Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post's useless media critic whose column is the actual physical manifestation of "conventional wisdom," is upset. About Obama! Specifically, about the fact that every newspaper and magazine and TV network has decided that Obama worship is the proper coverage strategy at the moment. The media is engaged in outrageous "mythmaking," Howie Kurtz observes, long after all the worthwhile media critics have analyzed this point to death. Howie's method is to list every example of a media outlet celebrating Obama's victory, then to wrap it all up with a conclusion that you may not have considered yet:

There is always a level of excitement when a new president is coming to town — new aides to profile, new policies to dissect, new family members to follow. But can anyone imagine this kind of media frenzy if John McCain had managed to win?

Uh... good point? No, wait; bad point. "The audience cheered when the hero won. But would they have cheered as much if they villain had one?" No Howie. No they wouldn't. And have you considered, Howie, what Rupert Murdoch said the other day about your industry?

"The complacency [in newsrooms] stems from having enjoyed a monopoly—and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product. Newspapers are no exception."

The funny thing is that Howie does have the ghost of a point here! He's just two weeks late in realizing it (beaten by the internet). He's also decrying the media giving its audience what it wants. He's like Rupert Murdoch's quote come to life! And useless as always, terrified of being accused of "liberal bias" as he is. It's a good thing none of this "mythmaking" business went on with George W. Bush, 9/11 Hero. [WP]