What To Expect

There will be a smokescreen of uniter-not-divider rhetoric for a short time, but I think it will quickly be replaced by a mean-spirited triumphalism. One of the first manifestations will be an all-out attack on the mainstream media. Here's a clue - keep in mind that these guys are sore winners, too.

Now, the mainstream media deserves plenty of criticism for its faux-objectivity, laziness, and status quo elitism. But that's not what will be under attack. Instead, the objective is to neutralize any journalist and any story that departs from the well-established story lines of the Republican mainstream. If they can't be coerced into being Fox-lite, then they'll be battered into submission.

Jay Rosen has a fascinating, and more optimistic, take on this. And I think he's right. There's still 49% of us who want to hear the other side of the story. That means there's a real opportunity for anyone who can speak truth to power and do it well.