Dear Americans
by uber
Barack Obama is not the first person to use the internet, not even the first government leader. Please look at how the British Prime Minister does things atnumber10.gov.uk. They make good use of video, photos and twitter.
For those of you that haven’t seen it, President-Elect Obama has posted his first video. It’s more opposition talk, which I suppose is fair enough since he’s not yet been sworn in.
On the other hand, I find it kind of hard to see what he’s pointing to here. The notion of something that will relieve the squeeze is nice, but it’s really not clear to me what he’s talking about in concrete terms. He seems to point to a new New deal by putting people in work in road-building (middle class?) and greening up 5 million people.
I really don’t expect him to outline something in detail in a 4 minute youtube piece, but this really feels vacuous.
Comments
Dear Furriner,
Obama doesn’t get to decide the nuts and bolts of any recovery plan, Congress does. He’s going to have enough chances to look like an idiot in his first year; laying out an intricate and detailed plan for saving the economy that will probably not go through in the form he conceives it is not something he needs to do right now.
The hullabaloo (wherever you’re seeing it; I haven’t noticed it) about Obama using t3h New Media is probably someone trying to draw a parallel with FDR, who was well known for his radio “fireside chats.” America is a very conservative country, for all people seem to think it’s about innovation and the Next Big Thing. We’re lucky Obama feels the teched-up kiddies are worth talking to. Bush certainly didn’t think so, and Clinton was too busy defending his job to think about it.
Love, an American