Future of Fox News

Despite being slightly old-ish (from Nov. 15), I think this article holds some interesting points with our upcoming topic being the right wing media, most prominently Fox News. With the change in the White House, the question for the rightest of right media outlet is how do we cope with the new administration. The Times article seems to imply that the course may be not much different than 8 years ago:

At the same time Fox News, which had been the most significant media supporter of the Bush administration, is now expected to revert to the position it held when it first broke through during the Clinton years: the aggressive voice of the opposition.

“The administration has changed, but the politics haven’t,” said John Rash, an advertising executive who teaches a course in media and politics at the University of Minnesota. “The liberal and conservative commentators who dominate each news network will have to invert their roles.”

In other words, instead of being the last line of defense, Fox News can now go on the offensive and begin to readily attack the new administration. If I had to venture a guess, look for the channel to become even more vicious, even more partisan since they now have to fight for their political life.

GOP Next Steps: Continued.

The story about the next steps for the GOP continues to play a large role in the media. With the recent election results heavily favoring all things Democrat, the Republicans have been left scrambling. As Thomas Edsall points out, or rather asks, the big question is what happens next? How can the Republican return to power? Can they? Colin discussed how older political parties (i.e. the Whigs) would fade away after a bad election cycle last week in class. While I can't imagine that the Republican party will just fade into history, the question that seems to be persisting in the media is a valid one. Does the GOP have to face a radical restructuring of their values and beliefs in order to stay relevant in a world that finds itself quickly distancing itself from the party?

With the next President ready to take office in a little over two months, the candidate the media seemed to favor, how will the media view the losing party? In a way, it reminds me of sports journalism, which I find to be highly reliant on knee jerk reactions. Your team wins, the coach is a genius. Your team loses, its time for the team to radically alter things. Negatives become more glaring in defeat than they ever do in victory. The same goes for positives. Does the GOP really require a massive overhaul or can some minor tweaks change the country's view on the party. The GOP is certainly at a crossroads. Do they stay the course or would that be, as Edsall seems to believe, polishing the brass on the Titanic? Or rather, do they make a few slight roster moves, throw in a trick play or two and reload for next week (or in political speak, the 2010 midterms)?

Clinton as SoS?

It seems as if the big news of the moment is that Hilary Clinton has been offered the position of Secretary of State in Barack Obama's cabinet, a position she is supposedly strongly considering. While I believe Clinton would be a fine SoS and have no questions about her abilities to do the job, my questions lie in the category of "How does this affect her political future?". As SoS, the experience she would pick up in the next 4 (or 8) years would be invaluable, making her as educated and prepared a candidate in 2016 as anyone in recent memory. Even in this year's election, many people found Hilary to be a strong candidate based on her stance on the issues. The years as a first lady obviously helped that and her work in Congress has been excellent prep as well. Throw SoS into that mix and you might have the startings of a very strong candidate in 2016. It might be wishful thinking on my part but if the grand ol' USA could follow up its first African American president with its first Woman President, it could establish the country as not a backwards thinking, socially conservative country but rather a visionary and progressive nation ready to lead the world in the 21st century.

GOP Next Steps

On the topic of "What Now?", if we step from the Obama White House over to the GOP, the picture is just about as interesting. Prior to the week following the election, I was in the "Sarah Palin is the New Star of the GOP, like it or not." group and was going to be a prominent leader in the party. However, following her meltdown and bickering war with McCain's people, I was skeptical. Yet, with the GOP governors meeting to discuss what the hell happened and how the hell do we fix it, Ms. Palin is firmly back in the spotlight, blowing off a GOP lunch and holding a press conference later today.

If nothing else, the election (obviously) jumped her a number of notches. She used to be a marginal young governor from Alaska but now is the featured attendee in Washington. The question now is whether she'll be able to regain any sort of national political prominance without being laughed off the stage for her gaffs, some of which I'm sure we haven't heard of, from the campaign. The fact that she was launched into the public spotlight unprepared and ill-advised can not be ignored. With some seasoning and the right coaching, can Palin regain her lost luster and go from sideshow to prominance in four years?

The other big question here is how the GOP reacts to Palin. While its clear that she isn't ready to go away and will do what she can to repair her public image, its not quite as clear how the GOP feels about her chances. Does the party want to continue to associate themselves with a ex-VP candidate who alienated pretty much everyone except hardcore conservatives? While she certainly appeals to the Religious Right and party line voters, how will she court the moderates? How does she court the young vote when her views so vehemently oppose the opinions of so many of the under 30 voters in the country?

What Do I Do Now?

From our friends at The Onion. We briefly spoke about election withdrawal and what happens after the election last night. As always, The Onion has managed to beautifully skewer the situation. Given how emotionally tied into the campaign Obama supporters were, the fact that their may be a void for some is really not that far-fetched. I, for one, have a few friends who moved away from their homes and jobs to work in crucial states for Obama. The question as to what they will do after the campaign, win or lose, has come up a couple of times and none of them have much of an answer. We all followed this election very closely and now, with its passing, what's next?