The other day, I was standing in the checkout line at WalMart, waiting to put about 100 bucks worth of groceries on the conveyor belt (it was actually more like $140, but still) when I decided to scan the magazine headlines out of sheer boredom.
The Obamas' New Life! blared the headline from People Magazine.
"New home, new friends, new puppy! All about the move to the White House," read the tagline. "New home, new friends, new puppy?" Who writes this stuff? It sounded like something off of Blue's Clues or maybe a sentence out of Barney's mouth. Granted, we are talking about People Magazine, not a more austere periodical. But still. When does the fawning stop? Not soon enough, evidently.
There were other magazines on the racks: the obligatory plastic strips covering Cosmo's latest "How to Keep Your Man Happy In Bed So He Doesn't Run Off With That Slut Next Door" article; holiday cookie recipes from Betty Crocker, Word Find puzzle books. But mostly, there were the blaring "Teh One Has Arrived!" magazines.
Look, I know these things aren't aimed at me and the four other sane people in the U.S., but is it possible for the MSM to be slightly less obvious in their genuflection? When Howard Kurtz notices the adoration, you know it's deep.
Perhaps it was the announcement that NBC News is coming out with a DVD titled "Yes We Can: The Barack Obama Story." Or that ABC and USA Today are rushing out a book on the election. Or that HBO has snapped up a documentary on Obama's campaign.
Perhaps it was the Newsweek commemorative issue -- "Obama's American Dream" -- filled with so many iconic images and such stirring prose that it could have been campaign literature. Or the Time cover depicting Obama as FDR, complete with jaunty cigarette holder.
Are the media capable of merchandizing the moment, packaging a president-elect for profit? Yes, they are.
What's troubling here goes beyond the clanging of cash registers. Media outlets have always tried to make a few bucks off the next big thing. The endless campaign is over, and there's nothing wrong with the country pulling together, however briefly, behind its new leader. But we seem to have crossed a cultural line into mythmaking.
For anyone still arguing that we just need to "give Obama a chance" before criticizing him, ask yourself this question:
Would John and Cindy McCain have been given this much fawning attention?
I thought not.
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