Online addresses might reach broader audience

In his campaign for president, President-elect Barack Obama broke many barriers in terms of utilizing modern technology for politicians. Thus, it’s fitting that he’s begun breaking barriers for presidents — even before he takes office.

Since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, both political parties have utilized the radio to reach out to the country and spread their message. This past Saturday, Obama took it one step further and posted a video of his Democratic message on YouTube.com.

Frankly, it’s a little amazing it’s taken this long for the Democratic and Republican parties to do this. The Internet has become thoroughly entwined into the fabric of modern American society. Millions of Americans surf the Web every day.

While it can’t be said that the parties have ignored it — one must simply sign up to an e-mail mailing list and watch the deluge of messages from various figures — up until now they’ve hesitated from utilizing its full potential.

In many cases, an e-mail is extremely impersonal. They might be signed with the name of a person, but there’s no guarantee the signee actually sent it out. A video allows a person to directly connect to a viewer. Obama recognizes this fact, and has crafted a Web site, change.gov, to host interviews and Q&As with the president-elect. They should help the populace get to know Obama, as well as what his thoughts and plans are.

One other major advantage of posting the videos online over the standard radio addresses is that they can be accessed at any time.

We’re in an age of TiVos and streaming media. We live in an on-demand society that recognizes it can no longer be guaranteed people will be able to stop and listen to something at exactly the same time as everyone else. One needs only to ask: When was the last time that you scheduled time to listen to a specific radio show?

The move also should help to keep young people involved in the political process. It’s likely that many young voters don’t realize these messages are being delivered each and every week. If they did, it’s likely they learned what was said simply through news reports about the content of the messages.

If a person links or embeds a video in his or her Facebook.com page, for instance, it’s likely their friends take a look.

Such methods of distribution will allow Obama to grow a greater connection with his constituents, and take the middleman of the press out of the picture.

They might also help to make people feel that what’s being said is more relevant. This move shows that Obama is aware of the role of technology in our lives as well as the importance of the myriad of distribution options available. His use of multiple methods to get his word out may be a sign that he’s ready to utilize all the avenues that he can — surely a quality that we look for in a president.

FDR broke new ground when he started his so-called “fireside chats.” Obama is simply doing something that should have been done long ago: modernizing it.

Published on Wednesday, November 19, 2008