First Read: “Every news cycle introduces the American public to another unbelievable — and usually negative — story. Over the summer, it was the rise of ISIS and the surface-to-air missile that destroyed a jetliner over Eastern Ukraine. Then there was the flood of unaccompanied Central American minors coming to the U.S.-Mexico border. After that, the beheadings of the American journalists in Syria. And now? On Tuesday, we learned about the first confirmed Ebola case diagnosed in the United States, and we also found about the U.S. Secret Service’s latest misstep — an armed contractor with a criminal record was allowed on an elevator next to the president of the United States.”
“Take all of these stories together, and what you get is news-cycle whiplash, where it’s one bad or scary story after another. The Ebola and Secret Service stories, in particular, underscore a feeling of insecurity for the country… Politically, it’s difficult to dismiss how these negative storylines have defined Obama’s sixth year in office and have highlighted a, well, lack of control over events. As we’ve said before, events have controlled Obama’s second term more than the other way around.”
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