Obama Laments New Media that Reagan Would Have Celebrated
(Or, maybe he’s just upset that they’re being used by his critics)
As I read the various conservative bloggers (as well as one of in the middle) criticizing the president for lamenting in a commencement address “Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media“, I thought of Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan, like Lincoln with newspapers in the mid-nineteenth century, would have been excited by all these new media. He would have wondered at, rather, delighted in, their possibilities.
Strange for Obama to see new media as a diversion when he tapped into the latest technologies to run such an innovative — and effective — campaign.
Yes, there are downsides as there are with any technology. But, couldn’t the president focus on the possibilities while cautioning us about those downsides? Instead, he chooses to dwell on the negative. Maybe he’s decided to sing a different tune now that his ideological adversaries are using the new technologies as effectively today to criticize his policies as he used them in 2007 and 2008 to promote his candidacy.
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It’s media he can’t control (yet). Any media not beholden to him or his master George Soros is a threat. If he can’t control it, he must convince the Proles of the dangers of it or convince us we’ll be smarter if we just listen to the State-controlled media.
Liberals wrote the book on using fear to get people to bow to their whims.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — May 10, 2010 @ 4:26 am - May 10, 2010
The guy simply can’t handle criticism. Scratch that, he can’t handle anything but fawning adoration.
Comment by V the K — May 10, 2010 @ 6:26 am - May 10, 2010
I’m sure he’d prefer the only media to be to papers, ‘truth’ and ‘news’ And to use the old saying, “There is no truth in the news, in the news there is no truth.”
Or, if you prefer: Никакая правда в новостях, в новостях там никакая правда, камрад
Comment by The_Livewire — May 10, 2010 @ 6:43 am - May 10, 2010
Sure feels like he’s running something up the flagpole — tighter regulation of political speech (except for the NY Times and WaPo, NBC, and NPR, of course), and the re-imposition of the Fairness Doctrine?
Comment by Guy — May 10, 2010 @ 8:05 am - May 10, 2010
I’m not sure Lincoln would have been all that excited about the new media considering some of the steps he took during the civil war…
Reagan, yeah, it would have accelerated the fall of the USSR if there was a free and global outlet like the internet during the 70′s and 80′s. Information is power after all.
Comment by darkeyedresolve — May 10, 2010 @ 9:22 am - May 10, 2010
So… uh, what is your problem with this? He utters one sentence about the drawbacks to these mass media technologies, drawbacks that are widely recognized and that you yourself acknowledge, and your response is to absurdly compare him to Ronald Reagan and insist it’s only because conservatives are using the web?
I don’t understand how you guys come up with this stuff. Obama has talked about this kind of thing before and it’s almost always been in reference to kids playing too many video games and people watching too much television. His other assertion here, that media organizations will often exaggerate and spin and be dishonest, is something that you would think conservatives, with their habitual bashing of the liberal media, would agree with.
But no, here you are, actually positing that Obama hates technology because conservatives are …. I don’t know, figuring out how to use it, or something? Is that the big idea that lies behind this post? That’s just nonsensical, another log on the fire of your flaming persecution complex. Everyone is out to get the poor, poor conservatives, aren’t they?
Comment by Levi — May 10, 2010 @ 9:41 am - May 10, 2010
Perhaps the funniest line here is “”You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,”
Oh really? Such arguments as ‘doctors cutting out tonsils for profit’ or ‘cutting off feet to get 30K payments’ Or maybe that someone in AZ would be ‘stopped on the way to get ice cream’.
Of course it’s nice to see he’s been giving others technology he doesn’t know how to use.
Then again, who’s surprised that Levi’s all for state sponsored media?
Comment by The_Livewire — May 10, 2010 @ 9:48 am - May 10, 2010
Who’s surprised that Levi’s all for state sponsored media?
I am more surprised anyone bothers to read his comments. Although it does save the bother of seeing what the groupthink on AmericaBlog and ThinkProgress is.
Comment by V the K — May 10, 2010 @ 9:56 am - May 10, 2010
Then again, who’s surprised that Levi’s all for state sponsored media?
What are you talking about? How is that response? I know this type of garbage goes over well with the other, easily excited simpletons in the conservative movement, but what am I supposed to do with these frightened little one-liners of yours that don’t make any sense?
