WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — US media offered widely varying accounts Wednesday of President Barack Obama’s reelection victory, with headlines ranging from ultra-conservative to liberal extreme and reports inflected with everything from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat.
“The Divided States of America,” screamed the conservative Drudge Report, an aggregation of links mainly to other outlets’ coverage from across the United States and other countries.
Two of the top post-election features posted Wednesday on Drudge were headed: “Dollar Falls as Obama Win Paves Way for Monetary Easing,” and “Romney Appeals for End of Bickering.”
CNBC, which covers financial news both via broadcast and online, is all but surly on Obama’s victory.
“What Now? ” asks the lead story, with a summary that drives the point home: An election that was supposed to be about change actually could end up being an intensified dose of more of the same for investors.
Other less-than-ebullient headlines on the CNBC site: “Surprising as it May Be, Obama Won on the Economy,” and a panel discussion entitled “An Obama Win Means Washington Gets Worse.”
Contrast that with the coverage in the Washington Post, widely considered to be one of the more liberal newspapers in America.
“A SECOND TERM” blares the banner online headline, with a link to stories including “The strategy that paved a winning path,” “Obama gets decisive win by stringing together series of narrow victories,” and “Behind the scenes: Obama’s fierce will to win.”
Just across town, the conservative Washington Times was more muted in its victory coverage, with a summary paragraph that lacked the celebratory tone: President Obama, it said, won by “holding together enough of his hope-and-change coalition … surviving a sluggish economy and a fractured electorate that desired a change but failed to find … a credible alternative.”
In other words, Obama won despite all the problems because his opponent wasn’t strong enough.
In the context-rich style for which it is famous, The New York Times’ website offered the headline “Divided U.S. Gives Obama More Time” while the respected daily The Christian Science Monitor struck a more matter-of-fact tone with the headline: “Obama wins, but has anything changed?”
Conservative Fox News, for all the scoffing over its “fair & balanced” slogan, resisted what might have been the temptation to slam the Obama victory, with a simple headline: FOUR MORE YEARS. (PNA/RIA Novosti)
CTB/RSM