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RE: "Obama Declares Himself The Nominee"
The headline on the main page of TPM currently reads:
OBAMA DECLARES HIMSELF THE NOMINEE
Am I being overly sensitive in thinking that this is one of the most snotty, dismissive and insulting ways you could possibly characterize the event of the evening?
In case anyone at TPM is interested, Obama was also declared the nominee by AP, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, Reuters, The New York Times, The LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, Time, Newsweek, and hundreds of other media outlets, as well as the majority of delegates and superdelegates.
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Comments (43)
Oh, I'm okay with it. It's a reasonable characterization. "Declares Victory" would also work, but why quibble?
You didn't like Josh's two-word post earlier? "Obama wins." I thought that had more than sufficient clarity.
June 4, 2008 1:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Take it up with the Editor-in-Chief.
He hasn't exactly been terribly subtle about whom he favors.
June 4, 2008 1:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
cute
June 4, 2008 3:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks!
June 4, 2008 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I thought this was kind of odd too. I would assume it's not intentional, but it's unfortunate wording that makes as much sense as saying "Obama says the Earth is round."
June 4, 2008 1:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Headlines from around the world:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/4/04215/64856/30/528828
June 4, 2008 1:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I thought the same thing when I saw that phrasing on AOL's headlines. Luckily, they changed it. This has nothing to do with Obama DECLARING HIMSELF the nominee. He won the nomination. Other than the technicality of the convention, the deal is CLOSED.
June 4, 2008 1:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not that it makes much difference at this point, but Obama's status as nominee is not settled. What is now settled is his being the "presumtive nominee". The process at the convention is not merely a technicality, but an integral part of the process.
June 4, 2008 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe it's some kind of journalistic convention. Doesn't Obama officially win the nomination at the convention when a majority of delegates vote for Obama, and didn't Obama's pronouncement technically come out of his mouth. I know that some us are deflated by that speech that preceded Obama's and we are prone to slight, but I have a feeling TPM staff know what they're doing in this case.
The sampling of headlines (PistonMoaned's link above) uses words like 'clinched', 'claimed', 'sealed', 'declares himself' - at least the english language headlines.
June 4, 2008 3:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
They didn't even bother to open a thread about his rally - or post video of the event until 1am the next morning.
Headline for the inauguration: "Obama declares himself President!"
June 4, 2008 3:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Only a fool who buys into the DNC rules could interpret this in any other way. Obama has selfish and prematurely declared himself the nominee on the short-sighted and deceitful basis of having accumulated a majority of delegates under these rules.
June 4, 2008 3:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
What??
June 4, 2008 6:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
LOL...have the batteries on your snark-o-meter checked. :-D
June 4, 2008 6:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was trying to be snarky myself... (unsuccesfully, I see.)
June 4, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Awesome.
June 4, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Victory not enough for you? Pity.
June 4, 2008 3:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't you just love these hours, I've slept very little this past week.
June 4, 2008 3:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the two headlines
OBAMA DECLARES HIMSELF THE NOMINEE
and
Hillary "Making No Decisions Tonight"
were meant to be read in tandem ... Obama's action and Hillary's (re)action
June 4, 2008 4:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
He didn't declare himself the nominee.
Reaching the magic number declared him the nominee.
This headline would have been much more accurate and to the facts:
"After Obama clinches nomination, Hillary decides not to concede."
The fallacy hear is to think that Hillary made no decisions last night. She did.
We will all remember that in this Historic moment Hillary decided she is more interested in derailing the train that jumping aboard.
June 4, 2008 6:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think you have a point. I wish they would reword this.
June 4, 2008 7:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hate to state the obvious but even John McCain was identified on CNN subtitles as Presumptive Republican Nominee. The nomination is not secured until August. I know the media is all in a tizzy and saying clinched and secured and he's the nominee, but those statements are inaccurate.
