Dissent Will Not Be Tolerated

Obama runs a tight ship. His campaign has been disciplined, steadfastly on point, and scripted. This is an amazing feat, considering his legions of aides, surrogates, and campaign supporters throughout the country. He has out-campaigned and out-strategized McCain on virtually every front. It is not difficult to imagine that should Obama win the election, he will run an equally disciplined White House.

Certainly he has not done this alone. In one of my previous blog posts, I cited the non-partisan Pew Research Center's study which demonstrated that Obama has been the beneficiary of significantly positive mainstream media bias throughout the campaign. Further analysis by Fox News has also pointed to the sharp contrast in coverage between Obama and McCain, with Obama receiving upwards of 78% positive media coverage from some newspapers and news stations versus 29% positive for McCain. Never before has the media been so slanted in its coverage as it has in this election cycle.

But what of those who have not shown bias in Obama's favor? Barbara West, a reporter for an Orlando news station, asked Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, specific pointed questions about Obama's proposed policies. This did not sit well with the Obama campaign, and the station was immediately cut off from further interviews with the Obama camp. Today, three major newspapers which endorsed McCain for President, were suddenly kicked off of the Obama news corps plane, despite having followed his campaign from the beginning. And then there's Joe the Plumber, a guy playing football with his 13 year old son in his yard when Obama stopped by his driveway on a campaign stop. Joe asked a question about how Obama' plan might effect his taxes, and subsequently became an icon representing McCain's tax argument against Obama. Since then, the Obama camp has done everything it can to smear this private citizen's name. Is this the kind of treatment dissenters can expect under an Obama administration? Bullying, intimidation, investigations of private citizens, and cutting off of any press which happens to ask questions he does not like?

I have stated before that beneath Obama's cool, elegant veneer is something that doesn't sit right with me. Cold ruthlessness, enormous ambition and ego, intellect and strict discipline combined with a refusal to tolerate dissent smacks of past and current leaders around the globe who represent the worst the world has to offer. It feels like the antithesis of freedom. It feels like we are about to embrace a dictatorship.