What Barack Obama Means to me?

Before talking about Barack, I must first tell you how I feel about politicians: Older men in gray suits who smile while they are talking to you and after they've finished talking to you, you come to find out they haven't said one meaningful thing; the stuff they talk about in public never comes true and they help rich people out. So, while America told me that my vote counted, I thought, NOT. Like a newspaper advertisement I tuned it all out. I would have been lucky to name our country's vice president at any point over the last forty years.

I did however, feel politically passionate about one thing: I could never be a....a republican, a democrat,  a anything other than a American*. I agree at times with stuff the herd agrees on. But when it comes time to jumping off the cliff, drinking the Kool Aid or saying, "I believe this because I am Democrat", you can bet davo will have a parachute strapped to his back.

Barack Obama means my voice, opinion and click count for something. Some say that Hillary Clinton ran a strategically correct campaign for the Democratic nomination, raising more money than anyone before, lining up the right supporters and consultants. Hillary and her old world politics were set to steam roll Washington D.C. Hillary however, forgot about you, I and a few of our friends. Hillary forgot about the power of social networking. 

Due to Barack's willingness to harness social networking and the obvious results, I began to pay attention to our government - more so than any time in my life. I realize that this might not be an admirable thing to admit, but it's the truth. 

The power of social networking is a wondrous thing to behold. If it can help to move Barack, a minority, into the White House, imagine what it can do for social causes in desperate need of you and I.

*poetic license :-)

Comments

[Skip Reardon]

Well put Dave!! All the best to you!

[Dick Richards]

Ditto!

[dave]

Thanks Skip & Dick!

[Rick Hamrick]

Dave--my view of social networking is that it is an as-yet underutilized resource. As soon as those who are currently phone-banking to push their agenda come to the realization that they can reach ten times more people for half the cost, the bloom will be off the rose.

Early adopters tend to ascribe credit to the pipeline what, in truth, is truly due to the message.

There is no doubt that our current president gained ground and eventually passed Hillary Clinton partly due to his better use of new communications tools. It is also true that he would never have won had it not been for the resonance of the message.

Yes--we can take encouragement from Obama's success, but we need to have a clear and compelling message if we hope to succeed.

[Dave Rothacker]

You bet Rick. Clearly message first, medium second. The medium in Obama's case, did open my eyes to more social cause benefit.