Watch the two clips below and see if you agree: when the professional ad makers take on the distributed, collective intelligence of the internet, the ad guys risk losing. Here’s what I mean: McCain’s video folks are clearly very talented, in that they can craft an effective ad in a very short time. They have to — turnaround for a political spot in a fierce battle is less than a day if you want to answer your opponent in time to catch the media wave. But what they produce is still just a standard political ad, with the usual imagery, the usual music and the usual “I’m great and my opponent sucks” messaging.
But combine the ‘net with cheap cameras and easy video-editing software, and millions of people can produce video clips, most of which will of course stink. But with so many monkeys banging away on keyboards, something good is likely to emerge — and many of those monkeys are also video professionals with experience and skills in the medium. So let’s look at this week’s evidence and draw some conclusions:
So, yesterday I did my first live TV appearance, on Sky News (big in the UK and Commonwealth, apparently). By now I’ve done several radio appearances and plenty of web video, but never live TV, and I was nervous as a cat at the prospect.
One thing that took me by surprise — SkyNews is owned by Rupert Murdoch and shares space with Fox News, so when I showed up a little before the interview, I suddenly ended up in the realm of the Fair and Balanced. Was a little freaky. Thank god I had my “computer bag” with me, an ammunition bag with a big red star on it — a (play) rebel’s gotta REPRESENT!
Man, this #dontgo thing certainly does seem to have the Rs fired up, at least the Rs who are on Twitter. If you’re not quite sure what’s happening, some Republican congressmembers are staying on in the House even though it’s out of session and the TV cameras are off, relying on the ‘net to get the word out. Their goal? Protest the lack of a vote on offshore drilling for oil and gas. The micro-blogging tool/social network Twitter was the most prominent tool used at first, along with live-streaming video, though some of the activists involved have just created a site where you can learn more about what’s up (quick work, guys).
Paris Hilton and “genius” are rarely seen in the same sentence, but here they are. You may have heard of the video below, but you really oughta check it out for yourself:
Not bad at all! Well shot and clever, with some nice digs back at Ol’ John (“thanks for the endorsement, White-Haired Dude”). And a hell of a lot better than McCain’s Paris Hilton/Britney Spears/Barack Obama/famous-people-suck original. Thank you to the internet for allowing us this kind of exchange…we ALL have the potential to affect the system — all we gotta do is come up with content that people (or at least the right people) want to see. Note: being hot, blonde, famous and oh-so-bad never hurts.
Nancy Pelosi Talks Tech at Netroots Nation. An interview with friend-of-e.politics Sarah Burris.
Why the French love Obama — note the guilt-soothing motif again, and also the fact that Robert Capa’s D-Day photo editor(!) is discussing a Paris Obama meetup. Via Chris Cosart.
Okay, I’ll admit it — I’ve opened a lot of constituent mail in my time. My time in the Texas Legislature, that is: in 1991, as a wet-behind-the-ears 22-year-old (emotional age: closing in on 16), I started work for The Honorable Elton Bomer (D-Montalba), Texas State Repesentative, District 11. I was an Administrative Assistant, which was theoretically the senior staff position in the office, but for much of the four years I worked for Bomer, I was his ONLY staff member.
Even when I wasn’t alone, in an office that small, we all handled constituents’ cases and answered their letters, and I got A LOT of experience talking to folks in the district about, well, just about everything. And I mean EVERYTHING — we got calls about child custody battles, SSI/Medicaid benefits, fence disputes, cattle diseases, landlord problems and what Rush Limbaugh had said that day. For folks in our district (particularly the ones who had discovered the 1-800 number), we were assistants, counselors, advisors and sometimes therapists — a most educational experience all around.
Don’t miss today’s front-page Washington Post article profiling Virginia as a battleground state (now with working link — thanks, Dad). The discussion of demographics and voting patterns is political-junkielicious in itself, but the article also talks in some detail about Obama’s local organizing tactics. 30-odd offices statewide? Check. Massive voter registration campaign? Check. Local events organized via MyBarackObama? Check. Obama “fellows” working their butts off? Check. Database-driven turnout operations? Check. Database-driven microtargeting to find potentially wavering Republicans? Check. A good look at how a modern political machine works? Check, and quite likely mate.
In the spirit of even-handedness, let’s follow our recent “help” for John McCain with some unsolicited advice for Barack Obama. In Obama’s case, we’ll need to get more subtle — he and his people have the mechanics of running for office pretty much down, and I bet they could write their own Online Politics 101.
But here’s something to think about — when Obama is describing what he and his administration would do, why does he so often say “I” instead of “we?” The campaign certainly uses “we” effectively in other settings (see: “Yes We Can”), and so does Obama himself in his best speeches, but when he’s talking off the cuff, it’s often “I” “I” “I.” Is this why people say he sounds cocky? “Cocky” could be code for “uppity” (with all of its racial overtones), but I’ve heard Obama described as arrogant-seeming by people who mean him well and are worried by how he comes off.
Very annoying result of a WordPress upgrade today — all of the Categories on the site got squirreled-up in the database upgrade process. Not sure yet whether I’ll try to restore the (overly long and unwieldy) existing list or take the opportunity to clean house. Either way, it’ll be a pain, so for now I’ve just hidden the Category display for articles and the sidebar. If you’re upgrading to WordPress 2.6, be warned that this could happen. Technology is such a joy.
