Star jumps anti-Obama shark

by David Safier

The Star has slipped into self parody in its hatred of all things Obama. The paper has officially jumped the shark.

Now they're going after the First Lady, hard.

Yesterday it was a big headline (about a little story) on the first page of the second section,

First lady home; criticism burns on

The headline, written by the Star's Creative Writing Team, was so vile, it was picked up by a website called Bastard Obama. Most everyone else who ran the story used the much lighter, less accusatory headline,

Critics Rain On Spain Getaway For First Lady

Today the Star has a column by Kathleen Parker which basically says, "OK, come on, this trip wasn't a big deal. She probably made a bad choice because of perception, but it was really no big deal." The Star's home grown headline is

Mrs. Obama's Spain trip a bitter pill for many

Bitter pill. Hmm. Given the Star's obsessive hatred for the health care legislation, I wouldn't be surprised if the "bitter pill" term is a conscious or unconscious link to that obsession. After all, the Star was the only semi-legitimate paper ever to use the term "Obamacare" in a headline (so far as I know):

Why seniors say Obamacare is bad medicine for them

The phrase, "Obamacare is bad medicine" was on signs at anti-health care rallies. Yes, the Star actually created that headline as an homage to the anti-health care brigade.

The most common headline for today's Parker column is:

Michelle Obama: Tone deaf on the Costa del Sol?

The standard headline says, if she thought about the perception factor, she might have made a choice that wouldn't make her such an easy target. It's a slap on the wrist, enough for most papers. But that's not enough for the Star, which needs to tell us, over and over, "We're all pretty sick of those Obamas, aren't we?"