Obama and New Media

Politics needs a good shake. And the Internet is poised to give it. No doubt, all candidates will struggle this election cycle to adapt to new media. And that’s a great thing. As candidates lose the ability to control the message (apologies to McCain-Feingold fans), real glimpses of the candidates and actual substance could emerge.

The prospect of a Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton presidential succession is a damning commentary on the health of our political process. Individual merits – like leadership, ideas, and character – matter less than simply being handed the keys to the political machine. Instead of citizens having broad electoral choices, political machines simply pass around presidencies like cold sores during spring break.

Given that wretched situation, I watch Obama with fascination. The Clinton machine inevitably will secure the Democratic nomination for Hillary – unless Obama can rattle and reinvent the system and bring in new participants by the terabyte. Obama’s campaign, though, is having difficulties breaking out of the old school top-down command-control system and fully embracing new media types who naturally are inclined to help him. At old school politics, he gets crushed. We’ll have to see if he adapts to the new media.