The Liberal Media: Overprotecting Obama

So Obama botched the whole toasting-the-queen thing in London this week. It’s not exactly breaking news, and it’s ultimately very unimportant to policy-making. But the reaction to his gaffe by liberals in the American media is more proof of their ongoing love-affair with our sitting president.

In case you haven’t heard, President Obama was in the middle of giving a toast to the queen when the Royal Band started playing “God Save the Queen.” He had asked everyone to rise (According to the “English rules”, that means it’s time for the national anthem.), and British Royal protocol says to wait until after the national anthem has finished playing before toasting. Despite the fact that the music had started playing, Obama continued with his prepared speech and then raised his glass to give a toast to the queen. Embarrassingly enough, however, he was the only one with his glass in the air. Everyone else, including the Queen who was sitting next to him, was still standing at attention for the National Anthem. When Obama realized his mistake, he set his glass down and awkwardly listened to the rest of the song. Finally, when the anthem was over, everyone raised their glasses in a toast to the Queen.

It’s been interesting to watch how everyone in the media decided to cover this. They’re saying the band misinterpreted the cue from President Obama. They’re suggesting the band should have waited till after Obama was finished speaking before they played the national anthem. Many of them criticized the queen for not helping Obama out, for not lifting her glass so he didn’t look stupid for being the only one in the room with his glass in the air.

Let me make this clear. I am criticizing the media here, not Obama. In all reality, could this have happened to anyone? Sure. Is a gaffe like this important to national or international relations? Probably not. Do I hope my fellow conservatives don’t take advantage of this opportunity to make a mockery of our president by lowering themselves to the level of the liberal media every time something like this ever came close to happening to Bush? Absolutely.

It’s the media that doesn’t make sense here. If Obama really is the amazing president they believe him to be, why should they have to make excuses for him? Shouldn’t he be able to dust himself off on his own every time something like this happens? If he’s so amazing, shouldn’t he be able to whip out a good joke and laugh at himself like Reagan would have done? According to their own larger-than-life view of him, he should be able to handle it. He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. He’s more than a big boy. He’s the president of the free world, the president who has the power to usher in hope and change. Why should the queen or the people of England (who were simply following custom and tradition) have to help him out?
You’d think, right? The problem is that Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Chris Matthews, etc. all invested everything into Barrack Obama. They raised him up and supported him and helped him get elected by not only voting for him but by ignoring any and all stories that suggested he was anything less than the greatest president this country would ever see.

The liberal media’s relationship to Barrack Obama reminds me of parents who refuse to believe there is anything wrong with their kid. Whether it’s poor grades, disruptive behavior, bullying, etc., some parents get defensive when a teacher, coach, church leader, or someone else tells them their kid has problems that need to be addressed. The parents don’t want to believe the truth, because it hurts. They’d rather have the short-term satisfaction of ignoring a problem than enjoy the long-term fruits of being humble enough to listen to constructive criticism that others lend them.

There’s nothing inherently bad about a kid acting up in class at school, just as there’s nothing inherently bad about Obama toasting the queen too early. Mistakes are part of life. But if you ignore your own or those of someone you love, you’re not doing anyone a favor. If the media really had Obama’s long-term interest as a president in mind, they would report the objective truth about these gaffes he seems to find himself in. Their “mother hen” status is really starting to show through. It’s showing through them, and it’s showing through Obama’s followers, from academia to Hollywood. They’re all beginning to realize (as they look at the economy, the war on terror, immigration, his handling of natural disasters, etc.) that he’s not the superhero they thought he would be. And they’re scared of what it means for them and their careers.