Episode 19:
‘The Google on the Internets’
By Lee Molloy
For our
reality series Make Me the President, we scoured the country to
find the most power-hungry, Machiavellian and downright
unattractive people in the United States of America (“The
Greatest Nation On Earth” ™) to find the man, or woman, who
could raise the most money, be willing to break the most
promises and offer the most bland reason to become — The
President.
This week on
MMTP:
Sen. Hillary
“Rocky” Clinton beat the living crap out of Sen. Barack “Gandhi”
Obama in West Virginia. Of course, that was hardly a surprise, but if she is able
to keep up the pressure during the final few weeks of the
season, she could actually take the popular vote away from the
junior senator from
Illinois and,
at that stage, they would have to make a deal. Furthermore, if
she does lose, it now appears that Clinton may be interested in
the veep slot. Could she be plotting an assassination? She
probably knows a few people in the biz. Hmmm.
So, how did
Team Democrats end up in this curious situation? Well, it all
started when former MMTP loser Vice President Al Gore
invented the Internet. Okay, we all know that is an urban myth,
but the point is that 2008 is the first year that the presidency
of the United States could be won or lost online.
During
MMTP 2004, Gov. Howard Dean first harnessed the power of the
Web to gain a grass-roots campaign advantage, but that was
nothing compared to what has been happening this season. If we
start by comparing the Web sites of the three remaining
candidates in the race, the differences are already glaringly
apparent. First, JohnMcCain.com is a very serious affair — the
banner headline is a somber black that seems to say “I am very
close to death,” and the site concentrates mainly on the
candidate and not too much on the community of users who visit
it. HillaryClinton.com is much better; the banner is a strong
blue, reflecting her Team Democrats credentials, but the site
still feels harsh and a bit too businesslike, although there are
a half-dozen links to online such communities as Twitter.com and
YouTube.com. However, her site shouts at the user a bit too much
— according to the rules of netiquette, it’s bad form to type in
CAPITALS, regarded as online shouting. On the other hand,
BarackObama.com, like the baby bear from Goldilocks, has it just
right. Obama’s site comes in a relaxing, gentle blue. The links
are easy to find and the site is pleasing to navigate. There are
at least 16 links to online communities on the home page, which
gives him a far wider reach across the Web in general. And that
alone gives Obama a commanding lead among young voters.
Not
convinced? Well, according to SpartanInternet.com, which tracks
the online activity of the campaigns across 650 different points
of reference called the SIPP (Spartan Internet Political
Performance) Index, Obama currently has roughly 37 percent of
the candidates’ total Internet hits, Clinton has about 20
percent and McCain about 12 percent. Even crazy Ron Paul beats
McCain’s score, with nearly 20 percent. When comparing these
scores to the amount of money being raised on the campaign
trail, it is not difficult to see that Obama’s advantage has
been really quite staggering.
Another
factor in play is the fact-checking of negative campaigning and
spin. Rumors have arisen and accusations have been made this
season in no greater numbers than in years past; however, the
difference has been the ability of the politically engaged
public to do its own research in a few minutes during coffee
breaks to find the truth. This has made such sites as
FactCheck.org invaluable to political geeks everywhere. So, when
Sen. Clinton, for example, makes a mistake, it is instantly
downloaded onto YouTube.com from an iphone and then e-mailed to
every Obama fan in the country within a single news cycle. This
is such a new phenomenon that the Clintons got caught completely
off guard, and the tactics they used to win victories for Team
Democrats in ’92 and ’96 are now getting them into hot water and
making them unpopular even among their own fans. In other words,
the Clintons have become victims of a generation gap, whereas
Obama has become the first truly 21st-century MMTP
contestant. Sen. McCain? Well, from the look of his site and his
online campaign so far, we wouldn’t be surprised if he thought
Googling was something his new evangelical buddies would frown
upon, but that’s another story.
So, Obama ’08
is definitely this season’s online winner, and future political
operatives can learn some pretty profound lessons from this
campaign. First, by raising most of his funds from small donors
($25 or less), he has been able to give a very vague message of
hope and change, rather than potentially controversial
specifics. This is because traditional donors, who raise
hundreds of thousands of dollars for campaigns, often demand
more bang for their buck than just getting to shout “yes we can”
at rallies. Second, by making use of such online networking
communities as MySpace.com and Facebook.com, the campaign has
mobilized a phenomenal ground organization, which has been
invaluable in winning caucus states across the country and, as
we all know, winning caucuses basically comes down to organizing
the hardcore fans and has precious little to do with true
democracy. Third, the overwhelming success of the Obama ’08
campaign and its incredible 37 percent share of the online
market has created a fantastically effective spin machine. Even
with the existence of sites such as FactCheck.org, the truth can
become obscured when search engines automatically direct users
to so many Obama-friendly pages. One of MMTP producers’
favorite examples is the myth that Obama has more experience
than
Clinton
because of the time he spent in the Illinois State Senate,
which, essentially, is the political equivalent of having a
paper route. However, when we compare apples to apples and look
at the candidates’ grown-up jobs in the U.S. Senate, the facts
show that Clinton, on average, had about three times more of her
sponsored or co-sponsored bills passed each year than Obama.
That seems to point to
Clinton
being the most effective legislator and the most accomplished at
actually getting things done. Obama fans will, naturally, ignore
this fact and go back to their mantra of hope and change.
“The
Internets” (thank you, Mr. President, you’re always good for a
laugh) has indeed changed the face of politics forever, but is
there a forgotten population out there that wouldn’t know a
blogger from a frappuccino? If so, who are they likely to
support come November?
Tune in next
week to see which contestant’s laptop may pick up the wireless
Internet signal on Air Force One.
Hail to the
Chief!
