I’m Back

This blog was originally started as a class project for my advanced online media class at Arizona State University. All eleven entries up to this point were written while I was sitting in and/or on the rooftop of an apartment building in the middle of Tempe.

I’ve moved from smack-dab in the middle of McCain country to the soon-to-be center of the Obama universe.

Starting with this entry, I will be writing from a spot which millions of people worldwide will want to be for a few days in August; less than a mile away from the site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Growing up in Denver, I know the atmosphere of the city. I can tell that even on the first day of July, the political winds are already blowing. I can’t wait until August.

“One of the Greatest Speeches of Our Generation”

I picked a bad time to stop following the election race. For a week, over our spring break, I decided to take a break from what seemed to be a never-ending cycle of the same political stories from every media outlet. Of course, this happens to be the week when Obama’s pastor and his preachings come into controversy, and Obama responds with what I’ve heard described by many of my peers as “One of the Greatest Speeches of Our Generation.”

Many in the press are praising the speech as well. Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune said, “If political campaigns were political movies, Barack Obama’s big speech deserves a big Oscar…. He bravely fought to save his presidential campaign by affirming principles over expediency as an argument for improving politics.”

Deborah Griffith, an Arizona Republic reader, wrote in to the paper to say, “I want to thank the senator for giving me hope yet again for this country.”

After watching the speech, and seeing the words and emotion Obama and his staff can put together in just a day’s time, my respect for Obama and his staff has just gotten greater.

Obama handled the situation with class and dignity, and addressed the subject of racism without any disdain, even toward his pastor. Although his pastor a prominent part of Obama’s religious background, should not be seen as a mirror of the views of Obama himself.

“It makes me not want to vote. It’s so bad.”

Technology is amazing. I can chat online with my friends seven time zones and 5,200 miles away in London. I can view pictures of my friends in Pakistan that were taken five minutes before I looked at them. I can talk on the phone with my friends in Thailand for less than 50 cents a minute, something that would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago. Anybody with Internet access can do any of the things mentioned above. Anybody can chat, write, record and post anything they want online.

That is not always a good thing.

I showed my co-workers the video of Hillary Clinton supporters singing her praises that I posted in my previous entry. Reactions varied from “Wow” and “Oh my goodness, I don’t know what to say about that” to the extreme reaction of “It was the worst thing I have ever seen. It makes me not want to vote. It’s so bad.”

Obviously it’s a little far fetched that my co-worker isn’t going to vote simply because she saw this video, but talking to her more about it, she admitted her opinion of Hillary went down a little bit after watching it, even though Hillary neither produced the video herself nor endorsed it, and probably doesn’t even know of its existence.

We judge people. It is human nature. Even subconsciously, our opinions are shaped by what we see other people do. If we watch a bunch of dancing, singing people praise Hillary with an awful video, our opinion of Hillary goes down just by her being associated with them.

Just the opposite happens when we respect those associated with someone, as it’s written in an article published by the London newspaper The Telegraph.

Neil McCormick, the author of the article, claims, “The video achieves things politicians can usually only dream about,” and notes it inspires this generation to follow in the footsteps of our previous generations who went through the civil rights movement.

McCormick answers the critics of the Obama video, who he says are downplaying the impact this video will have on the masses.

“Can Obama continue to upset the traditional balance of power by getting his young converts to the polls? The message beaming out across the net is: yes, he can.”

The presidential race is not going to be decided solely on YouTube videos. However, when I look at the statistics of the “Yes, We Can” video on YouTube – more than four million views, 13 “YouTube honors” including most discussed video of the month and 18th most viewed of all time – if I was asked if these types of vieo can have an impact, I have no other choice but to say yes, they can.

Battle of the Bands

Obama’s supporters put out a good song.

Clinton’s supporters put out an awful horrible hilariously bad interesting song. There are no words to describe this.

As bad as it is, I did find myself humming the tune about 30 minutes after I listened to it. I’m ashamed.

There are also songs for Republican candidates McCain and Huckabee, but they aren’t nearly as professional, and don’t warrant being included with the Clinton and Obama masterpieces.