Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump

by Dan Pfeiffer

There was a lot of excellent journalism during the Obama presidency. Incredible reporting from the front lines of wars, probing investigative pieces that revealed fraud and abuse in government, and masterful feature articles that told the stories of the people who make up the cultural mosaic of our country. While some of these stories made my job harder, we as a country are all the better for them. More importantly, there is even better journalism happening in the Trump presidency. Trump’s attacks on the press that border on the cyber-bullying that his wife has laughingly pledged to stomp out have reignited an appreciation for great journalism among the non-MAGA hat-wearing populace. The New York Times and the Washington Post have entered a new golden era, one-upping each with critical scoops on a daily basis. It is also true, however, that too much of political journalism is about the horse race of campaigns rather than the policy of governing. Polls are like crack to reporters because they love to write about who’s up and who’s down. Coverage tends to conform to the chosen narrative of the moment, which lasts up until the moment the press gets tired of the narrative and looks for the first excuse to shift to a new, more interesting narrative. It’s almost always style over substance. There are great informative pieces of political journalism that tell us about the players involved and the issues, but those are the exceptions, not the rule. Too much of political coverage i...