“Mortalizing” Obama and other made-up words

Time Magazine tweeted

See TIME's list of most overreported news stories of 2010 | http://su.pr/3292tC #TIMEbestlists—
TIME.com (@TIME) December 13, 2010

I wanted to see what Time thought was over-reported.

Surprisingly, I agreed with many of the choices: Palin, bed bugs, O’Connel, the koran burner and a few more deserved their place on this list.

But then again when we get to number ten – it’s what I expected from TIME

This photo under the caption of “Nameless victim”

Charlie Riedel / AP

was what the media thought too much was made of. After all, we all know the Gulf is fine and 72% of the oil evaporated into thin air! Pouf! The ocean is very big as Tony Hayward schooled us.

As for this bird, is fine  and raising grandchildren! (prove it’s not!)

But that was not all I expected – and found on that list.

At number four – TIME makes up a new word

4. The Mortalizing of Barack Obama

Not sure what exactly they mean by that, but from the context, I’d hazard a guess: the media (wrongly) took the immortality feature of Obama (kind of like a vampire that suddenly turns alive, thus becoming mortal) .

In an ironical twist, the example they are using to illustrate this exaggeration is….the healthcare reform

In order to ensure congressional passage of a legislative foundation for health care reform, he disappointed progressives by choosing not to fight for the public option.

And how do they know that was exaggerated?

Obama’s Gallup job-approval rating never dipped into the 30% range, as it had done for two-term Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan during their first two years in office. Obama may never have been “the One,” as Oprah Winfrey dubbed him, but he might not be doing quite as badly as his headlines suggest.

First of all Obama’s polls numbers actually did dip into the 30s – 39 to be exact. In the Top of the Ticket blog, the accompanying photo was this

I guess it’s why TIME used Gallup specifically, as the 39 happened in the Obama friendlier Zogby polling.

Second of all, people tend to remember the “shellacking”  more than the Gallup polling – which was due in great measure to that very “exaggerated” abandonment of the public option – much as the media didn’t mention it at all.

And of course, given the universal disgust for Obama’s latest cave in, talking about “exaggerated mortalizing” is a joke in itself.

I am sure this was written before the reaction to Obama’s latest post-partisan achievement.

And for all these reasons, I refudiate the mortalizing arguments. I think TIME got wee-weed for nothing.

Os are restless (DU screen shots)

These are the greatest threads on Democratic Underground as of this morning

down the line

and the last one

.

Tabloids: Obama’s deal screws you and your social security too, google

The Daily News denounces Obama’s deal – if you are not a millionaire, higher prices will wipe out your “windfall” (some of those – connected to Obama’s “signature” healthcare achievement)

Price hikes for things like MetroCards and health care premiums will eat up the $67 to $178 a month you’ll get from a one-year, 2-percentage-point reduction in the Social Security taxes you pay.

A Louisiana paper goes even farther, spilling the beans on the Social Security gambit

Morning Sneeze: Homey don’t play that!

The New York Times has a new editorial in which progressives are put down in a fresh new way. OK, maybe it’s not so new, but so far it has only been used for Apalachians, women, working  class and other people who voted for Hillary in 2008, never for the Os:

Progressives are white!

Which not only means they can’t jump, it also means they are spoiled brats demanding ponies

Unlike white progressives, blacks and Latinos are not used to getting it all. They know how it feels to be unemployed and unable to buy your children Christmas presents. They know when not to shout. The president, the coolest man in the room, who worked among the unemployed in Chicago, knows too.

Why can you be more like us and help those non-progressive whites on Wall Street get their ponies for their ponies?

Why would you demand Obama to “man up” and slap people left and right like John Wayne on a horse?

Smack you over the head with a heavy sock maybe, but not THAT! And especially not THEM!

Do you want the people who write nice things about Obama today to call him an angry black man? Like those teachers who called me rowdy?

I don’t think so! Homey don’t play that!

Not for you at least! Maybe for that other Man, but not for you. Case in point

White House launches charm offensive with incoming GOP chairs