Comment by Levi — May 10, 2010 @ 10:13 am - May 10, 2010
darkeyedresolve makes this observation:
There is no parallel in American history to the Civil War. The South shredded the Constitution and the North decided not to let the South form its own Country. Lincoln was reelected according to provisions of the Constitution, shredded as it was and he held to it with remarkable steadfastness. What he did with executive power as commander in chief during insurrection was both measured and ultimately a conservative use of the unenumerated powers the Constitution gave him.
The better observation would be Wilson and Roosevelt who were merely at war with other countries and took on true dictatorial powers.
Comment by heliotrope — May 10, 2010 @ 10:20 am - May 10, 2010
“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation”
This phrase sums it up : “none of which I know how to work”.
How do you condemn something that you don’t understand?
As Commander In Chief, is he no aware of the recent studies showing the new enlistees with skills developed from the types of games are now on the fast track in the training for “remote” control warfare?
I thought the liberal public school agenda was to make sure that ALL school aged children have access to the internet. It seems he is against access to the internet because the TEA party is using the internet very effectively.
This man is a Wendy Whiner. No offense to the Wendy’s of the world.
Comment by TnnsNE1 — May 10, 2010 @ 10:44 am - May 10, 2010
Levi,
Socialists liek yourself enjoy controlling the media. From Lenin to Chavez you see a free and educated populace as a threat. You often go on about how intellectually superior you are, but you still can’t name two successful socialist countries, despite your claims there are ‘several’.
I just enjoy pointing out how you try to gloss over how the President doesn’t think that non-traditional media should be listened to. You gloss it over because you agree.
Comment by The_Livewire — May 10, 2010 @ 11:04 am - May 10, 2010
Socialists liek yourself enjoy controlling the media.
When have I ever said that I want media to be controlled? What socialists in America have called for controlling the media? Have the Democrats taken a single step in the direction of controlling Fox News or talk radio? You just don’t know what you’re talking about.
I just enjoy pointing out how you try to gloss over how the President doesn’t think that non-traditional media should be listened to. You gloss it over because you agree.
When did the President say that non-traditional media should not be listened to? He didn’t say it here. He made no distinction between non-traditional and traditional forms of media anyway, he was referring to all of it.
Comment by Levi — May 10, 2010 @ 11:16 am - May 10, 2010
You mean besides attacking Fox, belittling it, and putting an embargo on interviews? Oh, of couse not. And lets not forget the Fairness Doctrine, Levi.
As to the President’s words “information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.”
Information isn’t a distraction, unless you mean to distract from the Socilist Utopia you want to drag us to for our own good.
You embrace a failed policy that has 60+million dead to its name, Levi. You don’t have a need for Democracy, as you feel the enlightened few (of which you include yourself) should drag society in your direction, regardless of what the people think.
The President doesn’t ‘hate technology’ he hates the information that is spread that shows the holes in his dream. Just like the Socialists you willingly associate yourself with.
Comment by The_Livewire — May 10, 2010 @ 11:34 am - May 10, 2010
Heliotrope
Maybe in your eyes what he did was measured and fine, but that wasn’t what I was getting at. I wasn’t making a value judgement of his actions just pointing out that he wouldn’t have been able to do what he did if new media was around. Or if he tried, it would take an extensive use of censorship and control of online resources that are probably out of the reach of president in this day and age.
I just think Reagan was a better example to use than Lincoln, sorry.
Comment by darkeyedresolve — May 10, 2010 @ 12:00 pm - May 10, 2010
Interesting that of the two pieces I wrote last night (to provide fresh fodder for commentary in the morning), the one into which I put more thought (and more time) attracted less attention.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — May 10, 2010 @ 12:22 pm - May 10, 2010
Not so much to me, Dan.
I mean we know what the Tea Parties are really organizing behind, and that all the liberal contempt won’t change the facts. What’s to talk about?
Now with this though, it shows again how the current Administration hates and fears dissent.
Comment by The_Livewire — May 10, 2010 @ 12:29 pm - May 10, 2010
I’ll just say that my Tea Party hater post gets at the real ignorance of the “liberal elite” about the natural of our concerns. This one gets at the arrogance of the president.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — May 10, 2010 @ 12:31 pm - May 10, 2010
Heliotrope-
You say that the South ‘shredded’ the Constitution. How so? All the Rebs really did was tell the North that it can have its Constitution, and the South would leave and have its own. Or are we in a mandated, perpetual state of union, no matter the grievances of disaffected citizens?
