In the past, president’s simply made occasional radio (and later television) addresses to the nation. Their pictures appeared once or twice a week in the daily newspaper. Today Obama makes YouTube broadcasts to the world and masterfully marshals his agenda with the shrewd use of social-media.

US Presidential campaigns are now won (and lost) on MySpace, YouTube and Facebook. This global media reach and the ability to micromanage the content of a political message are incredibly potent tools for influence and persuasion. Free from direct reliance on traditional media outlets the Obama administration is now poised to ‘reboot democracy.’ The change in the relationship between an electorate and its leader that this signifies seems set to define the tone of his presidency.

Obama’s election campaign raised tens of millions of dollars online. He famously text messaged his supporters with news of his Vice-Presidential pick, placed campaign adds into videogames and (immediately after his election) began a digital outreach effort to further expand the largest network ever seen in political history.

Obama’s success in reaching young internet savvy consumers and in shaping the context in which they viewed his candidacy, was perhaps the single most important defining factor in his election victory. Members of the Obama team have already spoken openly about their plans to use the vast electronic database they complied during his campaign to influence the electorate further and to drive his policy goals forward during his first term in office.

It is notable that some of the graphic designs and logos that appeared during the campaign itself displayed an unfortunate tendency to portray Obama with an almost Christlike quality. Religious and reverential overtones abounded, with Obama often seen sporting various degrees of a halo, or else surrounded by an otherworldy ethereal glow. Surprisingly, this was never questioned or even parodied by a largely compliant media.

This trend has shown little sign of abating since his inauguration and thus far the mainstream media seems to have largely abandoned its traditional role of watchdog in favor of cheerleader. Whilst this honeymoon period is unlikely to last indefinitely, it is odd to see such a degree of complicity from those who normally view politicians with a healthy degree of suspicion.

To some extent this demonstrates the degree to which the Obama machine has been able to successfully set its own agenda. The media seem (for now), to have granted the new president a free-pass, perhaps unwilling to taint a candidate who has been regularly compared to both Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.

There is no doubt that Obama demonstrates both a cool detachment under pressure and a rare ability to inspire with rhetoric. Wether this will in any way translate into the new kind of politics so hoped for by the millions who placed him in office, remains to be seen in the days ahead.

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I watched a short documentary today showing a few examples of the brutality and freedom suppressing bullshit the Chinese communist regime routinely hands out to its own people.

The sight of weeping middle-aged women and frail old men desperately pressing their paper petitions into the hands of a helpless reporter was very moving. Many Chinese travel thousands of miles to Beiijing with these petitions, seeking redress for their grievances through the only officially sanctioned means available to them. Once they arrive, they are met with cold bureaucratic silence, imprisonment, or violence.

The institutionalised contempt of the Communist leadership is staggering, it is also depressingly normal behavior for this odious institution. The opinions of ordinary people mean nothing and it is illegal to organize any kind of opposition to wrongful treatment. No dissent (however mild), is tolerated. Active protest or resistance is simply crushed into silence. It’s a genuinely disgusting joke, but sadly, it’s one that our own corrupt governments are happy continuing to laugh along with.

Link.

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There are many reasons why I love JRR Tolkien. This particular quote provides another. On a day when I desperately require an early night, it is both a pleasure and a relief to to post it.

Take it away Mr. T!

“The true equation is ‘democracy’ = government by world financiers…The main mark of modern governments is that we do not know who governs, de facto any more than de jure. We see the politician and not his backer; still less the backer of the backer; or what is most important of all, the banker of the backer. Enthroned above all, in a manner without parallel in all past, is the veiled prophet of finance, swaying all men living by a sort of magic, and delivering oracles in a language not understanded [sic] of the people.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, Candour Magazine, 13 July 1956, p. 12

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