GRITtv with Laura Flanders » Media Roundtable: Obama Tacks Right, Nader Talks, and the Subprime Swindle

By: GRITtv Tuesday July 1, 2008 12:00 pm

Last week the spotlight was on Barack Obama and whether he’s a liberal democrat who’s moved to the center or a centrist in sheep’s clothing. Most of the major news outlets—the LA Times, Washington Post, and even the Wall Street Journal—covered what was described as Obama’s flip-flop, or near apostasy, on everything from campaign finance reform and trade to guns and the death penalty.

This week on GRITtv our media roundtable examines what the media missed and why their coverage of Obama’s move to the right reveals a much deeper misunderstanding of the candidate and his politics and perhaps of American politics in general. Rinku Sen, publisher of ColorLines magazine and President of the Applied Research Center, says Obama may be a liberal democrat but he has never characterized himself as a left candidate. Find out here why the corporate media must decide whether Obama is a centrist or a crazy left-winger.

Also joining us are Herb Boyd, National Editor of The Black World Today, and David Lombino, city editor of the New York Sun. They discuss why Nader is talking to the Rocky Mountain News, though not about his Lebanese heritage, and how John McCain, a well off white man, became the underdog in this election. Also, why Kai Wright’s article in The Nation, on the impact of the subprime swindle on African American homeowners and why it happened, is a must read.

Find out here what the media did right, what they did wrong, and what they shouldn’t have done at all.

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One Response to “Media Roundtable: Obama Tacks Right, Nader Talks, and the Subprime Swindle”

Aquifer July 1st, 2008 at 8:17 pm

Learned a few things from your show:

1) apparently you can be a Liberal without being a Lefty. A Lefty, apparently, is a Marxist. This surprises me a bit as I must confess I have yet to meet a “Righty” Liberal, but perhaps you could point out a few. So now we know Obama is a Liberal but he’s not a Lefty. Hmmm, what exactly does that mean? What qualifies him as a Liberal?

2) if you have a parent of African descent and you were born in the US, you are African-American. What if you have a parent of European descent? Are you a European- American? What if you have one parent of African descent and one of European descent? Are you half and half? Both? Neither? Isn’t this rather silly considering if we go back far enough we are ALL of African descent?

3) apparently the only time Nader is worth discussing is when he makes a comment that contains the words “black” or “white” within the context of discussing a candidate.

Was Obama “talking white”? Of course he was and will continue to do so as well as “talk right” for the simple reason that he figures he will pocket the black as well as the left wing vote no matter what he does but must actually “earn” the white and right wing vote with policy prescriptions. Frankly, I would think that African Americans might be a bit insulted by his taking them for granted. I, as a non-Marxist Lefty, am quite insulted indeed and am taking my vote elsewhere. I will only vote for a candidate who actually addresses the real problems so many of us, black, white, red, brown, etc. have and that is neither Obama nor McCain.