What I see here, not as an exclusive but as something that adds to the other influences, is the gradual realization of what’s happened to the Press.

People discount purely partisan “information” — political statements by parties and candidates and the like — even when they agree with it; nobody expects the DNC to do anything other than slant their output, including the DNC. (Republicans do the same thing of course.) This is normal. This is the way we all read political materials.

Up to now most people have read the Press as if it were actually imparting information. Even if slanted, the presumption was that all the data was there. That’s no longer the case, and hasn’t been since at least the 2000 elections, but it still wasn’t blatantly evident to the average person. Now, though, the Press is so thoroughly and obviously partisan in favor of Obama that the least aware observer knows it, and has begun to discount their output the same way they would a Democratic Party campaign broadsheet. Note that even Obama partisans are doing that; it’s not just rightists.

Obama’s advantage all along was that the Press was pushing for him. If the Press isn’t trustworthy, people start looking for other ways to find out what’s going on, and that includes the other party’s propaganda, the Web and blogs, and word of mouth. When they start going around the Press to get their data, they start getting unfavorable data, and Obama’s stock drops. The process will continue.

Regards,
Ric