Barack Obama and the media hype

2 things came to my attention today: 1. Barack Obama's  prayer-note in the Western Wall was removed and published by some opportunistic American who was there for his gap year. 2. The New York Times refused to publish an op-ed by John Mcain about the Iraq war, which was a rebuttal to an op-ed by Obama published in the Times a while ago.

Both of these things point towards the same phenomena: Media-hype about Barack, and forgetting that politicians are human.

As a human being, Barack Obama was entitled to leave a personal prayer-note between him and God. Removing the note violated his human right to privacy. (as well as a bunch of other ethics and Jewish commandments - rabbis condemned the removal of the note.)

The fact that the note's removal was on CNN international, as well as all over a variety of media, especially news web-sites, demonstrates how obsessed with Obama the media is.

Not publishing the op-ed by Mcain, after publishing an op-ed by Obama, shows bias by the Times. Providing news reports is a public and civic service essential the fiber of a healthy democracy. As such, the Times is obligated to show all sides of the story. It doesn't matter whether the op-ed by Mcain was good or bad. What matters is that once they gave the democratic candidate the right to speak, they are obligated to give the republican candidate the opportunity to do the same.

The Times' pro-Obama bias is counterproductive. People will wonder what it says about Obama if his supporters feel the need to hijack the media in order for him to win. If he truly is the stronger candidate, then shouldn't the simple, unbiased truth, with him and Mcain having equal air-time, be enough to convince us he's the better candidate?

Furthermore, if Obama wins in what many feel was a case of mass-mis-information due to media bias, he will not have the popular support necessary to enact true change in the white house - and change is what Obama is all about.

Our country desperately needs change. It would be a pity if, at the beginning of his term, grumbling about a brain-washing and stolen election aided by the media deprived the next president of the power to enact the platform on which he was elected.

To get true change in the white house, first we need to change how the media is reporting the race to the white house.