Barack Obama’s presidential campaign not only changed all the rules for future White House bids’-‘- Twitter and Facebook are now required for success’-‘- but has also shifted the focus of the political system from the party to the individual, panelists said last night.
Boston University College of Communication and the New England Chapter of the Federal Communications Bar Association hosted a panel at the Photonics Center Tuesday, where, in front of about 30 attendees, panelists discussed the historical significance of the election, both politically and technologically.
‘This was the first election of the Internet age,’ COM Dean Tom Fiedler said in his keynote address preceding the panel. ‘The Internet was at the core of the Obama campaign. He established a direct connection with his voters. He didn’t have to go through the media.’
Obama’s victory speaks to a shifting American attitude, Fielder said, because race did not find its way into the campaign on either side.
‘Politics traces popular culture and popular culture has embraced the idea that a black man can be a hero,’ he said
Fiedler referred to the 2008 election as the first ‘post-party and post-press’ election, where individual people were more fundamental to a campaign’s success than political parties.
‘Obama showed you can build a network of supporters and donors who are not organized in any outside party,’ Fiedler said.
Panelist Victoria Clarke, a Comcast Corporation senior advisor and ABC analyst, said blogs and social networking sites will keep people involved in the political process by allowing them to voice their support for or opposition to policies.
Clarke said she thinks that people will begin to criticize Obama if and when he does not handle challenges within his presidency well.
Roger Entner, Senior Vice President of Nielsen AIG Communications Sector, said new media allows people to voice these opinions quickly, which could backfire on Obama.
‘Something has to change,’ Entner said. ‘If Barack Obama does not deliver his promises, things can turn very quickly.’
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. partner Cameron Kerry said he is eager to see what role new media will play in the new administration and how Obama’s campaign website will work in conjunction with the White House.
‘If the new media will stay and in what form is important,’ Kerry said.’ ‘We’ll have to see.’
Fiedler said he was confident that the 2008 election will be forever marked as a turning point in the relationship between politicians and their constituents.
‘People will look back years from now and say, ‘That’s when it all changed. The Internet did it,” he said.
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