John F. Harris, Politico, shares the "7 stories Barack Obama doesn't want told."
The premise of his article is that Obama's image is taking hits because he's no longer controlling the storytelling.
During the 2008 campaign, the Obama camp managed to dupe many Americans into believing its narrative. Of course, some of us never bought into that.
The days of viewing Obama as the "mystically talented young idealist who stood for change in a disciplined and thoughtful way" may be over.
Harris writes:
A year into his presidency, however, Obama’s gift for controlling his image shows signs of faltering. As Washington returns to work from the Thanksgiving holiday, there are several anti-Obama storylines gaining momentum.
The Obama White House argues that all of these storylines are inaccurate or unfair. In some cases these anti-Obama narratives are fanned by Republicans, in some cases by reporters and commentators.
But they all are serious threats to Obama, if they gain enough currency to become the dominant frame through which people interpret the president’s actions and motives.
Here are seven storylines Obama needs to worry about:1. He thinks he’s playing with Monopoly money
2. Too much Leonard Nimoy
3. That’s the Chicago Way
4. He’s a pushover
5. He sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe
6. President Pelosi
7. He’s in love with the man in the mirror
Harris explains each of the seven storylines.
What's interesting is that Harris refers to them as "storylines," as if they're mostly fiction.
I see them as documentary material.
Harris concludes, "Obama’s best hope of nipping bad storylines is to replace them with good ones rooted in public perceptions of his effectiveness."
The bad "storylines" aren't going away. I suppose they can be overridden, but I don't think Obama has an extreme makeover, including a character transplant, on his schedule.
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