Three weeks ago, President Obama's economic team posited a job creation package (what is now referred to as an economic stimulus package) costing "just over" $775 billion, made up of roughly two-thirds spending and one-third tax cuts.
Since then, consumers of mass media have seen an unending parade of berserk Republicans, Obama supporters with buyer's remorse over supporting a pathologically reasonable neophyte, and pundits speculating that maybe the Obama presidency is failing before our very eyes. Two weeks ago, the biggest spending bill in history, an absolutely critical piece in the current economic puzzle, was, according to virtually everyone on television, on the verge of collapse -- for good or ill, depending on which channel you were watching. The Republicans were so much craftier in their use of procedure and media! President Obama seemed passive and disengaged! EVERYTHING WAS FALLING APART AND OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY MAY BE OVER!!!!
What emerged from conference last night is a $790 billion bill made up of roughly two-thirds spending and one-third tax breaks. In other words, for all practical purposes exactly what President Obama asked for.
This is a reminder that our media culture needs some dire outrage every night to make all those promos and rile up their small, specialized audiences. A key core competency of the Bill O'Reillys and Kieth Olbermanns -- and even the more respectable professionals out doing their stand-ups in front of the White House -- is the ability to see the moment with a total lack of perspective.
Our media: sound and fury, signifying nothing.
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