From the Ron Fournier of the AP's hatchet job
Analysis: "Biden pick shows lack of confidence"
The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack.
We don't know if the title is Fournier's. Reporters rarely have a say about such things. But even without the inflammatory title, the piece is wrong on two key points:
- It abandons the objectivity that AP prides itself on.
- It employs a faulty premise.
Objectivity
The AP makes its money on covering all the boring shit so you don't have to. But it has hot shots like Fournier who long to have more recognition than simply being the first person that is called at a Presidential press conference. A guy like Fournier is more likely to stay as long as he can blather like a blogger rather than be a mindless stenographer.
But even still, it's the frickin' AP for crying out loud. It's ok for an AP guy to opine, but such opines should be mere synthesizing of other opiners. This still gives the writer a chance to use his noggin, but it forces the piece to be grounded in reality.
Faulty Premise
The premise is that if a relatively inexperienced presidential candidate selects a more experienced vice presidential candidate, that means that the presidential candidate lacks confidence. The implication seems to be given his druthers, Obama would want to pick for someone just as inexperienced as himself, but he doesn't have the confidence in himself to do so.
But if Obama were really not self-confident, wouldn't he be adverse to picking someone who would have more experience than himself? Wouldn't he be thinking to himself, "I don't want to pick Biden because people might say he's smarter than me, and that would make me look bad."
If Obama really lacked confidence in his chances, wouldn't he have picked Hillary, who could have possibly delivered all the Democrats who have yet to go with Obama? Furthermore, she could probably have delivered Arkansas and maybe Florida.
In 2000, did Fournier say that Bush lacked self-confidence because he picked Cheney?
Self-confidence is such a personal trait. Does an AP reporter have any business delving into personality? If so, shouldn't it be grounded on a thorough analysis? You could have psychologists talking about self-confidence in the general public vs. politicians. You could have historians talk about politicians who were regarded as lacking self-confidence (Carter) versus those who don't (Reagan).
How does Obama's perceived self-confidence compare to McCain's? Is there some objective method to gauge the difference? You could have polls that ask peoples' perceptions of candidates confidence. "In your opinion, do you think that Obama lacks self-confidence, has a normal sense of self-confidence, is too confident or arrogant, or that he really lacks self-confidence but hides it in arrogance?"
The meme has been that Obama is arrogant. Fournier seems to be pushing a meme that Obama is arrogant, but that his arrogance is a facade who really isn't sure of himself.
The test of traditional media punditry is whether it gets picked up by other traditional media. In this, Fournier's piece is a dud. If anything, it's being held up to ridicule, not just by us, but by his colleagues. Sure, they're couching it in, "boy the left-wing wackos are riled up by this," but we're always riled up, so that's hardly news. What they're really saying is, "Fournier has jumped the shark."