FAIRFAX -- Washington Post Reporter Jose Antonio Vargas,who covers politics on the Internet, was interviewed on C-Span on Jan. 29, 2009, by David Drucker and students from three universities, George Mason University, University of Denver, and Pace University. He discussed the Democrats’ use of technology during the presidential campaign and how it might be utilized during President Barack Obama’s presidency as a more direct means of communication with the American people.
Throughout President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, the message that was conveyed was “change.” With President Obama being elected as the first African American President of the United States, change has already begun. However according to Vargas, “President Barack Obama would not have gotten elected without the Internet.” Without making use of the Internet and new technology such as email, text messaging, twitter, and facebook, this change could not have been made possible.
Vargas goes on to say that early on the Democrats realized that this was no longer just a campaign. They realized that “you can’t just run a campaign anymore, you have to build a movement” and attract as many people as possible to this movement. This was most effectively done by reaching out to people through the Internet and through text messaging to their cell phones. In this manner, people felt connected to the campaign and a part of the process.
The Democrats did a much better job than the Republicans in utilizing this technology and hence this network they built continued to expand and momentum continued to grow and ultimately Obama won the Presidency.
When a student asked Vargas whether “President Obama and his staff will continue utilizing technology in a way that we haven’t seen with previous administrations,” he suggested checking out the whitehouse.gov website. He stated changes have already been made to it in order to make it a more effective way of providing information directly to the American people and allowing them to participate in government through the website.
Through the Office of Public Liaison & Intergovernmental Affairs (OPL-IGA) on the website, citizens have a mechanism to communicate their concerns or send comments to the White House. The goal of OPL-IGA is “stimulating honest dialogue and ensuring that America’s citizens and their elected officials have a government that works effectively for them and with them.”
President Barack Obama’s use of the technology and the Internet to bring the government back to the people reminded me of former President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The section that states,
“…That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,”
relates to President Barack Obama’s motto of Change.
His use of technology, such as text messaging, email, and the newly updated whitehouse.gov focus on informing the people and getting them involved with the country’s policies. From this, what President Obama seems to be trying to accomplish is what our forefathers have set out to do from the very beginning—a government of the people, for the people, and by the people!