John Edwards Lost In The Media Shuffle?

A presidential election is not the time for pettiness, but is a white male politician really in a position, ever, to complain about the amount of media attention he's getting because of the combination of his race and gender? Should we be boohooing for John Edwards because the media has painted what is essentially a three-person race to be a two-person one?

We live in a political culture dominated by celebrity journalists covering celebrity politicians. Big media want to consort with the big stars — currently New York Sen. Clinton (plus Bill) and the charismatic Illinois Sen. Obama (with Oprah in his entourage). One recalls Angela Lansbury's quip when television executives in Los Angeles canceled her very popular show. "Nobody in this town watches 'Murder, She Wrote,' " the actress said. "Only the public watches."

Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden recently hit the nail on the noggin as he explained why a candidate as experienced as he gets so little attention. After all, polls show that in a general election, Biden would run even with leading Republicans Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. Democrats, Biden said, have a talented woman and a talented African American, and "they've sort of sucked all the oxygen out of the air."

I don't believe that John Edwards is fighting some losing battle with U.S. journalists. I think he gets quite a bit of press, and if he brought it like I'm confident, being a moderate J.E. fan, he could, I'm sure the media would be more than happy to place him up on the Obama/Clinton pedestal. For now, he and/or his supporters can continue to play the race/gender card as much as they want, but it's a hard sell (at least, to moi) when you're living in a country where the elected officials are overwhelmingly white males. If a voter wants to learn more about a candidate that's not a frontrunner, there are lots of resources out there for them. People shouldn't be relying on soundbites and who appears on Ellen and Oprah to be helping them make their voting decisions, anyway. [SI]

Dec 4, 2007 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · 6 Responses

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Tagged: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Edwards, Politics, Race & Gender

Comments (6)

No. 1 · Brian

The real reason he's not getting enough attention is b/c he's bringing the fight to the establishment. Corporate news does not want that. Obama may talk like a progressive, but he's not the brawler Edwards is.

Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 4:16 pm

No. 2 · daria

No. It's because he's a self-righteous trial lawyer who built his wealth off the system yet criticizes it now. Ooops. That's why I don't like him.

He, like Obama and Ron Paul have rock star status with his supporters, but unlike Obama, these two don't have a shot.

I love Ron Paul by the way and I'm not an Obama supporter.

Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 6:46 pm

No. 3 · blackmistressdiva

Yea, Ron Paul is great. Crazy (black helicopter theories) sometimes, but great. I just love to see him talk. He strikes me as the type of guy who might get frustrated and just walk off stage. I'm still waiting for him to do that.

Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 6:52 pm

No. 4 · daria

My top 3:
1. Clinton
2. Ron Paul
3. against my better judgment, Biden

Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 6:57 pm

No. 5 · blackmistressdiva

I don't have a top anything. Just one. But she better step up the game and stop being afraid of coming off as a bitch. She's taking some big hits and is afraid to come back hard b/c she is already seen as "mean" (which is totally untrue). Hillary needs to stop playing nice and coy and show them that if they thought she was a bitch before, they ain't seen nothing yet.

On the repub side, I like Huckabee except for the abortion thing and the evolution thing. Other than that, he's great. :-/

Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 7:11 pm

No. 6 · heykids

"who built his wealth off the system yet criticizes it now."???

If you read the accounts of some of his major trials, in his book "Four Trials", he went after big companies who tried to get away with dangerous practices even after adults and children were getting severely injured as a result. These are the types of checks and balances we need in a society like ours where the corporation wields way too much power and influence and the average citizen suffers because of it.

Sounds more like standing up against the system on behalf of the people.

Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 11:14 am

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