Filed under: Democratic Nomination 2008, Election 2008, Republican Nomination 2008
Election 2008 revolutionized the political campaign arena that was started by Howard Dean back in 2004. Obama and Clinton used Web 2.0 technology to their advantage as a way to connect with voters and work with a wider network of Americans.
Blogs took over the news. Breaking stories (John Edwards anyone?) and starting viral political video crazes that were picked up by the MSM and aired on the 24 hour cable news stations.
From web addresses and videos, text messaging, networking (Obama for America), massive small donner online political donations (Obama for America), campaign blogging, and political blogging- this election season and these campaigns have changed the way political campaigns will be run in the future.
Unfortunately for the always campaign-savvy Republicans, they are a ways behind – could it be because the Democrats have moved onto a new generation of politicians while the Republicans are still stuck with the Boomers? Not to drag up the overused Mac vs. PC analogy, but…
From the WaPo:
… the Republican establishment hasn’t fully grasped the ways the Web is revolutionizing politics. “If you look at their site,” she said of the Obama campaign, “their online videos, their online ads, everything they did, it wasn’t about ‘me, myself and I.’ It was about ‘we’ and ‘us.’ “
It was, in essence, about you.
Yes, it was about you, me, him, us – everyone coming together to support a campaign and doing so using the tools of Web 2.0 technology to connect with our peers, interact with the campaign, and do our own little campaign work.
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The story behind the election of the first Black President hasn’t been told. True, the web made an impact on the outcome; but the strategy had to be in place long before the candidate was selected. Not enough credit has been given to the powers in charge before the rise of Obama. “We Can” was offered as the “Winning Slogan” during the 2004 campaign cycle before Kerry offered Obama the Keynote Address. The story hasn’t been told.
Comment by Cecil Jones December 29, 2008 @ 6:41 am