Half a look at Kasich

On the morning-after of the New Hampshire primary the CNN website  bore a commanding headline that asked:  "Who is John Kasich?"

Funny that a world news organization would  now ask.

For many tortured months the media merely tracked polling numbers while finally coming around to CNN's provocative question. Meanwhile, the mainstream media ,  reduced to tricklestream  reports these days, seemed fascinated by the rise and fall of candidates: Ted  Cruz was beginning to soar before he stopped  riding to the hounds.  Marco Rubio was the latest fantasy of the gurus before his glow was dimmed in the snows of New Hampshire. And Donald Trump lost momentum in Iowa that he regained in the Granite State.  Most were sound bites captured as "breaking news" .

And now, we are left with CNN taking notice of Gov. Kasich, whose campaign spent more than $11 million in the tiny state while he demonically visited 106 town  hall meetings to convince voters that being the nice-guy  son of a  mailman is all that it takes to win an election.

Actually, as well as we must know, he took a victory lap while finishing second, 19 points behind Donald trump. At that, he went to his spirited crowd Tuesday night with the self-satisfied demeanor of someone arriving  at the pearly gates. What we did hear about his soul was quoted by a New Yorker writer last November:  "We need to live a life bigger than ourselves,  life is not just about me, me, me, me, me"  adding that he gives grace every day.

Not much help.

The late Jack Knight, my former boss, used to complain about the superficiality of some  political gurus who look at campaigns as little more than fodder  for picking a winner at the track   It's  worse today with, say, the  instant buffoonery of Chris  Matthews,  breathlessly spraying us with words like "I like Kasich" without saying why.

Those who know him best in Ohio wonder why he isn't asked about by his support of restrictions on public employee unions - a notion that was trounced by a million votes on the ballot.  Or   by his  pledge to defund Planned Parenthood "like crazy."     Or maybe why he'd opposed the stimulus and auto bailout  while denying  they did much good.

Let him enjoy his bizarre victory lap  after losing  to Trump by 19 real points in New Hampshire.    Shouldn't the tricklestream media get around to telling him that "Guv,  it's  really about you, you, you, you. you."?