Bush's 'Surge' - A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Media Matters adds new perspective to the Bush recovery narrative I described yesterday:

"Numerous media figures have declared that the Bush administration is experiencing "a surge of momentum" as of late, due to the recent death of Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the news that White House senior adviser Karl Rove would not be indicted in the CIA leak case, the Republicans' recent victory in a special congressional election, and President Bush's unannounced June 12 trip to Baghdad to meet with the new Iraqi prime minister. But such assertions ignore the White House's numerous current problems, including the ongoing violence in Iraq, the escalating conflict in Afghanistan, the alleged murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines, the administration's controversial response to the suicides of three Guantánamo Bay detainees, the slowing economy, and the trials of two former White House aides. And given those problems, the assertion that Bush is experiencing "a surge of momentum" can be a self-fulfilling prophecy -- the media ignore some serious problems in making such a declaration, contributing in the public's mind to the very momentum that they have declared Bush to have."