Barack wants to be your friend

Es difícil plantear un punto de vista original respecto al triunfo de Obama y el uso de las tecnologías 2.0... ¡por lo que no lo haré! Voy a limitarme a resaltar unos párrafos que me llamaron la atención en un reciente artículo del IHT:

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As a result, when he arrives at the White House, Obama will have not just a political base, but a database, millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly. And there's every reason to believe that he will use the network not just to campaign, but to govern. His e-mail to supporters on Tuesday night included the line, "We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next."

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The juxtaposition of a networked, open-source campaign and a historically imperial office will have profound implications and raise significant questions. Special-interest groups and lobbyists will now contend with an environment of transparency and a president that owes them nothing. The news media will now be contending with an administration that can take its case directly to its base without even booking time on the networks.

More profoundly, while many people think that Obama is a gift to the Democratic Party, he could actually hasten its demise. Political parties supply brand, ground troops, money and relationships, all things that Obama already owns.

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The founders of America wanted a government that reflected its citizens but would be at remove from the baser impulses of the mob. The mob, flush with victory, is at hand, but instead of pitchforks and lanterns they have broadband and YouTube. Like every other presidency, the Obama administration will have its battles with the media, but that may seem like patty-cake if it runs afoul of the self-publishing, self-organizing democracy it helped create - say, by delaying health care legislation or breaking a promise on taxes.

That's the thing about pipes today: they run both ways.

Ya veremos cómo le va con las nuevas tecnologías y cuánto dura el entusiasmo virtual de un colectivo, por naturaleza, bien voluble. De cualquier manera, a la distancia da una envidia tremenda que en Estados Unidos se estén discutiendo justamente estos temas, lo que implica que ya consiguió el objetivo de introducir estas cuestiones en política.