McCain Hits the Sauce as Press Can't Take its Eyes Off Obama - MediaBizBuzz for July 28

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Cover image for  article: McCain Hits the Sauce as Press Can't Take its Eyes Off Obama -  MediaBizBuzz for July 28

Two months ago John McCain embarked on a fact-finding tour of the Middle East. What came out of it? Not much, apart from countless images of Lieberman whispering into his ear that, in fact, Sunni al Qaeda was notfunded by Shi'ite Iran. McCain's unimpressive performance had a counterintuitive effect -- upon his return he and his surrogates began to goad "his friend" and political rival Barack Obama to make a similar trip. Be careful what you wish for.

Last week that trip came to fruition, and far from highlighting the current meme of the media - that Obama's inexperience is risky -- the presumptive Democratic nominee ran the tables. And, what's more, fortune smiled upon him. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, in an interview with Der Speigel, seemed to endorse Obama's plan for a timetable for withdrawal. Even the White House, which tried to distort his remarks-- and have al-Maliki walk back from the statement, seemed to throw McCain under the bus, suggesting that there could be talk of, ahem, a "time horizon."

While Obama was gadding about, collecting new friends for Facebook in Sarkozy, Merkel, and Brown, McCain had the domestic stage to himself. Since the economy has been a weakness of McCain's -- and it is the #1 issue on the minds of voters -- he might have used Obama's absence as an opportunity to raise issues. Sadly -- for America - his campaign staged photo ops that were either ill-advised (a golf cart ride with 41, Papa Bush), preempted by bad luck (an oil spill), or mined as comedy gold (the applesauce avalanche in a PA supermarket).

Most disappointing to those of us who want to see both candidates at the top of their game was McCain's response to Obama's rockstar treatment by the media: Like a jilted lover who lost his "media base," his staff produced an "Obama Love" video -- that is until YouTube complied with a takedown notice by Warner Music Group for its infringing use of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You."

Ironically, while the Tyndall Report found that there was lopsided coverage with regard to number of minutes devoted to Obama over McCain (d'uh), the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University reported that between the three evening broadcasts (ABC, NBC, CBS) that Obama had been roughed up far more than McCain: Over the last six weeks, up until Obama left for overseas, they gauged that correspondents made positive statements for the Dem only 28% of the time, while they were "in the tank" for McCain 43% of the time. Are they overcompensating based on the perception that -- as David Brooks would have us believe -- 92% of all journalists are Obama supporters?

The dichotomy between the two campaigns last week was emblematic, not merely of the political season, but -- taking a page from Phil Gramm -- of our "mental recession." Without minimizing the pain that job loss, foreclosure, and inflation has caused our nation -- consider the stasis we're in and what will power us behind this recession. Last Tuesday in his Think Tank, Jack Myers took corporate America to task for ignoring brand relevance and placing stock in financial value to all exclusion. Just as the working poor are living paycheck to paycheck, public companies are living quarter to financial quarter. Looking from this framework, let's consider recent events in the economic sector, energy, technology, and media. In some cases, there's a way forward. Too frequently, however, we're just spinning our wheels.

At some point today, Mr. Bush will be signing into law -- no Rose Garden ceremony scheduled -- a housing bill that not only bails out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but it helps some 400,000 whose homes were in the path of foreclosure. This weekend Bloomberg reported that foreclosures had doubled in Q2, while with the cratering of housing prices some folks now owe more on their mortgages than the value of the houses. While some -- such as Lawrence Summers writing in the Financial Times -- find that the legislative oversight is not as disciplined as it should be -- there is little argument that the sub-prime industry preyed on people of color. Concerned by statements that it'll take a year for relief to arrive, Sen. Chris Dodd is meeting on Tuesday with a roster of players including the Treasury, FDIC, the Fed, and HUD to see that the FHA moves in a timely fashion.

While Nancy Pelosi wants to tap our strategic oil reserve and both George Bush and John McCain are aching to drill in ANWR, Thomas Friedman considersthe plans of (former) oilman T. Boone Pickens and Shai Agassi, evangelists for wind power and electric cars, respectively, and how together they might spark the political will for true support for alternative energy resources.

It's also instructive to look at how leading technology and media companies are responding in these volatile times. Shelly Palmer writes of Amazon and how it's -- with little fanfare -- morphing into a technology and cloud computing services company. The same admiration isn't owed Microsoft or Yahoo-- at least not today. Mediapost's Diane Mermigas makes a compelling case for an "economics of failure" and how the two companies are pursuing aggregate gains rather than transformative strategies. Yahoo! blames its poor performance on "external swirls related to Microsoft," while Ballmer himself failed to offer a Web strategy last week. Even innovative Apple attempted to lower expectations for next quarter due to a "key production transition," while terming the economic outlook as "depressive."

Amid a rash of takedowns on the New York Times based on its dismal figures-- this reportage in BusinessWeek and this column by BW's Jon Fine -- both pondering how CNET can possibly be worth more than the Gray Lady, some traditional outlets laid claim to the 21st century. The Associated Press just led a round of $3M investment in Verve Wireless, which creates mobile Websites for publishers. Then there's the imminent merger of XM and Sirius, to be finalized this Friday. While this has NPR and other non-commercial media outlets concerned that it will result in less choice for consumers, it's quite possible that satellite radio might have died without the FCC's blessing. In another 3-2 vote, the FCC will censure Comcast for throttling file-sharing traffic. Not that there's a whiff of consistency when it comes to acceptance of forward-looking technology: Rather than license or invest in Redlasso, NBCU and Fox decided to bully it out of existence.

On a lighter note, Jon Stewart makes hay here with the media in his Daily Show tutorial: How to tell Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden apart. It's sobering that it's such a rich vein to tap - with the likes of Chris Matthews and the AP confusing the one for the other -- but perhaps this will right the ship. One can dream.

Next week brings the opening of the Summer Olympics and an unofficial break from political campaigning. While most of us will be armchair athletes, let's use the event to inspire us. Excuses only go so far.

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