Does the press pick presidents?

No

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by Nouri Arif

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The press, although they may well cover certain candidates while wearing rose-colored glasses, do not pick the winner of any presidential campaign. Most of us, if we are truly honest about it, understand that any news organization has embedded in it's "D.N.A." a certain agenda or political ideology. When we understand that,and most of us really do, it is a simple matter to look beyond the coverage any one group gives to any one candidate. With the great many news organizations that operate in the U.S. and throughout the world any person with moderate intelligence can see past the spin doctoring and get to what's real about the candidates.

In any election the work done by the party as a whole and the staffers of any candidate makes far more difference than does the coverage that the candidate receives. The garnering of donations, the organizations of rallies and the ability of campaign workers to get their people to the polls are the key to getting any one elected. This work combined with a message that resonates with the people in just the right way, regardless of whether or not that message is true, makes the voter get out and put their vote in for the candidate. The greater number of votes can, but doesn't always, translate to a win in the election.

Take for example the late Jerry Falwell. Is there any coverage that could possibly have swayed the great masses to vote for this figure head of the moral majority and forget the time honored maxim against combining church and state? I think not. The same set of circumstances seem to have held true for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. No amount of favorable coverage would have gotten either of them elected because the people were neither moved by their message nor were they willing to mingle the church and the state. Another example of the press coverage not making much difference to the campaign's outcome might well be the election prior to Richard Nixon's second term in the White House. Nixon was certainly not being bathed in a warm and flattering light at that time and yet he still managed a victory.

There is of course the matter of Hillary. In as far as I can tell from watching the cable news networks the lady hasn't been bashed by anyone to what could be remotely thought of as a great degree. In fact, I've heard some rather nice things about her on the news. Still, she is not distancing herself greatly from the pack even though she has the Clinton name and some experience in the White House. Perhaps none of us have been able to forget that the lady couldn't sort out the health care mess when she was assigned, not elected, to do so by her husband between sessions with Ms. Monica Lewinsky. Perhaps none of us have forgotten that the lady has issues managing her own marriage, never mind our country.

If anything other than the popular vote decides our President for us and perhaps even against our collective wills it would be the Electoral College. When one looks at the elections that have come and gone it is this body, more than anything else one can name, that makes the final decision as to who will take the office of President of The United States. We can throw out the newspaper or change the channel from CNN to Fox News, but we can't get around, and some of us still don't understand completely, the workings of the Electoral College.

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