I don't know if you have heard or not.
Pres. Obama and his staff have chosen to declare that Fox Network is a Republican Party Branch or under its direct control to some degree. This declaration is why they have chosen to refuse interviews, ignore invitations to even the morning chat shows and so on.
The strange thing is that even if it was directly controlled by the Rep. Party - its not the only network that is directly or indirectly controlled by a Political Party or slanted view of politics. The reason Fox tends to be so popular is its the one view that is different to 99 percent of the other media outlets.
Let me give you a real life example. As I live in Ireland I don't get to see a lot of American TV news shows and so on. However I do see what those same media networks portray over on this side of the world and what it says is happening in the USA and how it portrays public opinion and so forth.
In the airports here in Europe - if you happen to have seen any US news network while GWB was in office you would have heard gloom and doom and how the US disliked him and wanted him gone. A few hours later arrive in the USA for vacation with my folks and you here the same networks from inside the US telling everyone what a great job he is doing and so on and so forth.
So essentially the problem is that FOX tends to be the same when you here them here or there. CNN NBC CBS even Bloomberg Stock market channel tends to be two sided.
What I find strangest of all in the situation with Obama and Fox is that all of this was no secret - and even I tend to think Fox is VERY Republican and could very well be part of some Political party agenda... however that does not invalidate it completely for the primary reason that SO are all the other media networks.
Unbiased Journalism does not exist. The opinion of the journalist is part of every journalistic report ever done. The very point that a journalist found a bit of news worthy of being broadcast or published even adds to the bias before you even hear the news. The confusion comes in when one political party such as the current one in power - points to the media and refuses to talk to them anymore.
Some of the facts about Fox and why Obama chose not to like them is one thing... Fox was the network that broke the story early on when about half of the appointees for cabinet jobs turned out to be tax doggers. I can understand Fox not being liked because of that...Heck even I cannot stand half the people they give shows to. I am not a republican but I tend to lean that direction. I am not a democrat because I tend not to lean towards liberalism.
I even try to balance what I think and view in the political world because even biased as I am I would not go out of my way to rebalance things as these two parties do the moment they have some power.
- Changing Gears -
History will tell you that like the rings of a tree - politics and growth in a country comes largely from boom and bust - plenty and lack. The differences coming to view when both sides have power for longer than normal and even though a recovery and growth happens - so does the bust again. Both the Democrats and the Republicans have had great success and great failures.
That is the problem with a two party system - both views are mostly valid and mostly needed even.
This Yin - and Yang system is clear when you see things that are true even though they may be wrong seem to help growth and strength. The republican party is historically known for growth in business and international events. The Democrats are known for wanting to repair the damage to the country done by the Rep party and focus on the people.
Any Country needs both external and internal growth - and one party seems to be better at one than the other.
Both parties fail miserably when it comes to moral issues however.
Republicans prop themselves up on being heartland traditional standard families and so on - yet their policies tend to hurt the internal economy and favor big business.
Democrats tend to beat the drum of liberalism and reach out to the people that are not fairly being represented - take their money and pay their way into office and ignore them.
Obama has been strange in his initial policies - granted there is a mess that may take more than one democratic president to fix - but big business love him and he has been feeding them more than GWB did even.
While so far making great efforts to repair international relations with all the countries that GWB hurt or insulted when he pointed out political ties to terrorism... little effort has gone into changing Iraq, Afghanistan and other HOT topic issues that were addressed in the election run off.
Ignoring the people that put him into office - was the strangest thing that Obama did. While initial changes were made in key areas - I found it strange that Obama did not do more in some issues - and even now when its being pointed out in the liberal media... still nothing.
To me it seems like Obama is some strange conglomeration of GWB policies, and the Democrats agendas - favoring Big Business and making efforts internationally to repair relations - putting in strange policies regarding recovery and saying it will take a while to kick in. Am I the only one that sees that?
While I will be the first to admit that he did bring hope to an apathetic generation seeing the world grow steadily worse - I find it strange that his approval rating seems to be falling (a popularity poll) in both political camps.
A period of growth is needed to repair damage and it is very possible that we may not see any CHANGE to world events, free flowing cash and joblessness for some time... I think the best thing Obama could do is make friends on both sides of the fence by stepping up to the side of politics he is currently shunning and either ask for help to make bilateral policy changes that benefits people and business - or to at least address the issues with a bit more confidence than hiding away.
If you wanted to address the country - you tell your media guy - 30 min later and you have every major network in the world preempted to show your speech. If you want to rebuild bridges - start with the ones inside the country.
Obama should go sit for an hour with FOX and tell them to stop hitting at every attempt he has made to fix things and help with solutions. I feel addressing the bias would be better on the Fox network rather than off of it.
Historically Pres. Jimmy Carter had some of these same issues... and despite the major things he did for the world and the USA - he was taught even in public schools as fighting with a congress and senate that didn't like him and he refused to work with.
I would hope that internal change and healing would be this presidents legacy more than trying anything else. Its what democrats are historically known for - limiting the boom or fixing the bust after one or the other.
Now all of that being said.. I didn't vote for Obama or the other guy... or the other other guy. I didn't vote at all. I missed the chance to mail in my registration form in time. So just chalk me up to another voice complaining to no one in particular about the ills of the world - that did not even make an effort with my one vote to push a button. Am I complaining about things and not doing anything about it? No - far from it.
I believe in change and growth and healing and helping... but to be honest no amount of effort is good enough if it only comes from the top.
I think what people keep forgetting in politics and world events and economic downturns - is that it will always be the people that make a difference ultimately in their own world... NOT through politics alone - but by helping and caring for each other. If the government were to collapse tomorrow like all these SciFi movies love portraying - would it really be every man for himself?? Or is it just possible that we would work together - forget our differences and work on making our world a better place for all and not just the few. At this point in time we can only hope that such a simple thing as the people working and caring to help this world is the major hope of Change that will really make a difference.
- Just a thought
