Can Obama Really Reboot the White House?
We’re excited to have a president that doesn’t talk about technology like it’s some sort of voodoo magic. From George Bush Sr.’s amazement at a freaking scanner at the mall, to Bill Clinton’s admission he’d sent two emails in his life – and then finally Bush Jr.’s references to ‘Internets’ and ‘The Google’ – the last couple of decades have been pretty sad. It was as if tech was ‘below’ important people. Having someone who is ‘like one of us’ is a small, but reassuring notion for much of the population.
In November, not two weeks after winning the election and still two months from becoming commander in chief, Barack Obama brought the government into the 21st century. Or at least that was what we were told when he released his first Web video address as president-elect. The clip, billed by some as a modern fireside chat, was embedded as a YouTube video on Change.gov, the incoming administration’s Web site. Sitting in a leather chair, framed slightly off center from his chest up, Obama delivered a three-minute talk on the economic crisis, vlog style. The video quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of views, and within a few days hundreds of blogs were linking to it. Obama’s foray into viral video, the story went, heralded the beginning of a new era in government communication and transparency—”Franklin Roosevelt 2.0,” in the words of The Huffington Post. The Washington Post proclaimed the advent of the “YouTube presidency.” – From Wired
Where there’s victory, there’s also opportunity… This Presidential election was profound in its results. Obama won both the Electoral College vote 364 to 163 and the popular vote 53% to 46% with roughly 120,000,000 votes cast. This election was the first in 50 years, in which there was no incumbent President or Vice President from either party competing for the Presidential nomination. Close to 65% of the American population voted in this election, its highest turnout since the election of 1908. With Obama’s wins in key “swing states” including Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, this election was nothing short of a landslide victory that fundamentally redrew America’s political dynamics. A Democrat had not won Virginia and Indiana in a generation. – From TechCrunch
Today, President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video — a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama’s transition site, Change.gov, once the radio address is made public on Saturday morning. The address will be taped at the transition office in Chicago today. “This is just one of many ways that he will communicate directly with the American people and make the White House and the political process more transparent,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki told us last night. – From Washington Post
The first Obama YouTube Address:
President-elect Obama’s office gave the media a new way to present him as Franklin Roosevelt 2.0 by announcing Friday that it will be posting weekly addresses – fireside chats for the web generation – on YouTube. The first address will appear on Change.gov this Saturday, after it airs in audio. An Obama spokesperson says that this innovation is just the beginning of the digital, transparent presidency. The plan appears to be in the mold of what the campaign did with videos like “Four Days in Denver” and Campaign Manager David Plouffe’s conversations on the state of the race. These videos allowed supporters to feel like they had a direct connection to the campaign, a connection that bypassed the media. Already, the Obama team has made good on the post-election plan. – From Huffington Post