Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama spoke in Cleveland last month. Approximately 120 Oberlin students went to hear him talk at Cuyahoga Community College, according to Evan Kittay, chairman of Oberlin for Obama.

From what I’ve heard, it was a good speech — Obama is undeniably a powerful orator. Nonetheless, it seems strange to me that both The Oberlin Review and The Grape ran stories about Obama’s Cleveland speech on their front pages.

Before I go any further, I want to confess that I like Barack Obama. As far as I can tell he is progressive on important issues — he has been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq and he has publicly expressed his support for a system of nationalized health care, both important issues to me.

Still, I find it hard to avoid a certain amount of skepticism toward his presidential candidacy. For a relatively untested politician, he is just too widely supported for me not to question what his popularity is all about. This is where I take issue with the Grape and the Review.

College students are privileged to live outside of the mainstream. We listen to independent music, watch independent film and take on provocative, often-overlooked political and social issues. We do not have to buy into the hype to the extent that the rest of the nation does.

When the two Oberlin newspapers chose to run stories about Obama’s Cleveland speech, they made a conscious decision to place national news stories above Oberlin news stories.

I understand that Barack Obama is more exciting and interesting than a robbery at Gibson’s or the Conservatory’s latest efforts to diversify its student body. But in a campus newspaper, these are, in fact, the more important stories. They are taking place in our community — and that’s the news we should be reading about in our weekly papers. Instead, the Review and the Grape reported on a speech in Cleveland. They don’t cover Cleveland crime or Cleveland politics. I don’t see why they should cover national political events taking place in Cleveland, either.

When the Oberlin papers focused on Obama’s speech last week, they chose to buy into the media frenzy surrounding the candidate. Barack Obama is the Hype Candidate. With only two years of senatorial experience behind him, there is little substance on which the public and the pundits can judge him.

We live in the age of Paris Hilton and like Paris, Obama is sort of just famous for being famous. This doesn’t mean that he does not possess legitimate, positive qualities, but as college students, it is our responsibility to be particularly discerning and to not automatically buy into the hype.

I also question how the two papers would have treated a visit from another presidential candidate. Would Hillary have made it to the front page? Maybe Giuliani? I doubt it. John McCain? Probably not. In addition to being unnecessary, the decision to put the Democratic media darling on page one feels a little biased from a journalistic standpoint.

To be fair, it is only logical that our generation line up behind Barack Obama. He is great. He is young, progressive, a smoker and a generally cool guy. I just think that we should do so with a critical eye turned toward mainstream media and the entire field of politics.