Like a Mama Bear, Networks Protect Obama from His Down Market

Stock market reports ignore president's influence or defend him against criticism, but gave credit for March 4, Election rallies.

By Julia A. Seymour
Business & Media Institute

On Election Day 2008, as people anticipated Obama’s victory, global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), called the biggest Election Day rally since 1984 an “Obama effect.”

Look at the market now: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 3,000 points from 9,625.3 to 6,547.05 between Election Day and March 9. From Inauguration Day to March 5, the Dow fell 20 percent – the very definition of a bear market. Although the market rallied on March 10 by nearly 400 points, credit for Obama was noticeably absent from stories that evening. [Read more]