Kowabunga

Interesting column on The Blue Streak, discussing the strong and weak points of the '08 Presidential Campaign, and speaking well of Barrack Obama. The piece focuses on two points: the experience of the current main contenders (Hillary, Edwards, Obama) and the potential of the Internet to influence the election. It makes some good points.

The internet will decide this election. Whoever figures out how to use it best, whoever is helped most or hurt least by its reach, will win.

It could be Obama.

The internet makes it possible to communicate with more people at less cost than ever before. It makes it possible for an unknown to become well known faster than ever before, for an organization to grow at warp speed, for money to be raised in buckets with the flash of a click. It has the potential to engage people in politics who would never go to events, are on no one's old list, are outsiders to the political process. It intensifies the scrutiny and magnifies the result, which is both a risk but also a vital opportunity for a candidate who most Americans know virtually nothing about.

With the internet, Everything that happens, what goes right and what goes wrong, will be instantly available to everyone. Mistakes will be magnified, viewed by millions literally in moments; but so will triumphs. Momentum will be built or lost with speed we once could barely imagine.

As seen in the '06 election, the Internet, especially the blogosphere, and new tech such as youtube.com. Youtube and similar video sharing sites made it possible for people with digital cameras to capture some quite damning footage and make such videos available for wide and rapid distribution.

The is no doubt that the Internet will continue to play a significant role in future elections as it is the new media, or, as some would say, the new Liberty Tree, the place where like minded patriots in the Revolutionary period gathered and discussed ideas.

The issue will not be whether Obama has good enough experience, but whether he is good enough as a candidate. He can't afford to say the wrong thing. A mistake will be read as not ready. But he has no record of bad votes to defend, no troublesome inconsistent statements from past campaigns to explain away.

The piece also hits on Obama's experience favorably, stating that he has held elected office longer than either of the other two front runners, etc. This is not, nor should it be, a quality one looks for when electing experience. Time in office does not equate experience. All it means is they have shown up for work. As for bad votes to defend, that is a matter of point of view. There are those of us who still believe that Liberating Iraq was the right thing to do. Susan Estrich is one of those that believes otherwise. That's her privilege and right.

What is important is Statesmanship, values, honor integrity. Do any of these so called "rock stars" have these qualities? That's the deciding factor for me, regardless of political party affiliation. Are they Statesmen?

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The+Blue+Streak Obama Edwards Hillary