John Mulaa
26 October 2008
column
Nairobi — In TV ads, debates and on the campaign trail, US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama inevitably, at some point flashes the broad and winsome smile that has come to define his persona as much as his perfectly tailored suits, grasp of the subject matter at hand and oratorical skills, things not witnessed in American politics in a long time.
If I sound like an Obama groupie, I am not. Friends and foes alike who defend or castigate him have remarked upon these facts. What is beyond dispute is candidate Obama's attractiveness to the in various media. Which begs the question: Is Obama over-rated? Do his opponents and, I daresay, even some in his camp feel unevenly matched on those qualities?
Senator Hillary Clinton certainly felt the sting of unfavourable comparisons during the long drawn out party primaries. At one point, during their debate preceding the New Hampshire primary, the moderator asked Senator Clinton why her personality seemed to irritate some people.
She jocularly avoided the question but there was no mistaking that she took seriously that perception, and she intended to do something about it as the contest progressed.
Obama, unprompted, said that Clinton was "likeable enough." Whether his comment was intentional or maybe not wanting to draw distinctions between their personalities, it is said to have hurt Obama politically in the state -- where he was leading in the poll but he still went on to lose to Clinton by a few points. The young candidate (compared with Senator Clinton at 65, and rival John McCain, 72) learned his lesson and moved on.
Obama is undoubtedly conscious of the effect he has on people.
Few recent public figures -- except perhaps John Kennedy Jr, whose planned entry into politics in the footsteps of his father was cut short by a tragic plane crash -- has excited fashion and entertainment magazines as Obama has.
Hardly any such magazines in the United States and even Europe has not had the US presidential contender on its cover. He looks good on these cover and given the interest in his candidacy, the magazine sells.
Walking by any magazine stand in Washington DC, you will be amazed by the number that have Obama on the cover.
Ebony, the longstanding African-American entertainment-cum-lifestyle magazine, which has been apolitical until now, has carried Obama's picture on its cover countless times.
He has appeared on the covers of more magazines in the past year than some supermodels! Men's Vogue magazine that goes for good looks and sartorial elegance, had him on its cover two years ago this month on the eve of his entry into the presidential race. The pictures of Obama at work and with his family were taken by none other than celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Not everyone in Chicago thought it was a good thing. Some political consultants considered the photo display over the top. "The last time a guy had a build-up like this, he had 12 apostles around him," Chicago political analyst Prof Paul Green was quoted as saying in the media.
The article in the magazine did not compare the Illinois senator to Jesus. It did however revisit Obama's much-discussed 1980s decision to become a born-again Christian in a church ran by the controversial Rev Jeremiah Wright.
Obama also dominates the covers of "serious" news magazines. By my last count, Time Magazine had placed Obama on the cover no less than seven times in the recent past, more than any other American politician except President George Bush.
Even the Economist, that bastion of conservative pretension, has joined in the act and has put Obama on its cover twice in as many months.
As for television, Obama would have saturated the medium had he chosen to after he was elected to the Senate.
He is reported to have turned down hundreds of requests to appear on television, deliberately choosing to avoid creating the impression that he is mostly show and no substance. He wanted to claim a record as willing and able to do the hard legislative slogging out of the limelight.
Indeed, that strategy served the senator extremely well. After he got into the Senate, he set about cultivating relationships in the Chamber and demonstrating that he was a workhorse.
He impressed several powerful members including Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana who took the rookie senator under his wing taking him along on important trips abroad to review anti-nuclear proliferation work funded by the United States.
Senator Obama did not establish a home in or around Washington, preferring to return to his family in Chicago at the end of the week.
Moreover, he was writing a book, which meant he had very little time to spend with the media. On the other hand, it may have been simply a clever strategy to engage the media on his terms at the time of his choosing.
That is what it looks like in hindsight anyway. When Senator Obama hit the media circuit after announcing his candidature, he was received generously, too generously according to several of his detractors.
In fact, during the primaries, Sen Clinton played up the issue at one point, accusing the media of being too soft on her opponent and not asking him tough questions, the sort they directed at her.
Saturday Night Live, the satirical television programme famed for mocking the high and mighty, took up the gauntlet and did a spoof on how the press was treating Obama. The CNN political team were cast as Obama admirers if not followers.
In a mock joint interview with Senator Clinton, a CNN journalist castigated Clinton, cutting off her answers and allowing Obama to have his full say uninterrupted as the journalists nodded their heads in full agreement. In another spoof, a journalist broke into a song of praise for Obama instead of asking a question.
Obama defended himself and argued that the concerns about how the press treated him were calculated to deflect the attention of the press from his opponent.
The ploy worked and for a while the press became much harder on Obama. It was at that juncture in the primaries that the issue of Rev Wright and NAFTA, and Obama's supposed snooty attitude towards small town Americans' affinity to religion and guns, was mercilessly flogged. Obama was put on the defensive by the press. He spent days explaining himself.
By all accounts, he acquitted himself very well -- too well, some, especially in the McCain camp, would say.
The McCain camp complain nonstop that the mainstream media is in the tank for Obama.
Cindy McCain, wife of John McCain, recently complained that the New York Times had dug into her past and written an extensive piece about her past addiction to painkillers.
She wondered why the paper had not bothered to dig deep and expose Obama's acknowledged youthful dalliance with drug use.
Fox News is the one exception that has been solidly anti-Obama and all his works. It took cajoling by the channel's owner, Rupert Murdoch, to get Obama to make an appearance on the cable channel.
It does not appear a truce was reached. Fox News and Obama continue to go at each other; the channel by running dubiously sourced and patently slanted stories about Obama and the senator by frequently bringing up Fox's lack of adherence to accepted journalistic standards. And so it goes.
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