“Whether it was (Walter) Cronkite or (David) Brinkley or what have you, there was a common set of facts, a baseline around which both parties had to adapt and respond to,” Obama said during a speech at Rice University, in Houston, Texas.
Excuse me Mr. President…, but Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley? Really? Cronkite last anchored CBS nightly news over 37 years ago, and Brinkley last co-anchored NBC nightly news over 39 years ago!
What this means is that none of the students at Rice University had any idea of who you were talking about! And actually, you were only 18 years old yourself when Walter Cronkite retired! You are two years younger than me, so I have a pretty good idea about how much of these guys you remember…, and it isn’t much, believe me.
It seems like you long for the days when “there was a common set of facts, a baseline around which both parties had to adapt.”
This statement seems quite odd to me. Aren’t “the facts” “the facts,” regardless of who happens to be reporting the news?
What former President Obama is really saying is it was easier for the mainstream media (there were only three TV news outlets at that time, CBS, NBC and ABC) and the government establishment to control the news that was fed to the common people. They were the ones who determined what “the facts” were, along with The Associated Press (AP), The Washington Post and The New York Times.
President Obama continued by saying, “And by the time I take office, what you increasingly have is a media environment in which if you are a Fox News viewer, you have an entirely different reality than if you are a New York Times reader.”
That’s right Mr. President, because in one case you have a news outlet which tries to be “fair and balanced” and another that promotes the liberal agenda and ideology.
“If you’re somebody who only reads the editorial page of The New York Times, try glancing at the page of The Wall Street Journal once in a while. If you’re a fan of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, try reading a few columns on The Huffington Post website. It may make your blood boil, your mind may not be changed. But the practice of listening to opposing views is essential for effective citizenship. It is essential for our democracy,” he said.
It doesn’t happen too often, but in this case of your last statement here, I would actually tend to agree with the former president. Everything except the part about checking out The Huffington Post! It doesn’t get more blatantly biased and ignorant than The Huffington Post!
According to “The Independent” website, 64% of Americans surveyed in a recent Politico/Morning Consult poll said “the media” was responsible for dividing the nation rather than uniting it, and I would tend to agree, because it is the intent of the democrats to create divisions in our country, hence it is the mission of “the biased, liberal, mainstream media” to do so as well, although they would, of course, point to Fox News as the perpetrator of this “dividing,” since they have to divert any focus away from themselves.
In an apparent effort to lend additional credibility to himself, and throw shade onto President Trump and his administration, Mr. Obama went on to say that, “Not only did I not get indicted, nobody in my administration got indicted, which, by the way, was the only administration in modern history that can be said about. In fact nobody came close to being indicted. Partly because the people who joined us were there for the right reasons.”
OK…, timeout!
It is true that no one from your administration was indicted, but is not because they didn’t deserve to be indicted, it was because your Attorney Generals, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, were as crooked as the day is long, and they were mere puppets who did whatever they were instructed to do by you.
The former president points to a reason for this “blemishless” record as being, “Partly because the people who joined us were there for the right reasons.”
The “right reasons” of course being they were willing to do as they were told, while keeping their mouths shut.
In response to President Obama’s beliefs regarding “the news” that people are exposed to, I need to point out a few things.
One: the amount of people who read the editorial page of The New York Times is infinitesimal. Likewise, The Wall Street Journal.
Two: the vast, vast, majority of people do not watch or listen to any kind of “news” on any kind of regular basis.
Three: Most, not all, but most, people rely on other people to do their thinking for them in families, in schools, at work, in neighborhoods, in unions, in communities and even in races and cultures. The fact of the matter is that there are very few people that can make an educated argument about any issue, besides regurgitating buzz words and reciting pre-scripted responses.
The truth is that people live in a myriad of different realities, and that is will never change. If by some chance we ever get “boiled down” into only two different realities, we are in trouble.
Americans in general, in my opinion, need to do a better job of being informed on what’s going on around us. It’s really kind of scary when we realize how much people don’t know and what they aren’t aware of.
Independent and well-informed thought by the people will guarantee our continued independence as a nation in the future.
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Thank you, MrEricksonRules.
Mr. Erickson Rules! 
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