Saturday, May 17, 2008

No major difference but the Internet has made some fundemental changes to American politics

According to Gideon Rachman, talking about the US elections

it’s not very obvious that the internet has made this election qualitatively
different from all other campaigns


But there are two major differences

  • First, 5.5 million people have watched all 35 minutes of Obama’s
    Philadelphia speech on race on YouTube. In an age when the average TV news
    sound-bite is down to 12 seconds, this is extraordinary and heartening
  • and secondly

    • the internet has transformed American campaign finance - and may have solved
      one of the biggest problems with American democracy. The problem - as we all
      know - is that elections are so expensive that candidates have to spend huge
      amounts of time raising funds; and have to warp their positions to suit the
      prejudices of wealthy donors. But Obama has already raised around $300m in small
      donations via the internet


    Gideon was chairing a debate at the US embassy in London on the impact of the internet on the presidential election. You can watch it HERE

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