June 4, 2008 8:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have no problem with them using "presumptive nominee." It's just... "Obama Declares Himself the Nominee" sounds like it could be yet another scuffle b/t candidates, in which he misspeaks or stumbles. "Obama wins presumptive nomination" would be good. "Obama gets majority of delegates" would be fine. "Obama Is Democratic Nominee" would be great, but I don't need that... I'd just rather TPM doesn't make it sound like he's crowing himself.
I'd still like to see, "Obama Closes Deal." :-)
June 4, 2008 8:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
The lede from the :
A tempest in a teapot.
Respectfully,
Leszek
June 4, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
LOL Geez rabbit.
June 4, 2008 9:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah-yup. Perhaps it is a knee-jerk reaction after all the "elitist" talk, but the headline truly made me cringe. An unfortunate choice, if for no other reason than the potential to fan the flames.
June 4, 2008 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
That snotty, dismissive and insulting bastard.
Couldn't he have said,
June 4, 2008 9:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Clearly TPM is not ready to concede either. We should give them some space to decide what they are going to do now....
Sorry TPM staffers... I can only base my compassion on how I would feel had the situation been reversed... and Senator Clinton had gone ahead and declared victory last night based on her 'fairytale version of the popular vote etc.' She fought hard and no doubt did win a huge amount of votes as did Senator Obama...
I am reminded of how divided our party really is... that you may feel just as strongly in support of Senator Clinton as I do for Senator Obama and we both may feel equally that we cannot support the other candidate (which I do feel).
So, I say we all have to do what our hearts, integrity, and value guide us to do...
As journalists though... you might not want to hide behind the way you title your articles... it doesn't work.
June 4, 2008 10:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
**Brilliantly said!
June 4, 2008 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Genghis Declares Himself In Need Of a Shower
(just thought the media should be aware)
June 4, 2008 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
TMI
June 4, 2008 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Words and phrases have meaning, both literally and as sub-text. The sub-text of this headline is that Obama claimed something that may not have been his to claim. The delegate count was in at the time this headline was written; therefore, it should be re-written to reflect the facts. Journalism 101.
June 4, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
this headline wasn't dismissive, but rather confusing. I had to check other news and blogs to understand that obama has won the prim.
June 4, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
"OBAMA DECLARES HIMSELF THE NOMINEE"
The American people have declared Barack the nominee.
The media are still promoting Hillary's candidacy, which is dead and decomposing. But that's OK as long as the media moguls are making more billions of dollars that they don't need.
Russert this morning said that Hillary is pushing for VP "or perhaps something more." Something more than VP -- gosh, what might that be?
June 4, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
As my ancient Aunts used to say...
"I do declare!
June 4, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, you're not the only one who raised an eyebrow at that one. I did, too, and figured that some of the editors here aren't terribly enamored of Obama. I'm new to the site, so I didn't say anything at the time I saw it.
June 4, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Correcting myself on this post:
Time to move on.
June 4, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
what i thought too, but CNN had the identical language on their site yesterday.
June 4, 2008 6:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
**Who wants to butcher the cash cow?
June 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
The last I heard about the rules the Democratic Party doesn't have a nominee until the delegates vote in Denver.
I recognize that Obama currently has the delegates. I don't know who has the most popular votes which depends a lot on how its counted but they are clearly very close.
The selection of Obama has been made by the superdelegates and why they prefer to lose with Obama rather than win with Hillary which appears to be the choice is beyond me.
I am going to vote for McCain in November -- my first every Republican vote above the city council level. I am considering pledging to contribute to him every time Obama tells another lie -- Obama is either so naive that he is truly the last man in Chicago to realize that Rezko is a crook or he is lying again.
June 4, 2008 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliant logic!!!!
If lying is your standard for picking a candidate, what the hell did you do when faced with Bill Clinton or George W. Bush?
And what will you do when faced with John McCain's lies? I'm guessing vote for Nader, and when he lies, vote for Bob Barr and when he lies, switch to Alan Keyes, and just work your way down the list.
Brilliant.
June 4, 2008 11:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
IDIOTIC DECLARES: THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!
June 4, 2008 9:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
AJM, that's just ridiculous.
June 4, 2008 10:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
No ill will was intended, as far as I know.
June 4, 2008 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
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