MY TIME TO PUKE HAS COME


but my newsweek has not.

My copy of Newsweek, which normally slides through the mail slot on Tuesday afternoon, still hasn't arrived this week. I'd begun to suspect some postal foul play, but then I went to the magazine's web site, took one look at the cover, and realized it was more like divine political providence.



Because, really, if this thing had shown up in my foyer yesterday, or the day before, or even the day before that, and if I hadn't been sufficiently prepared for it -- as I am now, after several hours of forcing myself to stare at the JPEG, lest I some day see it in person and, much like looking at a solar eclipse without an ultraviolet filter, not be ready for the irreparable damage it would do to my retinas -- I'm certain my head would have exploded.

Just this week, Slate's Christopher Beam wrote an unexpected but undeniably accurate piece about Senator Breath of Fresh Air's increasingly Cocky Messianism on the campaign trail, noting that Obama has attracted Jesus comparisons and fawning disciples ever since he announced his candidacy, and that now, with Iowa as his witness, [he's] starting to sound like he believes the prophecies, too. Of course, in fairness to the Senator, I imagine it's kind of hard not to when media types follow and fawn all over your every move, when hard-boiled reporters go all soft-boiled and swoony about the excitement of covering you, when Newsweek magazine doesn't just profile you (again) but essentially promotes you, pull-quoting one of your campaign slogans as though it were political gospel and pimping a soft-focus close-up of your smiling face bathed in beatific light.

Anyone out there -- really, seriously -- still want to argue that Senator Obama, a few criticisms on Slate and a steady stream of naysaying -- that began, by the way, almost twenty-two months ago -- on this insignificant site aside, isn't getting the best, most positive, most unapologetically drooling and embarrassingly rationalized coverage of any candidate not just this year, but ever? If so, I'd love to hear it.

Posted: Thu - January 10, 2008 at 10:15 AM          

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