Are we making progress?

Have you ever wondered how we can have a President that is a complete and unmitigated disaster in virtually every way - yet when you look at the major news media outlets, you don't see the "Bush plan a disaster" headlines you would think you would see. That's assuming, of course, that the media was balanced and reported the important stories.

We fight so many small battles, but I wonder if there is much of a shift in the front line of the war? In the big picture, who really cares about Tom DeLay? Is the outcome of the judicial nominee filibuster that important?

As I go through the round table of blogs and news outlets I read, I see a never ending line of travesties, any one of which would have been a huge scandal during the Clinton administration. Somehow, Bush is given a pass..

We see politicians and religious leaders do and say things that most of us find repugnant, yet they act with impunity. Still, the news media continues to drift to the right.

Via corrente:

Though there have been some recent bright spots for the Left's media – the fledgling progressive talk radio, new techniques for distributing documentaries on DVD, and hard-hitting Internet blogs – there are also more danger signs. As the Left postpones media investments, some struggling progressive news outlets – which could provide the framework for a counter-infrastructure – may be headed toward extinction.

Just as the echo chamber of the Right’s infrastructure makes conservative media increasingly profitable, the lack of a Left infrastructure dooms many promising media endeavors to failure.

The hard truth for the Left is that the media imbalance in the United States could very easily get much worse. The difficult answer for the progressive community is to come to grips with this major strategic weakness, apply the Left’s organizing talents, and finally make a balanced national media a top priority.

Is the nation in shell shock now? What happened to the mind set of the Vietnam protestors? Why are there no grass roots university demonstrations?

Why is America apathetic? These are not small issues with short life spans that can be fixed easily in the next administration. These are hugely important economic, social and diplomatic issues, and America's silence is deafening.

Or - am I reading this all wrong, and America is fully aware of what is going on. After all, the Presidents approval rating is the in the low 40's, and congress in the low to mid 30's. That does mean that a vast majority of American's know they suck.

We just seem to be lacking a real sense of activism. I don't know whether to be optimistic or not.