Well, now it is 2007. A politician can be so lucky as to have a gaffe only caught in a picture in a newspaper. Post-George Allen, it is a Brave New World. Not only will a pol have to be "on" (as they say in acting) all the time, but they will have to be vigilant of who is in the vicinity in their least guarded moments (take heed John Edwards, and lay off the spittle, Wolfowitz!). And in the wake of the Hilary Big Brother (Sister?) viral video, controlling the message just got a lot more difficult. I offer this as a primer for the technologically inept politicians of how they can try to do their best at controlling their image (and words!).
"Macaca" Meltdown Moderation:
- Assume you are being taped at all times. Why?
- Digital Video camcorders are ubiquitous and tiny--they fit in pockets
- Most telephones now have digital video/audio capabilities and nearly everyone has one
- Resist the urge to try to be funny; remember: you're a politician, not a comedian
- If you're making a TV appearance, remember there's a camera in every room
Control the Message:
- When a viral video breaks, make sure you have a response: just like the old publicity saw goes, "any publicity is good publicity"--you need to use it to your advantage.
- If the video of you serenading a coat rack at an orgy becomes a huge hit on YouTube, well then you might have to get creative (I don't know how to get out of that one, maybe hire Mel Gibson's agency!)
Online Polls:
- Online polls are the worst sort of polls--there is no scientific sampling whatsoever: NEVER QUOTE THESE
- Never put these on your site, either
- On the other hand, when you're on a sympathetic Web site, you definitely need to have a high total, because it does mean that Internauts are paying attention; this information might help in fundraising and knowing where to put ad money
A final point: your history is pretty much publicly available. As you have no doubt seen in the last few months, the charities, political groups, and organizations to whom you've contributed is freely available on the Web, and "mash-ups"--so called because they mash together information from many disparate sources into one (from the hip-hop/dance mash-ups putting different songs together and still forming one beat) are really changing the political environment. They have caused Rudy Giuliani, to his credit, to run a basically honest campaign--that is, he at least can't lie about his support for gay rights and pro-choice (the record on terrorism: the jury is still out!).
So if you're going to run, you should definitely 'fess up about any cyber-skeletons in the cyber-closet, because otherwise, the Blogosphere will own you.
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2 comments:
Dave, I wonder if the politicians will alter their behavior to suit the technology or the audience will alter its expectations because of the technology. If we're inundated with embarassing YouTubes of politicians, we'll get to the point where we won't be shocked anymore. So the pols can be themselves, make their mistakes, look like schlubs, and it'll be OK. There is something of a precedent for this. Remember when it was revealed in the mid-80s that one or another pol had smoked pot as a college student. It was a career-breaking scandal. Now, who cares?
That is absolutely true, although we'll probably never know how it will evolve. Basically, getting a video of you doing something stupid on YouTube is pretty similar to a photo, just multiplied many more times by who's taking that photo.
Gary Hart on the boat with Donna Rice was caught by a journalistic photographer, but George Allen's "macaca" moment was caught by a guy with a camera handy (I know, he actually worked for Webb, but the idea is the same).
So people will always have to be aware of this possibility. What will change, perhaps, and hopefully, is that the macaca moments caught reveal the true personality, rather than a swiftboating...
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