The media has succeeded in making an arbitrary date a point in Obama's presidency that requires comprehensive evaluation so that Obama can continue his presidency appropriately.

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Over the past few days some in the media have been asking, “How is the media going to observe” Obama’s 100^th day?” Jon Stewart responded last night saying, “That’s a great question. I’m going to go with mindless overkill.”

The Obama Administration has succeeded in making an arbitrary date a point in Obama’s presidency that requires comprehensive evaluation so that Obama can continue his presidency appropriately.

For bloggers, right wing and left wing, it is impossible to not feel the pull to weigh in on his 100^th day. But, what The Daily Show segment satirizes and points out is the fact that the media may make this opportunity to assess and imagine a better future trivial.

YouTube has cut a deal with the White House to stream Obama’s 100^th Day speech online. If you go to YouTube, not only can you see that you will be able to watch the speech later, but you will also see that the “White House” has its own channel with what I presume to be "favorite" videos listed that discuss Obama’s 100 Days in office.

If Josef Goebbels were alive today, he would be green with envy.

The two videos that currently appear on the YouTube homepage just right under the video that says "Live Tonight: The President's News Conference" come from AlJazeera English and Fox News and the two could not be offering more polar opposite views on the 100 days.

The Al Jazeera English video covers “Obama’s breakneck 100 days.” It says Obama has “moved faster than any president in generations.” It suggests that Obama has been engaging in “pragmatic experimentation.”

It’s difficult to be critical of this report because it leaves me wishing all news stations would approach news stories in the way Al Jazeera approached Obama’s 100^th day.

The Fox News video features Karl Rove confirming that Obama is a “big spending liberal” and, oddly, Rove takes this opportunity to show how Obama may be bringing more continuity than change to foreign policy.

And then, it gets even stranger --- Karl Rove says, “Let’s step back for a minute. Whether it’s domestic or international, this 100 days is an artificial deadline. It’s a construct that the media has. Every White House prepares for it endlessly, develops storylines, prepares spinners, gets everybody out there working from top to bottom. But, in reality, 100 days is not a lot of time for any administration to begin to set things in concrete.” 

AlJazeera English said of the 100^th day in its description of their video, “For more than 70 years, a US president's first 100 days has been a traditional, if artificial, measurement of his ability to get things done.”

Which leads me to this question: When Karl Rove agrees with Al Jazeera, does that signal something? Doesn't that require us to ask why Americans allow this, as Jon Stewart puts it, mindless overkill?

I think so, and I have an answer.

I allow this is because I am interested and I enjoy following it because I can participate. I can post my opinions of the past 100 days through blogs, published articles, and in comments threads. I can have my posting featured on Open Salon or headlined on OpEdNews.com.

I can search for articles on Obama’s 100^th day and find a slew of articles that take a progressive or conservative slant and don’t practice this trivial objectivity that the corporate media claim to uphold or struggle to cling onto.

Most importantly, I can produce writing or reports on the administration are more similar to Russ Feingold’s “rule of law” report card on Obama than CNN’s primetime grade report.

And that is why you will see future postings from me on not just Obama’s past 100 days but also his next 100 days.

So, I will enjoy Obama’s primetime speech which he must give so that the media madness can continue and there will be more to come afterwards.

(P.S. Is anyone planning on watching American Idol instead?)

Authors Bio:
Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof Press. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, "Unauthorized Disclosure." He was an editor for OpEdNews.com