The sanctimonious Tom Friedman is urging the nation and the world to get behind Obama because, well, the Light Worker needs us all if he’s going to save the world. According to Friedman, Obama’s got one thing going for him (emphasis added):
For now, though, his biography, demeanor and willingness to at least test a regime like Iran’s with diplomacy makes him more difficult to demonize than George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
I didn’t know demonability was a personal quality that forced the media to make fun of you, to ridicule your speech, your walk, your squint, your gestures. See, it was never the media’s fault. It was Bush just being so easy to demonize.
At first I thought this was just a throwaway line, but later in the column Friedman used it again (emphasis added again):
President Bush, because he was so easily demonized, made being a free-rider on American power easy for everyone — and Americans paid the price. Obama will not make it so easy.
Friedman has telegraphed the media’s position over the next four years. Obama will not be held to the same level of scrutiny as Bush because he’s just so damned likeable. If you didn’t think the level of slobbering over the last two years could be topped, just wait for the next four years.
