Media gets it wrong again

Media Gets It Wrong Again Posted February 6, 2008 01:14 AM (EST) Read More: Barack Obama Super Tuesday, Chris Matthews, Clinton Super Tuesday, Media Coverage Of 2008 Election, Super Tuesday, Super Tuesday Primary, Super Tuesday Results, Tom Brokaw, Breaking Politics News If I were Barack Obama I would tell my flaks in the news media to shut up in the final days before elections. The chattering crowd's frenzy for this man only raises expectations that he cannot meet. As a result, what was otherwise not too shabby a night for Obama on Super Tuesday came across like a public relations defeat because so much more had been expected. Still, those who predicted a bigger night for Obama are invested in downplaying what actually happened, and will surely gin him up for the next contests. This content requires the most recent version of the Adobe Flash Player. Get this version below: Get Flash Before Super Tuesday, gushing pundits predicted that the Kennedy family endorsements would, at a minimum, deliver Massachusetts. Didn't happen. Feverish news reports of rising momentum for Obama led to hints that he was winning New Jersey. Didn't happen. And, oh yeah, California's returns were supposed to keep us up all night because the "force of nature" that is Obama had erased Clinton's lead in the state. Oops, it turned out that Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead was so substantial that the networks could call the state for her just after midnight. The California surprise promoted a bit of mea culpa from former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, who has actually been a voice of reason as so many of his colleagues have lost their minds for Obama. "Once again," Brokaw said on MSNBC as Clinton's early California win was announced, "in all of our conventional and collective wisdom, we were wrong." More on Craig Crawford's Trail Mix Watch Tom Brokaw's mea culpa from last night's Super Tuesday coverage on MSNBC