President-Elect Obama changing the face of the internet
For those of you worried that this blog is turning into a political one, fear not, this will probably be my last politics-related post for a while – at least until inauguration day on January 20, 2009.
I just wanted to take a few moments to write about how the election of Barack Obama will change things in this country, and probably around the world. I’m not talking about race or any of his policy positions (although those are all important as well), instead, I’m talking about the internet.
President-Elect Obama will be the first US President to have harnessed the power of the internet, in a big way, to win an election. He had millions of supporters across the country helping his campaign, including donating small sums of money, that had a large impact. This is unheard of in presidential politics.
For several years now the internet has been a huge influence in the business world. And now it looks like the internet has reared its head in much the same way in the political sphere.
More to the point though, I think President-Elect Obama will be the first President to understand the internet and really appreciate what it can do. My hope is that this will help shape any policy decisions he makes about the internet, especially in terms of net neutrality. There’s no question that he is ‘net savvy; and has often been seen on the campaign trail thumbing through his Blackberry and is known to whip out his laptop to get down to business (or even communicate with his family during those long hours on the trail).
I came across this interesting article from Yahoo! which basically spelled out how President Obama can continue to use the internet to his favor while in the White House.
Moreover, because his Internet operation was miles ahead of Republican John McCain’s, Obama’s liberal-to-libertarian electronic activists are in a position to dominate the new political medium much as conservative Republicans dominate talk radio.
This really is a great "new lobbying force" that is going to change the face of politics. Instead of relying on a few well-funded supporters, Obama has and will rely on massive numbers of activists who can help him pressure congress to take care of business!
I’m not going to make any grand predictions about any effect this will all have on ebooks, or even literature as a whole. But President-Elect Obama’s success gives a new legitimacy to the internet and those who use it as a medium to get their voices heard – and this includes bloggers! Will this trickle down into other forms of electronic media? I don’t know, but I certainly hope so!
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