Posted By: Paula S on Sunday, May 18, 2008
Extremely perceptive comments. I've been thinking this past week about it. I'm one of those faithful November voters who rarely votes in primaries. I made an exception this year, but it's been years since the last time I did so. I've also noticed, over the years, that many people who turn out for primaries seem to think they've done their job, and can comfortably stay home in November (when it really counts). It will be very interesting to see how many of these enthusiastic young people who have made a coronation for an inexperienced and unready candidate turn out in November. The likelihood they can overwhelm the throngs of older people who didn't bother with the primaries, but who are skeptical of Sen. Obama's readiness for the top job seems not that great to me. We have had the less than thrilling experience of living through the most recent outsider's performance there. What makes the senator - or his supporters - think we're willing to take another such chance on someone who sounds wonderful, but lacks a track record? The vast majority of media voices have enthusiastically formed a cadre of Sen. Obama's supporters. What they seem not to realize is that the public no longer trusts the media as we once did. Not a single one of them has even a tenth of the trust that people freely gave to Walter Cronkite.I'm far from young now, but I try hard not to miss commentary by Daniel Schorr, NPR's 91 year old commentator (who is still sharp as a tack, though of a generation old enough to be my parents). He makes no bones of his political position, but I've never heard him utter an ugly word about anyone. If there is such a commentator among young journalists, I've not heard him or her - and I do watch for commentators I might be able to trust.What's the point of my digression? The silent majority of American voters has not been heard from, and are unlikely to have been persuaded by the enthusiasms of today's media. I think they - and Obama's young followers - may be in for a surprise in November. And, regardless of what they think about it, then or now, most of those who vote against Sen. Obama will NOT be motivated by racism (though, to be sure, some will), but by his failure to convince us to take another chance on someone so inexperienced.
