‘Thanks for the memories’

Last July I complained about three local newspapers, The Daily Record, The News Leader and The News Virginian. All committed what I felt was a disservice to Barack Obama, who had just won the nomination of a major American political party. If you don’t remember, I wrote that all three had overlooked or ignored an opportunity to recognize history in the making.

There’s an old saying of, “What goes around, comes around.” Well, just as I felt obligated to acknowledge the missed opportunity of Obama’s nomination, I now feel just as obligated to acknowledge the complete opposite.

In today’s vernacular, the way Obama’s election and later his inauguration has been covered was awesome. The coverage provided by all the papers was itself historic.

I was around when the Korean and Vietnam wars ended but don’t recall the amount of local coverage either drew.

I can recall the coverage of four history-making events – the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. I wasn’t around at two other historic events that probably commanded just as much coverage – the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the end of World War II on July 15, 1945.

I knew the huge majority of African-Americans were awestruck and proud but I didn’t realize just how many whites and other Americans felt the same way. Of course, many people who didn’t vote for him probably couldn’t wait for the celebrations and media coverage to end, but that’s acceptable and understandable.

Many people all over the world basked in the meaning of his election and the following hoopla of his inauguration.

Television cameras around the world showed Obama taking his first oath at noon. (He took it again at 7:30 p.m. because of the bungled wording during the initial swearing-in.) When Obama said, “So help me God” at the end, people across America and throughout the world cheered. And many across America and throughout the world cried.

Riding an approval rating of 80 percent, Obama knows he won’t be able to sustain it. He can’t and won’t because of too much economic pain and suffering occurring in the U.S. daily.

Neither will he sustain the high approval rating in the rest of the world. With each passing day there will be problems Obama will face, so there’s no way he can please opposing sides of a disagreement.

Already, those opposed to his economic, political and moral positions are grumbling. Complaints about his proposed stimulus package are drawing deeper frowns. There’s dissatisfaction with his plan to close Guantanamo and relocate many of its prisoners to mainland facilities. And conservative and religious voices are being raised in anticipation of his lessening of abortion restrictions.

However, as great as local coverage of Obama’s moment was, local media now must get back to covering local issues.

As Bob Hope used to say, “Thanks for the memories.”

Nelson Graves, of Augusta County, is a columnist for The News Virginian. E-mail him at .