The Internet As An Election Game Changer?
The Drudge Report, which examines political fare, is among the most visited sites on the Internet.
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The two-way dialogue that Barack Obama's campaign opened up with eligible voters made a difference this election, according to an article at RealClearPolitics.
We all remember the way Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign levied the Internet, albeit briefly, to gain a wave of enthusiastic supporters. President-elect Obama took that strategy and ran away with it.
As Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi said of the Obama campaign's online work: "They were Apollo 11, and we were the Wright Brothers."
This year, the Internet was a force for both recruiting and organizing volunteers and for real-time distribution of political messaging directly to millions of voters. Both campaigns relentlessly used their own Web sites to post videos of campaign appearances and policy addresses, share campaign ads, solicit donations, and roll out policy papers. The Internet became their town center.
For most voters, the Internet has replaced the campaign rally. The Pew Foundation reports that 39 percent of voters have watched a campaign video online; and the Internet is where five million turned for replays of the President-elect's 37-minute race relations speech last March. Until this year, Americans would have been restricted to a 90-second sound bite of that speech on the nightly news. What we have is a new business model for politics in the Internet era.
And, this collaboration between old and new media multiplies the power of both. Among the campaign's most damaging moments was Sara Palin's fumbling interview with Katie Couric on CBS Nightly News. The impact was heightened by voters who watched the video online and shipped it to friends with an e-mail.
With all the advantages of this digital technology comes a price to pay. Newsweek recently reported that hackers had compromised the campaign computer systems of both Barack Obama and John McCain.
In midsummer, the Obama campaign's computers were attacked by a virus. The campaign's tech experts spotted it and took standard precautions, such as putting in a firewall.
The next day, the Obama headquarters had two visitors: from the FBI and the Secret Service. "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," said an FBI agent. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system."
The security firm retained by the Obama campaign was finally able to remove the virus. The Obama team was told that its system had been hacked by a "foreign entity." The official would not say which "foreign entity," but indicated that U.S. intelligence believed that both campaigns had been the target of political espionage by some country--or foreign organization--that wanted to look at the evolution of the Obama and McCain camps on policy issues, information that might be useful in any negotiations with a future Obama or McCain administration. There was no suggestion that terrorists were involved; technical experts hired by the Obama campaign speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.
What was your on-line experience like during Election 2008? Do you follow Barack Obama on Twitter? Are you Facebook friends with Ron Paul? Honestly, how many times did you watch Tina Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin on Hulu? Leave us a comment below!
And just for fun, here's a look back at Bill Clinton and Bob Dole's innocent-looking 1996 campaign Web sites. Maybe those Russian hackers will enjoy Elizabeth Dole's cookie recipe.
Geoffrey Gardner
5:51 PM ET
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11-11-2008
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Read & Respond: "Public School For the Obama Girls, Please?"
President-elect Barack Obama gets a kiss from daughter Malia (left) as he leaves her and daughter Sasha (right) at the University of Chicago Lab School.
Stan Honda, AFP/Getty Images
On Thursday's show, we are planning to speak with Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones magazine about her essay (below) titled "Public School For the Obama Girls, Please?"
Finding the right school is sure to be one of the most important decisions for the Obama family upon relocating to Pennsylvania Avenue.
During Farai's conversation with Stephanie, we'd like to share with her some of your reaction. So here's your homework: Read the following essay and tell us what you think.
Dear President-elect Obama,
I'm writing to you as a resident of the District of Columbia, where you'll soon be moving with your two lovely children. I would like to respectfully request that you seriously consider sending your kids to DC public schools -- and not a charter school, either, but a full-on traditional neighborhood public school. I realize that you've already taken some flack for ensconcing your daughters in a private institution in Chicago. I don't intend to pile on. I understand that choosing a school is fraught with anxiety and it's the most private of decisions. But you are a public figure, so I think it's fair to ask that you give the public schools a boost of confidence by electing to send your kids to one.
Full disclosure: I send one of my children to public school, and the White House is within the same school boundary as my own home. After 5th grade, my kids would attend the same school as yours. So I have a vested interest in where your kids end up, as any school that lands the president's kids is likely to see a host of improvements. But my self-interest aside, whatever happens with your administration, you could at least leave a lasting impact on hundreds of poor, mostly minority kids languishing in schools that routinely fail to teach them to read simply by sending your kids to public schools.
