Below is a two paragraph excerpt from an interesting take on why Obama skates scrutiny.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Obama’s historic achievement has made his supporters hyper-sensitive to criticism, even from late-night comedians
Negative comments about Obama are met with such a huge backlash from his supporters that it has become almost taboo to criticise him at all. Respected political stalwarts have seen their popularity drop after criticizing Obama. A June CNN poll showed that Bill Clinton’s approval rating among Democrats went down 9% over the past year. As CNN political analyst Bill Schneider explained: “Democrats thought it was appropriate for [Clinton] to support his wife but not appropriate to get overly critical of Obama.” Even comedians like Jon Stewart are finding it virtually impossible to joke about the presumptive Democratic nominee these days, according to the New York Times.
Within the African-American community, in which Obama has an approval rating of over 95%, negative remarks about him are met with particular hostility. Tavis Smiley, a popular African-American journalist and radio and television host was the target of death threats earlier this year when he publicly censured Obama for declining an invitation to attend his State of the Black Union conference, an event in which notable figures came together to discuss the future of black America. Smiley has apparently been called a “sellout” and a “traitor” and has since resigned from his radio job, with some suggesting his reason for leaving is that “He can’t take the hate he’s taken over Barack Obama”.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 4:10 am and is filed under Public Affairs, wordpress, Politics, campaign, election, Democrats, News Media, obama.
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