A slobbering love affair

Bernard Goldberg’s brief but memorable A Slobbering Love Affair recounts the myriad ways in which the USA’s mainstream media lionized – indeed, nearly deified – Barack Obama as he ran for president in 2007-2008: the gushy, embarrassing news stories; the ‘journalists’ swooning on camera; and perhaps most serious, the utter lack of interest in Obama’s background, character and associations, i.e. the media’s refusal to do their jobs and investigate.

Goldberg’s tone is sardonic; at times it borders on despairing. How can the great majority of journalists, whose role is so central to the American system, sell their integrity so cheaply? Goldberg suggests it’s a combination of these liberal journalists’ desire to show more ‘effect change’ and ultimately to feel good about themselves.

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There's certainly a strong case that the mainstream media favored Obama in the 2008 US Presidential election. A large number of studies show the imbalance in reporting, and for example, the Washington Post ombudsman wrote "Obama deserved tougher scrutiny than he got" in analyzing their own coverage. Even scarier, people such as Tom Brokaw admitted after the election that we really don't know much about Obama - even after he had been covering the candidate for almost two years. This trend in the mainstream media is a dangerous slippery slope and the American people deserve better.

Bernard Goldberg's A Slobbering Love Affair makes these points, but does so in a way that is seemingly designed to offend as many people as possible - or play show more solely to the right wing. It's unfortunate that he chooses to do so, since there are legitimate discussions we should be having about the relationships between the media and politicians and the media and the public. But that discussion is not to be found here, and the useful information is buried in polemic. show less

Let us review: an outsider, no documentation, no paper trail, no legitimate credentials, little political experience, persuasive only by their oratory. Yes, this can only end well.

The lamestream media is characterized by their timidity and lack of professional investigative skills. They are responsible for the abysmal state of understanding by the American people.

Goldberg may be strident but in this pamphlet as a book he does document what journalists should have already known. They failed to inform the American people about the false image they portrayed to voters.

Obama smirked all the way through the campaign and mocked reporters thereafter stating: "Most of you covered me; all of you voted for me. Apologies to the Fox table" (10 show more May 2009, annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner). show less

"A Slobbering Love Affair" is an entertaining, devastating and sobering book, outlining the bias exhibited by the American media towards Barack Obama during the 2008 general election. Bernard Goldberg effortlessly skewers the largely liberal press, a group he seems to hold in utter contempt. Goldberg generally writes in a clear, no nonsense fashion although his sarcasm can get a bit tiresome. Overall, the book makes its case very well and in a way that is hard to argue with. A good book for those interested in becoming a journalist or simply curious as to how the whole thing works.

This was an entertaining and easy read. I really enjoyed the voice of the author in the book. I actually read it in one day, which for me, rarely happens with a nonfiction book. The author made lots of interesting and entertaining points.

This was an entertaining and easy read. I really enjoyed the voice of the author in the book. I actually read it in one day, which for me, rarely happens with a nonfiction book. The author made lots of interesting and entertaining points.

The facts about how the mainstream media helped to orchestrate the election of Obama as president of the United States. This book is not only good investigative journalism, it's something we don't often get from media hacks: The Truth.