Comments on: “Gotcha” Culture, Authenticity, and the Danger for Campaigns http://www.epolitics.com/2007/06/13/gotcha-culture-authenticity-and-the-danger-for-campaigns/ dissecting the craft of online politics and online advocacy Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:38:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: David http://www.epolitics.com/2007/06/13/gotcha-culture-authenticity-and-the-danger-for-campaigns/#comment-85929 David Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:14:13 +0000 http://www.epolitics.com/2007/06/13/gotcha-culture-authenticity-and-the-danger-for-campaigns/#comment-85929 Over the long term, I think that 2 things will happen to diminish the significance of the "gotcha" moment in our political culture: 1) As the sparkling clean politician becomes an increasingly rare breed, people (including the press, believe it or not) will come to realize that politicians are human and make typical human mistakes. The standard for what counts as a newsworthy or disqualifying gaffe will be raised - otherwise we will end up with no politicians left to choose from! 2) The current crop of politicians attained their positions in part because of their ability to HIDE their true selves. Those who spoke candidly or took risks were weeded out, while the carefully guarded ones who stuck to their talking points advanced. But the next generation of leaders will come up through a system that selects for different traits - authenticity chief among them. A political leader will have to be a different sort of person: s/he must have a transparent personality and authentic convictions that don't go away when the makeup is off. I think both of these changes - higher gaffe tolerance from the press and more authentic politicians - can occur simultaneously, but I imagine one will end up dominant. It will be interesting to see which (I'm hoping for #2). -David (the guy you met with at Bedrock a few months ago) Over the long term, I think that 2 things will happen to diminish the significance of the “gotcha” moment in our political culture:

1) As the sparkling clean politician becomes an increasingly rare breed, people (including the press, believe it or not) will come to realize that politicians are human and make typical human mistakes. The standard for what counts as a newsworthy or disqualifying gaffe will be raised - otherwise we will end up with no politicians left to choose from!

2) The current crop of politicians attained their positions in part because of their ability to HIDE their true selves. Those who spoke candidly or took risks were weeded out, while the carefully guarded ones who stuck to their talking points advanced. But the next generation of leaders will come up through a system that selects for different traits - authenticity chief among them. A political leader will have to be a different sort of person: s/he must have a transparent personality and authentic convictions that don’t go away when the makeup is off.

I think both of these changes - higher gaffe tolerance from the press and more authentic politicians - can occur simultaneously, but I imagine one will end up dominant. It will be interesting to see which (I’m hoping for #2).

-David (the guy you met with at Bedrock a few months ago)

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