In two consecutive columns (see the opening sections here and here), I brought up the New Hampshire Democratic primary, which first seemed to break Barack Obama’s way, overwhelmingly. The point I raised about a “failure of punditry” applies especially to the journalists who covered the Obama phenomenon — an idea discussed to death in many post-primary analyses, but which was best expressed, I think, in Ryan Lizza’s post-mortem on Hillary Clinton’s stunning win, in last week’s issue of the New Yorker.
The money quote:
In hindsight, the media may have become so caught up in the sense of destiny that enveloped Obama’s campaign after Iowa that it misinterpreted every sign of a Clinton rebound as one of further decline.
John Nery | Newsstand 