I went out last night for dinner with my new London Elects colleagues. It was nice. There are only nine of us so it’s easy to get to know everyone. I was sat across from our Communications Manager, Matt, and we were discussing American politics after he found out I was from Arkansas (Bill Clinton, etc). While I have been thinking the same, I only wish I could have had the same brilliance as Matt in delivering the spiel.
He said that, in his opinion, the internet will dramatically change politics (currently for the most part only in America) and not necessarily for the better. For example, with the onset of the ‘Youtube generation’ every candidate is being recorded by someone and these off-the-cuff remarks are often put onto the site. Matt said that one of Obama’s staffers recently put up a horrible parody of Hillary Clinton that resulted in his/her being fired from the campaign. I had heard about this but never saw the clip. My 2004 man Governor Howard Dean was one of the first to be affected. His now infamous yelp or shout or whatever you want to call it was broadcast over and over again on television and the internet. It essentially ended his campaign.
With politicians now somewhat unable to lead normal lives for fear of any remark making its way on to the ‘net, one has to wonder what type of people we will elect and how dramatically this may affect politics in the future. Matt thought that it would inevitably be a bad thing and I tend to agree. While politicians have always had to have an image of sorts and with the advent of televised debates image became more important. The most prominent example was the Nixon/Kennedy Presidential debate-the first ever to be televised-in 1960 when pundits all agreed Nixon won on issues and answers along but his sweatiness and unattractive image meant the viewing public felt Kennedy won.
On that point, to play devil’s advocate, couldn’t one have said the same thing about television thirty-forty years ago? Did people think that television would dramatically change politics? Surely they did and surely it has. With the internet, however, and especially with the Youtube phenomenon, the availability of politicians and, thus, their image is thrust more into the spotlight than perhaps television ever did. I think the debate is definitely still ongoing on this topic but it’s certainly something worth thinking about as a voting and viewing member of the public.