OFF CAMPUS
A You-Tube Presidency
The New York Times
Issue date: 1/29/09 Section: News
Even before he was elected to the Office of the Presidency, Barack Obama told his aides that the transition of the technological "You-Tube-Facebook-texting" organization into an instrument of government was to be a top priority. President Obama, after beginning his career as a community organizer, has placed high emphasis on addressing the public directly.
Obama's aides, including his campaign manager, have come together to create a group called "Organizing for America." This organization, which will be housed in the Democratic National Committee instead of at the White House, will serve to redirect Obama's campaign machinery to serve the broad changes in healthcare, environmental policy and fiscal policy.
The organization envisions an army of supporters talking, e-mailing, and texting with friends in an attempt to mold public opinion, as was often done to support Obama during the election. The President himself, who is making efforts to bypass the mainstream media and send messages straight to the public, will put this into motion.
The first and most prominent of these efforts is apparent in President Obama's new strategy of weekly addressing the nation through recording a speech and uploading it not only to the White House Website, but to You Tube as well. In this public address, the President discussed what he plans to accomplish with the 825 billion dollar economic stimulus plan that is currently being discussed in Congress.
Obama's public strategy appears to be working well. This first address was uploaded to the Internet this past Saturday, and by Sunday afternoon it had been viewed over 600,000 times on You Tube alone.
Despite this early success, this form of public address and Organizing for America have their doubters. The organization's lack of a formal web site as of this past Monday has some of Obama's advisers questioning its "murky mission," as well as its similarities to the Obama for America campaign, which go beyond the conveniently identical initials, O.F.A. Critics, many of them news media advocates, are concerned with the ability of YouTube use to present the public directly and informally with unchallenged, governmental points of view.
While concerns about the White House venturing into the "Wild West of the Internet" have been raised, the initial goal of directly reaching the public has successfully kept our new President and his policies in the public eye.
Obama's aides, including his campaign manager, have come together to create a group called "Organizing for America." This organization, which will be housed in the Democratic National Committee instead of at the White House, will serve to redirect Obama's campaign machinery to serve the broad changes in healthcare, environmental policy and fiscal policy.
The organization envisions an army of supporters talking, e-mailing, and texting with friends in an attempt to mold public opinion, as was often done to support Obama during the election. The President himself, who is making efforts to bypass the mainstream media and send messages straight to the public, will put this into motion.
The first and most prominent of these efforts is apparent in President Obama's new strategy of weekly addressing the nation through recording a speech and uploading it not only to the White House Website, but to You Tube as well. In this public address, the President discussed what he plans to accomplish with the 825 billion dollar economic stimulus plan that is currently being discussed in Congress.
Obama's public strategy appears to be working well. This first address was uploaded to the Internet this past Saturday, and by Sunday afternoon it had been viewed over 600,000 times on You Tube alone.
Despite this early success, this form of public address and Organizing for America have their doubters. The organization's lack of a formal web site as of this past Monday has some of Obama's advisers questioning its "murky mission," as well as its similarities to the Obama for America campaign, which go beyond the conveniently identical initials, O.F.A. Critics, many of them news media advocates, are concerned with the ability of YouTube use to present the public directly and informally with unchallenged, governmental points of view.
While concerns about the White House venturing into the "Wild West of the Internet" have been raised, the initial goal of directly reaching the public has successfully kept our new President and his policies in the public eye.