Note: This post has been updated. Well, transformed. Actually, I’ve reversed my position completely.
The appeal of Barack Obama
lies in his age. He’s
outside the Baby Boom, away from the Vietnam arguments. He also talks
of consensus, an important Internet Value, because that’s how new
technologies develop.
But in one way he is old, perhaps too
old to win.
The problem is his use of the Internet.
His site has got a lot of eye candy, and potential
for interaction, but it’s interaction between supporters, not with the campaign. It’s driven by old-line
consultants. His announcement in Springfield was a TV event.
He is of what is now the Old Media.
The genius of the Dean campaign was not its Web effort, but the way the people within his campaign drew people into their world via the blog, the day-to-day grind of following the candidate, of communicating with him, of trying to build something. The posts on his blog became an interactive online novel. There is no indication Obama is willing to go that way. It’s all talk among yourselves, while I ride above the fray.
This should not surprise when you look
again at his age, 46. He finished his education, at Harvard, in 1992.
This was two years before the Web was spun. At that time my own
online work was still with Genie. I was the telecomm editor for
Newsbytes, and had just finished my book Bulletin Board Systems for
Business.
Obama went straight into community
organizing, from from the Internet, then into politics. While he was in the Illinois
Legislature the Internet was not a factor on the state political
level. His U.S. Senate win in 2004 was by default.
In other words he is not of the
Internet. He has not engaged the Netroots. He has taken a few themes
and is running with them – successfully so far.
But that won’t continue.
It won’t continue because Amanda
Marcotte and Melissa McEwan won’t let it. Here’s how they earn their
money. Take him down gently, but take him down. Get on the candidate’s traveling party, with your laptop, and make his campaign truly interactive.
Firm up Netroots
support behind Edwards over the next weeks and months so that Obama
has to respond.
We’ll see if they’re capable of it.
Nice spot, Dana. I started college in 1992, when the computer lab was a few un-networked Macs and PCs. I barely used them. A year later, we got a bigger lab with a pair of X-terminals running Mosaic.
John Edwards has a daughter who’s firmly of the web generation. Elizabeth, too, is of a slightly different demographic: the mother with young children and a computer.
Nice spot, Dana. I started college in 1992, when the computer lab was a few un-networked Macs and PCs. I barely used them. A year later, we got a bigger lab with a pair of X-terminals running Mosaic.
John Edwards has a daughter who’s firmly of the web generation. Elizabeth, too, is of a slightly different demographic: the mother with young children and a computer.
Barak Obamas initial web strategy
Dana Blankenhorn is weighing in on the use of the internet by Barack Obamas presidential campaign. Hes taking Obama to task on several point, most of which I think are a bit premature.
The main beef is that the campaign is not using th…
One important point to remember about Dean, it wasn’t the web site and it’s capabilities that won people over, it was the message. I was involved in my local Dean efforts, and the campaign was by no means the pinnacle of cutting edge communication efforts. They embraced existing tools like Meetup and the blogosphere, but that goes more to coordination than technical savvy.
Thus far, no one has made me sit up and take notice like Dean did. I do like the fact that people I know with who are casually interested in politics, even those who are more republican-friendly, are paying close attention to Obama and go out of their way to tell me that they really like him and would want to vote for him if he won the nomination.
One important point to remember about Dean, it wasn’t the web site and it’s capabilities that won people over, it was the message. I was involved in my local Dean efforts, and the campaign was by no means the pinnacle of cutting edge communication efforts. They embraced existing tools like Meetup and the blogosphere, but that goes more to coordination than technical savvy.
Thus far, no one has made me sit up and take notice like Dean did. I do like the fact that people I know with who are casually interested in politics, even those who are more republican-friendly, are paying close attention to Obama and go out of their way to tell me that they really like him and would want to vote for him if he won the nomination.