Beginning of the End?

It's a free country.  (At least, that's true today.)  So, if a candidate wishes to kick journalists off his plane if they're from news outlets that endorsed his competitor, then he can do it.  What, however, are we to make of a presidential candidate who finds any non-glowing reporting anathema?  What will this portend for the future?

Well, as I often say, predicting the future is impossible.  Nevertheless, we can look at the past and then give a best guess.  So far, we have seen Senator Obama:

• Have all his (Democratic!) competitors removed from the ticket on a technicality when running for the Illinois senate
• File suit to have ads removed he dislikes
• Fail to disclose the identities of millions of small donors
• Get his attorneys to threaten news outlets that have shown criticism about himself

Now, it's surely possible that a President Obama will turn a new leaf from candidate Obama.  Perhaps he will usher in a new spirit of openness and bipartisan efforts... kinda like Senator McCain has been doing all his career!

I, however, do not want to bet on the come.  I will be voting for the fellow who has sponsored many bills with guys from the other party, the guy who repeatedly demands that we work across the aisle.  Openness and free speech are some of the most precious rights known to man.  I will do what I can to try to preserve them.