Comment by Brendan in Philly — May 10, 2010 @ 12:54 pm - May 10, 2010
Brendan,
There is no Constitutional provision for pulling out of the union. That is inconsistent with the preamble which calls for a “more perfect union.” The South walked. There were two choices for the North: 1) allow it and move on or, 2) force the South to drop its civil insurrection and get back in the fold.
And the grievances of the disaffected Southern citizens were? That is an argument of history within history that goes on even today. The point is always the same with civil war. Either you divide or you fight it out. The Constitution did not assume it was either necessary or wise to waste valuable words on issues that might rise to civil insurrection.
I am a Virginian. But I have no illusions about what happened in Richmond and how Washington reacted to it.
Comment by heliotrope — May 10, 2010 @ 1:23 pm - May 10, 2010
[...] Obama Laments New Media that Reagan Would Have Celebrated (Or, maybe he’s just upset that they’r… [...]
Pingback by Right-Wing Links (May 10, 2010) — May 10, 2010 @ 8:04 pm - May 10, 2010
Did our President the leader of the free world and near perfect human being,
NOT know what or how to use an I POD?
What a dolt.
Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — May 10, 2010 @ 8:41 pm - May 10, 2010
I liked how Obama said, if you are a listener of Limbaugh, try listening to MSNBC sometime. Wonder if the leftist trolls listen to the center right media? Wonder if the west wing has on Limbaugh or Beck in the daytime? I’m gonna guess no. Obama loves to preach to others while maintaining his god like perch.
Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — May 10, 2010 @ 8:45 pm - May 10, 2010
Besides his attack on free information, all over the world, and most parts of America, commencement speeches are usually meant to inspire the graduates as they go out in the world. “President” Obama uses them as a piss & moan fest where he attacks all of his enemies.
That is what we would call a miserable wretch.
http://tinyurl.com/27qwlyn
Well, it depends on the information. When you’re trying to wade through all the bullshit on the internet that liberals write on a subject to find the truth, it can be a distraction.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — May 11, 2010 @ 2:53 am - May 11, 2010
There’s nothing forcing them to remain and tolerate unfair policies either. What’s more, the 10th Amendment allows for the states to govern themselves in matters that the Constitution does not direct the feds to do.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — May 11, 2010 @ 4:33 am - May 11, 2010
Brendan, if you doubt that the South disregarded the Constitution- and long before it first fired on the American Flag, and attempted to murder American sevicemen who had ‘violated their sacred soil’- go reread the Fugitive Slave Laws, which totally eliminated any right for Free states to not be forced to enforce slavery within their own borders.
Comment by DaveP. — May 11, 2010 @ 6:08 am - May 11, 2010
You mean besides attacking Fox, belittling it, and putting an embargo on interviews? Oh, of couse not. And lets not forget the Fairness Doctrine, Levi.
His mild criticisms of Fox are not any of the things you so hysterically described (H WANTS TO HAVE STATE RUN MEDIA!!). And what of the Fairness Doctrine? Why is that something that needs to be talked about? Do you know something I don’t? Is it being implemented? Is it being proposed by anyone of note? Does it have a chance of ever being instituted?
This is your argument for Obama wanting to control the media; he criticizes Fox News, which is his right (Bush complained about the media all the time and Sarah Palin can’t go two sentences without doing it) and you point to some nonexistent buzzword designed to make conservatives scared that they’re going to take your Rush Limbaugh away from you. You have the mind of a child!
Comment by Levi — May 11, 2010 @ 9:30 am - May 11, 2010
Levi,
Please site where President Bush directly attacked a news organization, claimed it wasn’t real news, or embargoed a network.
Levi is a child, plain and simple. His ability to ignore facts and information provided to him are well documented. You lie frequently, whether it be GM making a profit lies about Iraq he lies and lies and lies and lies and lies…
We won’t even get into his conspiracy theories.
Then again, I’m asking the socialist for evidence. Heck, he still can’t put up two successful socialist countries, and he won’t shut up.
Comment by The_Livewire — May 11, 2010 @ 10:50 am - May 11, 2010