SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Infatuation with Obama; rage against Trump

Jul 7, 2017, 4:37 PM

President Trump and his supporters are absolutely right that there’s a glaring contrast between the way media treat this president and way the press handled his predecessor, Barack Obama.

With Obama, potentially devastating scandals — Benghazi, the IRS, Fast and Furious, the VA — never gained momentum; the press never blamed Obama personally when things went wrong in his administration. For Trump, he’s blamed personally for every embarrassment or disappointment under his watch, and media obsess over dubious charges that remain unproven. But conservatives are wrong to suggest that the treatment of Trump is exceptional. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also got rough handling by the press; it was the always-forgiving, generally glowing treatment of Obama that was exceptional, extraordinary.

Maybe it was his image as a “hip cool dude,” or his historical status as the first non-white president, but media infatuation with Obama set a dangerous precedent that distorts press-relations with the current administration.

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Infatuation with Obama; rage against Trump