of many signs that the Republicans don't intend to take it easy on Barack Obama. Paul Krugman over at the New York Times, who's not a Obama supporter, notes this trend and predicts it will continue.

. . . I know that both the Obama campaign and many reporters deny that he has received more favorable treatment than Hillary Clinton. But they’re kidding, right? Dana Milbank, the Washington Post national political reporter, told the truth back in December: “The press will savage her no matter what ... they really have the knives out for her, there’s no question about it ... Obama gets significantly better coverage.”

If Mr. Obama secures the nomination, the honeymoon will be over as he faces an opponent whom much of the press loves as much as it hates Mrs. Clinton. If Mrs. Clinton can do nothing right, Mr. McCain can do nothing wrong — even when he panders outrageously, he’s forgiven because he looks uncomfortable doing it. Honest.

Bob Somerby of the media-criticism site dailyhowler.com predicts that Mr. Obama will be “Dukakised”: “treated as an alien, unsettling presence.” That sounds all too plausible.

Daily Howler is a great site, and neither it nor Krugman are wrong. The right wing will have to do quite a little tap dance, both attacking Obama for being sort of like a Muslim and avoiding charges of bigotry (and if they get on other aspects of his race, it will be even worse). But they will attack the hell out of him; it's what they do.