The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Obama Obsession

Posted on | August 20, 2010 | 62 Comments

Da Tech Guy‘s habit of watching Morning Joe on MSNBC, to get a daily read on what liberals are thinking, is a habit I’ve started to adopt. It’s interesting to watch the Obama-centric worldview in action.

Today, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinsksi spent a full ten minutes discussing with Savannah Guthrie and Evan Wolfson this Pew Poll that shows 18% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim. This evidently loomed large in their minds, and at one point Scarborough made reference to the president’s “critics,” as if these unnamed critics were somehow responsible for this perception.

My Republican consultant friend Ali Akbar — who is, in fact, a Southern Baptist from Texas — could probably explain to Joe and Mika that a certain percentage of the public automatically thinks “Muslim” when it hears a name like Barack Hussein Obama. One need not conjure up “critics” to make this phenomenon understandable.

The MSNBC crew, however, evidently consider it their job to superintend Obama’s public image, and so a thick slice of their morning was spent obsessing over this Pew Poll result. And when we learn that this pushback against the Pew Poll is being orchestrated by the White House press shop, we see how Joe and Mika are required to function as administration mouthpieces.

If all you knew about this poll was what you saw on MSNBC, however, you might have missed other results of the Pew Poll. Fortunately, we have Yid With Lid to point out this important finding:

[T]here is widespread agreement that politicians should be religious. Fully 61% say that is important that members of Congress have strong religious beliefs; just 34% disagree.
Majorities across all major religious groups – with the exception of the religiously unaffiliated – agree it is important for members of Congress to have strong religious beliefs. More than eight-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (83%) express this view, as do roughly two-thirds of white non-Hispanic Catholics (66%) and white mainline Protestants (64%). And about seven-in-ten black Protestants (71%) say it is important that lawmakers have strong religious beliefs.

While Joe and Mika were obsessing over Obama’s image problems, they neglected to discuss this: For most Americans, religion is not about identity politics, it’s about having a firm system of morality — a bedrock sense of right and wrong, good and evil. People quite naturally want their political leaders to possess the kind of deep faith that inspires virtue.

Outside the secularized world of the media elite, religion is still viewed as a good thing, and the people want their leaders to be religious.

In other words: Good news!

Too bad Joe and Mika missed that.

UPDATE: Citing a Byron York column, Professor Glenn Reynolds observes: “Obama famously described himself as a blank screen onto which others projected their impressions. This worked for him for a long time. Now, it’s working against him.”

UPDATE II: Brandon Kiser on the “guilty pleasure” of watching Morning Joe:

The liberal talking heads get under my skin, but at least they’re not like Fox and Friends and talking about koalas in Nantucket or something.

Yeah, it’s pretty much all-politics, all-the-time at MSNBC, whereas Fox and Friends mixes in more general-interest news.

Category: Barack Obama, MSNBC, Polls, Religion

Comments

62 Responses to “The Obama Obsession”

  1. Estragon
    August 20th, 2010 @ 4:54 pm

    Only stupid people waste their breath over such things.

    For instance, roughly 30% of Americans believe in astrology or ESP or that space aliens visit the Earth. An even higher percentage is convinced there was a government conspiracy and cover-up of the JFK assassination.

    35% of Democrats in 2004 were “unsure” whether or not Bush knew in advance of the 9/11 attacks.

    Idiots.

  2. young4eyes
    August 20th, 2010 @ 9:02 pm

    Thanks,Estrogen, for making my point.
    People “believe” in all kinds of stupid shit.
    In the ramp up to the Iraq War, 70% of people believed Saddam was behind 9-11.
    A couple of years ago a poll indicated that 80% of Americans believed that they were in the top 10% of money earners.
    But hey, you guys keep defending and perpetuating you misinformation. It’ll come back to bite you in the ass…

  3. young4eyes
    August 20th, 2010 @ 5:02 pm

    Thanks,Estrogen, for making my point.
    People “believe” in all kinds of stupid shit.
    In the ramp up to the Iraq War, 70% of people believed Saddam was behind 9-11.
    A couple of years ago a poll indicated that 80% of Americans believed that they were in the top 10% of money earners.
    But hey, you guys keep defending and perpetuating you misinformation. It’ll come back to bite you in the ass…

  4. Fishersville Mike: It's good to be religious
    August 20th, 2010 @ 6:28 pm

    […] good to be religious The Other McCain got up early to watch MSNBC today. Topic – the poll saying 18 percent of Americans think President […]

  5. timb
    August 21st, 2010 @ 6:37 pm

    …could probably explain to Joe and Mika that a certain percentage of the public automatically thinks “Muslim” when it hears a name like Barack Hussein Obama. One need not conjure up “critics” to make this phenomenon understandable.

    Fact free analysis as always. you do aim to please.

    See, Robert, (and I’ll try to ignore that you called Scarborough a liberal, since that douche is about as liberal as you are) the point that worries intelligent people (thus excluding most regular commenters here) is that the percentage of respondents who believe the President is a Muslim has risen 11% in a year.

    Now, perhaps here in the Rightest end of the Right wing, you imagine that many Americans had not heard that Obama was president and heard his name for the first time between 2009 and 2010. I’m not sad to say that your supposition is as ridiculous as your analysis of other Lost Causes.

  6. timb
    August 21st, 2010 @ 2:37 pm

    …could probably explain to Joe and Mika that a certain percentage of the public automatically thinks “Muslim” when it hears a name like Barack Hussein Obama. One need not conjure up “critics” to make this phenomenon understandable.

    Fact free analysis as always. you do aim to please.

    See, Robert, (and I’ll try to ignore that you called Scarborough a liberal, since that douche is about as liberal as you are) the point that worries intelligent people (thus excluding most regular commenters here) is that the percentage of respondents who believe the President is a Muslim has risen 11% in a year.

    Now, perhaps here in the Rightest end of the Right wing, you imagine that many Americans had not heard that Obama was president and heard his name for the first time between 2009 and 2010. I’m not sad to say that your supposition is as ridiculous as your analysis of other Lost Causes.

  7. timb
    August 21st, 2010 @ 6:41 pm

    “The man is an agnostic.”

    God, I hope so. The last dillwad in the White House thought jesus was telling him to favor the rich over the poor and that he needed to invade other countries and “break a few eggs.”

    If religious people think Jesus was a defender of the rich and powerful and a warmonger, I’d sure prefer if it less religious people were in the White House.

  8. timb
    August 21st, 2010 @ 2:41 pm

    “The man is an agnostic.”

    God, I hope so. The last dillwad in the White House thought jesus was telling him to favor the rich over the poor and that he needed to invade other countries and “break a few eggs.”

    If religious people think Jesus was a defender of the rich and powerful and a warmonger, I’d sure prefer if it less religious people were in the White House.

  9. mark
    September 2nd, 2010 @ 2:12 am

    I wonder how many people who think Obama is a Muslim realize that Christians and Muslims believe in the same God?

  10. mark
    September 1st, 2010 @ 10:12 pm

    I wonder how many people who think Obama is a Muslim realize that Christians and Muslims believe in the same God?

  11. smitty
    September 2nd, 2010 @ 2:15 am

    @mark,
    You’re making a Universalist argument, and there are plenty for whom it carries no weight.

  12. smitty
    September 1st, 2010 @ 10:15 pm

    @mark,
    You’re making a Universalist argument, and there are plenty for whom it carries no weight.