The Presidential Pageant: “There He Is, Mr. America...”

Norman Solomon said:

...While this country has become a good deal more skeptical about the mythic allures of Miss America, the news media and the nation as a whole are still boxed in by the Mr. America extravaganza. During thousands of public appearances, presidential candidates pose, preen and posture, trying to measure up to our images of what and who the man in the Oval Office should be. And the media evaluations often seem scarcely more sophisticated or discerning than the retrograde judges who assign points according to arbitrary standards of physical proportions and womanly poise.

They’re polar opposites -- an inconsequential Miss America contest and a momentous presidential contest -- yet political journalists, especially the ones on television, often lapse into reviewing debate performances and stump speeches on the basis of little more than style. Reporters and pundits are apt to applaud well-executed spin without reference to the factual basis or wisdom of the assertions...

...Ordinarily, as a practical matter, the game of political drama merely requires that someone play a passable version of a wise president on television. What we see on the screen are the pretenses of a man who tries to follow a script written to fit the public’s fondest image of Mr. America. The gaps between televised appearances and real-world realities have never been more profound than the abyss between George W. Bush’s favorite televised personas and the consequences of his presidential reign. It may soon be this president’s misfortune that most voters have seen through the poses of a pleasant TV performer.
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When will we re-visit the entirety of the media spectrum's ability to maximize citizenship? Or are there actually folks out there feeling effectively, powerfully served by the vast majority of media in the "marketplace?"