Where do we stand, according to the mainstream media?

Perspectives have totally shifted since the results of the election became apparent. No longer were the Democrats always portrayed as weak and divided. No longer were the Republicans always portrayed as all powerful. Democrats themselves were buoyed by the news and Republicans were almost universally chastened. Then the reality of governing set in as House and Senate members returned to Washington for "lame duck" sessions and the election of new leaders for 2007-08, and our current president high-tailed it for the Far East.

Has the business perspective of the nation shifted also? Are investors more optimistic. For example, the continued record highs of the Dow Jones stock market averages have been a surprising development: a CNN lead reads, "Investors will be waiting to see if further oil declines can fuel a fourth straight record high close for the Dow.

Who are the media darlings? In the age of celebrity we have our own political celebrities. The media's focus is often on labeling who are the winners and who are the losers. One blog (Politics Trend Diary) put the headline in the starkest terms: "Update: The Pelosi/Murtha/Hoyer Fight - Hoyer Wins, Pelosi Loses."

Who is "in," who is "out"? Who is "up" and who is "down"? A typical story by Adam Nagourney yesterday in the New York Times headlines, "After Win, Democrats Revert to Finger-Pointing ." Quickly the pre-election label for Democrats as "divided" returned, when the caucus' selection process has actually been completely normal.

Who has influence? I have also written about leadership - from women, senators and Republicans. It is not just politics as usual. A New York Times article focused totally on the politics of a Senate Armed Services hearing held on Wednesday, leaving aside the outcomes , the findings, and the oversight aspects of the work of the Senate on Iraq.

Who has become irrelevant? Reuters carried the story of our current president's trip to Vietnam, where he arrived without a trade deal in hand. The key sentence read, "Bush came to preach free markets in the Pacific Rim but, weakened by his Republicans' stinging defeat in last week's mid-term elections, he arrived without a historic trade deal he had hoped to present to America's former Vietnamese foes."

The past week has brought tremendous change. I have posted about this enormous change, about hunger and about the deteriorating situation in Iraq, as described in a story in the International Herald Tribune headlined, "Iraqi president seeks summit to avert collapse of government." It would be very difficult to find out what is actually happening in Iraq if one depended on only mainstream media. Thus I regularly read and link to the Herald Tribune, the BBC News, Aljazeera, and the Financial Times.

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My "creative post" today at Southwest Blogger is about a Native American artifact.
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