Bill Clinton greatly disappointed city residents when he and Hillary Clinton opted to send Chelsea to the tony Sidwell Friends School. His argument at the time was that he and Hillary wanted to protect their daughter's privacy, an argument some found disingenuous, given that private schools are crawling with the children of the media elite who rarely, if ever, set foot in DC's crappy public facilities. City residents were immensely disappointed that the leader of the free world did not seize the opportunity to help improve one of the nation's worst school systems, without having to spend a dime.
One of the major problems with the city's schools is that they've been all but abandoned by middle-class parents who can use their political clout to hold schools to higher standards and to demand sufficient resources for them. Right now, DC schools are at a critical turning point. Some middle class families, particularly with very young kids, are starting to come back into the system, which holds great promise for the future of education in the city. But keeping those families -- and convincing more to do so -- is a major challenge. The arrival of the Obama girls in a DC public school would send a powerful message to other nervous yuppie parents: your kids will be OK here -- come join us! Those parents can be a major force for good that, unlike tax cuts, does have a trickle down effect on lots of kids whose parents don't know how to write grant proposals or lobby Congress. And imagine the turnout for PTA meetings should Michelle join!
While the prospect of throwing your kids into the maw of public school is something that can definitely keep you up at night (believe me, I've been there), you should take heart in the fact that you wouldn't be the first president to do it. Jimmy Carter sent Amy to Stevens Elementary School downtown, and she seemed to emerge unscathed. Stevens was closed this summer and consolidated with Francis Junior High to create the Francis-Stevens Educational Campus, the pre-K through 8th grade facility near Dupont Circle where, technically, your kids would go. There are no school performance test scores available yet for the reconstituted school, but the building was recently rehabbed and now sports a lovely new playground. True, it's a far cry from Sidwell, but it's closer to the White House and, like Sidwell, it has a tennis court. Compared with Sidwell's $28,000 annual tuition (plus $5,000 for aftercare), it's a real bargain, too.
Still, I'd be a hypocrite if I said you should send your kids to Francis when I myself have serious reservations about eventually sending my own kids there. Its junior high predecessor was pretty dreadful; many of its 9th graders looked old enough to vote. So I can see where you might balk at the idea. But Francis isn't your only option. DC actually has a number of very good schools. Thompson Elementary, also not far from the White House, is an up-and-coming school housed in a brand new building and features a Chinese immersion program. The city might even cut you some slack and give you a coveted spot at Oyster Elementary, the award-winning Spanish bilingual school in Woodley Park where schools chancellor Michelle Rhee sends her kids. (Si se puede!)
Rhee, in fact, has said she hopes to persuade you to send your kids to DC public schools. (Please don't respond by making her Secretary of Education, as some rumors have suggested you might do; DC needs her, and she's just getting started.) Her motivation is plainly obvious. She needs the PR. DC schools have such a bad rep that our own mayor, who has made education reform his signature issue, refuses to send his kids to one, so luring in the Obama girls would be an enormous coup.
I'm not asking you to sacrifice your children's education and well being for a good cause. I firmly believe that your kids can receive a perfectly good education in public school here. It takes some work, but it can be done. Besides, private school no more guarantees future success than public school guarantees failure (case in point: Al Gore III, a graduate of the prestigious St. Alban's). Regardless of which public school you pick, your family's mere presence in the building would force the school bureaucracy to rise to the occasion. And think about this: For four -- or maybe eight -- years, your kids will live inside the White House bubble. What better way to give them a daily reality check than to send them to school with regular folks?
Here's hoping we see you at math night.
UPDATE: At Barack Obama's first press conference as president-elect, Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet asked whether Obama would be sending his children to private or public schools in Washington. He replied that no decision has yet been made and that he and Michelle would be "scouting out schools."
-- Stephanie Mencimer
Share your thoughts below.
Geoffrey Bennett
5:24 PM ET
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11-11-2008
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What's Your Blood Pressure Reading?
iStockphoto.com
If you don't know, that's a problem.
"High blood pressure -- often called the 'silent killer' because it has no symptoms -- increases a person's chances for heart disease, stroke and other serious problems. But it's easy to check for and usually can be controlled through exercise, diet and medicine."
The Associated Press has more:
The lives of nearly 8,000 black Americans could be saved each year if doctors could figure out a way to bring their average blood pressure down to the average level of whites, a surprising new study found.
The gap between the races in controlling blood pressure is well-known, but the resulting number of lives lost startled some scientists.
... Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said changes need to be made to make sure minority patients can get good medical care when they need it. But there also needs to be more done to make sure patients understand medical directions and feel comfortable asking questions when they don't.
Geoffrey Bennett
2:58 PM ET
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11-11-2008
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