As Mayor Thomas Menino’s email scandal further unfolds into what City Councilor-At-Large Michael Flaherty has dubbed ’emailgate,’ the public watches on to see how the crisis may affect the outcome of the race. In an effort to satiate public curiosity and serve as the watchdogs they’re meant to be, editors at The Boston Globe decided to print some of the 5,000 recovered emails that had been mysteriously deleted from the Mayor’s inbox by his top aide, Michael Kineavy. In those letters, constituents saw a side of the mayor they’ve never seen before, after 16 years of knowing him, and that side was caustic, unrefined and candid.
This type of character revelation has become a trend in government throughout the race. Whether it is via poorly hidden emails or manic tweets, the candidates’ true colors have been shining through in some unfavorable ways. The Internet has never been fair to those who aren’t used to expressing themselves through it ‘- it takes a particular finesse, a studied subtlety to make a point on Twitter without it sounding cheap and silly. But with the mayoral candidates tweeting without filters and emailing without considering the repercussions of ineffectual deletions, they’ve reduced their campaign to a mass of big html mistakes worthy of being filed in the junk folder.
The opponents participating in the race need to consider the impression they make on their constituents not just on the debate stage or on their commercials or in public appearances, but also indirectly on the Internet. After all, they wouldn’t give speeches without preparing and editing, so why do they tweet without thinking? Menino’s scandal was bad, and may severely hurt him in the race by betraying the trust of his supporters, but it is in no way comparable to Watergate. Flaherty and Yoon shouldn’t be so quick to detach themselves from Menino’s blunder. In the end, all three men are detracting from the integrity of the race by putting their activities on the web at the forefront and pushing real, intelligent politics to the background. While it’s all very entertaining, it ‘- like most Internet fads ‘- will get old fast, and people will in turn abandon these men and their online follies for something a bit more tangible. Will the candidates be able to deliver?
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