The Young and the Restless

I think Bridget brings up a good point about journalistic equity and integrity when covering the 2008 elections. In theory, there would be equal news coverage for both Obama and McCain, but the reality is that the way we get the news today is leaning more toward Obama's direction. And by "we" I'm referring to my generation--the one with the short attention span, and the detrimental ability to feverishly multitask.

But that's not to say it's all good press. Most of my peers and I get our news from campus newspapers or news search engines like Google. And those sources tend to highlight the news with the greatest hits (i.e. the greatest drama). Lately, the buzz about Barack Obama involves his wife, Michelle.

Michelle Obama has become the Jane Fonda of the '08 Elections - she says what she thinks in order to create the greatest shock value. Everything from her comments on American patriotism, her wardrobe choices (gossip websites predict her to be "the next Jackie O"), and her appearance on The View have added to the entire political frenzy surrounding her husband - the biggest draw is that these stories usually have absolutely nothing to do with politics, and are sometimes completely unrelated to Barack Obama.

I see the bias, and hopefully it will calm down now that Obama is the definite Democratic candidate for '08. But, until then, the media frenzy could work to Obama's career advantage, especially among the teenage-to-mid-twenties demographic.

Hey, it worked for Paris Hilton.