Jon Dale

Why We Love Barak Obama and Feel So Disconnected from John McCain

On September 25th, 1960 Richard Nixon was leading in the race for President.  His opponent, John Kennedy was young and inexperienced and after several radio broadcast debates Nixon was the clear frontrunner. 

On September 26th, 1960 everything changed.  That night 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch the first ever televised presidential debate. Even though nothing in the candidates message had changed, extensive polling of the television audience showed Kennedy to be the winner of the debate by a very large margin. 

What was the difference?  Kennedy embraced the new medium of the day, Nixon did not.    Kennedy loved the camera, and the camera loved him.  Nixon refused to wear make-up and the hot lights had him sweating before the debate even began.  One observer noted, “There was no mistaking the distinction between the ease with which JFK related to the living rooms of America and the sense of desperateness that Nixon's intensity gave off.”

We’re seeing the same thing happen today.  Barak Obama has embraced new media.  He announced his VP choice to millions of Americans via text message before he told the traditional media and each and every one of them felt like they got something special, that they were an insider.  Those folks can say they knew before CNN...you can bet he’s got their vote.  He has more followers on Twitter than any other user (over 70,000).   He takes his message directly to the nation, often completely bypassing the middle-man of traditional media. He’s even been reported to exchange personal emails and text messages.  “His people” feel more connected to him than any other candidate, ever.

Obama gets it.  He understands that new media is a conversation, a tool used for two-way communication.  He’s a guy we can relate to, that’s accessible and we’d feel comfortable having a cup of coffee with (this isn’t about my personal politics but my observations about who’s embracing new marketing effectively).

McCain on the other hand seems to miss it completely.  His web site looks like something from a Mad Magazine spoof and he’s noticeably absent from most of the social networking sites.  I have no idea what McCain is up to these days, but thanks to twitter I know which cities Obama has been visiting.

When it comes to election day the Obama campaign will have built an incredible “get out the vote” machine and I think it will win him the election.  On that day, what would the McCain campaign give to have millions of people who had given their permission for him to drop them a personal note via text message reminding them that it was time to vote?

11/06/2008 - Update: Here's an interesting post election post - Obama vs. McCain Social Media Scorecard

Your Method is The Message

How you say it is just as important as what you say. 

I just finished an interesting exchange with a political activist who spammed me after finding my email address on an association website.

Hello my name is XXXXX. I am involved with the XXXXX in XXXXX and am looking for information from like minded people about Congressman Ron Paul. Can you help? all I have seen on him for the most part is this interview (link to 60 minute Ron Paul promo video) please help with what ever information that you can.

Since I don't know the guy but he claimed to be associated with some friends of mine I wrote back to him and suggested that he try a more honest approach. The individual told me he had tried being very upfront and that didn't work so it was worth being a little misleading in order to get people to watch the video.  He told me that so far he'd emailed over 800 people and he received responses only when he was indirect in his approach. When I suggested that he may not be accounting for the hundreds of people he was irritating and turning off when he tried to mislead them unfortunately the conversation went downhill.

Here's the problem for Ron Paul right now...I believe many of his supporters are hurting him more than they're helping him.  His followers would do well to read and really understand this post on spam.  Just google "Ron Paul" and "Spam" and you'll see from all the complaints that he has an image problem.  I have no idea if the "troops" are being told to spam or if they're just being overzealous...but those supporters should consider the consequences of articles like this on the widely read Wired blog accusing them of criminal activity.  If they believe as this guy told me that "all press is good press" they should remember what happened to another Presidential hopeful named George Allen. 

Either you respect people or you don't and spam is disrespectful.  I'm sure that much of what Ron Paul is saying needs to be heard...but you can't avoid it...whether you're selling a politician or product...your method is the message.