While he sees himself as a Black American, he does not define his nature as that of one vulture vs. another -- and it was this key concept of defining and utilizing the power of diversity within social networking that was critical to success in many areas of the country (Barnes, 2009)
Thus, if there was ever a doubt about the power of the new media, the 2008 Obama campaign, and his Administration's continued use of these tools, completely dispels the notion that it can ever be different. As one journalist commented, the "defining moment [is] Obama and the Internet" (Cho, 2009)
Furthermore, the uniqueness and significance of the Obama election changed forever the construct of communication structures with the electorate. There have been many charismatic political candidates, but until this election, none were versed enough, or perhaps comfortable, to utilize the burgeoning number of social networks to reach out to constituents of all ages, to personally communicate with them via the technology of the internet, and to utilize these methods to change the manner in which he was able to confront his detractors, answer questions, and respond to events in an almost real-time manner (Fergus, 2009)
In its most basic form, of course race was a factor -- he is African-American. But rather than seeing that as the reason for election, it is really less that Obama was African-American, and more that Obama spoke to the electorate in new ways and coveted younger, more vital voters through the use of technology and social networking systems (Franklin, 2009)
In its most basic form, of course race was a factor -- he is African-American. But rather than seeing that as the reason for election, it is really less that Obama was African-American, and more that Obama spoke to the electorate in new ways and coveted younger, more vital voters through the use of technology and social networking systems (Franklin, 2009)
However, the goal of political advertising is, of course, to persuade, and in the modern era how to quickly get the salient information to the public in the least amount of time. Typically, a high level of media, particularly television, exposure leads to a high level of advertising exposure, which in turn leads to a high effect toward candidate veracity (Franz, 2007)
but, the election of a Black man as President, as unheard of as it might have been just 50 years ago, or even 25 years ago, was history because it was a national catharsis -- a repudiation of the greed, avarice, and selfishness that had so characterized American society for the past eight years. Obama's election was a referendum on a new America -- a younger America with an optimistic, but not Pollyannaish, view of the grave and serious problems faced; but a dramatic change from past politicians in that Obama stands for a more open government, dialog with international persons who might disagree with our policies, a standard of excellence and of honesty that he himself has embedded, and the genuine desire to change the way government is, to how government "can be" (Glasrud and Wintz, eds
There were so many changes in the social, political, and technological areas; the World War II Era now seems quite primitive. Since 1950 we have had a major cultural revolution, at least four major military conflicts (depending on who defines), rapid technological growth, new and virulent diseases, a President who resigned rather than face impeachment and jail, the fall of the Soviet Union, telecommunications and transportation improvements that are vast, and several economic challenges (Gross, 2008)
R. developed, Africa began to be decolonialized throwing the economic and political situation out of balance, the Korean War brought the United States into another global conflict, tensions heated up in Egypt (the Suez Canal Crisis) and Cuba (Castro and the Cuban Revolution), and America went through a turbulent time with Anti-Communist feelings and Senator Joseph McCarthy's accusations and focus on "reds in the State Department" (Halberstam, 1994, intro
Additionally, this campaign, like no other before it, utilized social networking groups and software to put the candidate in touch with the constituents. For the first time in history, the candidate was more than a voice on television -- he was accessible, he commented regularly, and he was "just like the rest of us" (Ifill, 2009)
What possibly made the Civil Right's Movement of the 1950s so important is not necessarily what battles were won, but what preparations were made as the decade drew to a close. (Jackson, 2006, inclusive)
Whatever the reason, the 2008 campaigns perceived SNSs as a direct, unfiltered access point to the electorate. Unlike traditional news media in which "gatekeeping" filters out most candidates' access and notoriously negative news packages outnumber politicians' positive aspects (Johnson, D
Unlike traditional news media in which "gatekeeping" filters out most candidates' access and notoriously negative news packages outnumber politicians' positive aspects (Johnson, D., 2009), SNSs enabled candidates to directly approach their electorate, especially young voters, admittedly a marginalized but substantively important group that would critically affect the outcome of the campaign (Kaye, 2009)
Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee" (Arianna Huffington in Schiffman, 2009). Each time the racial card came up in the campaign, Obama's staff downplayed it -- each time he was asked, Obama remarked to the effect -- this isn't about race, it's about change" (Lum, 2009)
"I still can't quite wrap my mind around it," Hughes says. (McGirt, 2009)
Thanks to previous Civil Rights advocates, and people like Jesse Jackson, Obama was not the first minority to attempt a high political seat. This is even more important when one realizes the election was not won on race, but on a combination of issues appropriate focus on sections of the electorate in which his message resonated (Metzler, 2008)
That means everybody has to listen, and everybody has to give a little. That's not easy to do (Obama, 2008)
Because Democratic state delegate contests are decided by a form of proportional representation and popular vote number were so close, the contest continued into June. However, with the help of multiple super delegate endorsements, Obama became the first African-American to win the nomination of a major political party (Price, 2008)
Thus, there are four main aims of political advertising: 1) to influence issues, giving information, simplifying data, etc.; 2) showing the candidates at work with the public, bringing the personality of the candidate into the living room; 3) building image and accessibility; 4) information about the differences between candidate and opponent (Roberts, 1997)
The success of the Obama campaign in utilizing SNSs may also be the result, not only of his message and personality, but because Chris Hughes, one of the four founders of Facebook, left the company in 2007 to specifically work on the Obama New Media Campaign. (Stelter, 2008)