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Yesterday, when Chris Lehmann said to Harper’s that the media was working itself up too much about Obama’s choice for vice-president, we couldn’t help but agree. “The reporters and editors who are composing these inane pieces are pretty much talking to each other. I saw a Washington Post headline the other day, ’Who’s No. 2? Obama Keeps Everybody Guessing,’” Lehman observed. “No — the ‘everybody’ in that construction is you.” YES. It’s true! Everybody else is content to wait and see. Voters know that the announcement will be made (by text or otherwise) before the convention starts in, oh, three days. They can handle the wait. It was like Michael Phelps at the Olympics — we wanted to know whether he would win, but nobody was “guessing.” They were just waiting to see. Since it’s widely assumed that the announcement will come today or tomorrow morning (as opposed to Sunday, the only other day it could be — Wow, media! You’re really hedging your bets here), the Huffington Post has gone nuts for Joe Biden, Time’s Mark Halperin tries to predict the announcement process today minute-by-minute, and CNN spends hundreds of words telling us that, basically, we won’t know until tomorrow. It was one thing when people were sharing informed opinions in recent weeks. It’s another to rabidly speculate when you could just wait 24 hours and find out.
Nothing the media tells us today is going to affect a decision that’s already made, and no amount of speculation is going to actually predict Obama’s choice until we hear official word. SO CHILL THE EFF OUT, MEDIA. It’s not even going to make that big of a difference anyway. The Olympics are still on and it’s a Friday in August. At this rate, you’re going to have an aneurysm.
P.S. This doesn’t mean we’re not going to excitedly report his choice the minute it is revealed. It just means we won’t bother you about it until then.
