Winning hearts and minds

I wish to offer my congratulations to the leader of the United States new foreign policy campaign to win the hearts and minds of our international friends. Do not be alarmed, reader. The war in Iraq is still failing with fifty people dying to gunmen and car bombs on Wednesday alone. Iraqi hearts and minds are still firmly out of our grasp. But we should not dwell on the negatives in our news. Today we speak of our influence in bringing freedom and democracy to Finland.

Just this month, the nation of Finland is in the midst of a presidential campaign. Incumbent Tarja Halonen of the Social Democratic Party was facing a tough challenge from conservative Sauli Niinisto and current Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. The outcome of the contest was unknown. Then American Freedom Fighter Conan O'Brien entered the fray.

Conan O'Brien, host of "The Late Show with Conan O'Brien" on NBC, discovered several months ago that he is incredibly popular in the small Scandinavian country. "I'm a golden god in Finland," said O'Brien on a recent show. O'Brien believes the reason for his cult following in Finland is his striking resemblance to Tarja Halonen, the female president of Finland.

With Halonen's reelection up in the air, O'Brien launched an ad campaign in Finland both supporting Halonen and attacking her competitors. Halonen has since survived the first part of the election and is now in a runoff election to be held on January 29th. And many experts believe O'Brien deserves credit for her success.

O'Brien's tactics are definitely obtuse. His scathing attack ad declared that fish will be less plentiful if Sauli Niinisto becomes president and noted that fish kill themselves on hearing the name "Matti Vanhanen" as a fish jumps into O'Brien's hands.

Ridiculous as the ads may be, O'Brien has had more success influencing Finland than the massive propaganda campaign of the United States government in Iraq. I am admittedly comparing apples and oranges, but the humor in O'Brien's success is undeniable. The government cannot even buy the influence of a late-night talk show host.

If nothing else. O'Brien's influence in the Finnish election illustrates the power of the press that the United States government so desperately desires in Iraq. O'Brien admittedly knows nothing of Halonen's policies, but his endorsement heard throughout the country may nevertheless carry Halonen to victory.

The power of the press even extends to this humble paper. Those that are willing to submit their thoughts on this forum to the campus community get more than just the chance to express their views. The writers on these pages have the power to affect the opinion of every student, teacher, staff member, and alum that reads these pages.

Consider the actions of President Bush when facing the power of the press this past Wednesday. Human Rights Watch released its 2006 World Report on Wednesday that accused the Bush Administration of "undermining the global defense of human rights" through its policies of torture and mistreatment of prisoners. These are not the views the Bush Administration wants on American media outlets.

While denying it was reacting to Human Rights Watch's scathing report, the Administration added a meeting between Bush and victims of Saddam Hussein to the president's Wednesday schedule on Tuesday night. On Wednesday evening, it was a picture of this meeting between President Bush and the victims as the lead story on washingtonpost.com. A story on the Human Rights Watch report could hardly be found on any major news website.

Behold the power of the press. I declared at the beginning of this article that I would not focus on the negatives in the news. Washingtonpost.com did the same without telling you what it was doing. Their choice likely means that thousands of people will see the President helping Iraq and not know of the accusation of a very reputable human rights organization that he is hurting global human rights. These are very different pictures of our president. It is often the press that decides for all of us which picture of events to believe.

These pages in the Weather Vane are yours. Tell us what to believe.

Contact Galen at galen.wenger@emu.edu.