Why have the Democrats won only three in the last 10 presidential elections? Partly because of the phenomenon we're seeing this week -- this Clinton vs. Obama mindscrew we're hearing from old media. The Republicans and corporate media are really good at mindscrews: making voters (or consumers) believe in things that just aren't true, whether through fear or coercion or persistence.
Today, all I'm hearing on television and elsewhere is exactly what we thought would happen... No matter what Senator Clinton did or said, the corporate media and the Republicans would paint it as insufficient. That was the best address any Clinton has ever delivered and yet -- not good enough. She didn't talk about Senator Obama's bio, they're saying, or talk about how well she knows him. Based upon what I'm hearing, you'd think that Senator Clinton delivered a rant torn from a Mad Libs For Politics book. The refrain: "She didn't..." "She didn't..." "She didn't..."
And regardless of what we think about the actual impact of the barbecue loop, this kind of talk has an effect. It rapidly becomes the conventional wisdom.