The Non-Obama

The more I read about Bobby Jindal the more I think the tag line" The Next Obama" is so false...
check out his policies and voting record here and you'll see what I mean.

On a different note, that of technology and the media, I found this article on NPR today about "media ecology"--how our lives are basically run by the media mania that surrounds us. In case you don't have time to go to the article heres an interesting tidbit:
"For example, we feel swamped by how much information is instantly available on the front page of The New York Times or on NPR.org. But Berreby notes that a tribal African who hunted to survive would be swamped by information when seeing a wildebeest in a field: Male or female? Alone? Wind direction? Predators nearby? What kind of trees in the distant forest? None of this data is mediated, trivial or distant. We have (had?) a lot of Darwinian hard-wiring to process that kind of data.
That isn't true of media information: It doesn't engage all the senses. It is all crafted by humans, much of it deliberately intended to sell or market or be addictive — or get our attention. It is harder to filter this information than unmediated information, harder to attend to only the important. "We aren't overwhelmed by information," Berreby said. "We're overwhelmed by information anxiety."

I know I definitly feel overwhelemed and anxious when looking at certain news websites or any website really that has too much stuff! Yes, if we have an hour of free browsing time it's fine, but who really does have that time? So--the question then is: what does this mean for Jindal and the future of campaigns with media? While most Americans soak up all the technology (youtube, facebook, myspace, twittering, comedy central ...) I think many are certainly feeling overwhelemed as the article says. When it gets to be too much, what do you do? Unplug from it all!

So what would happen if we just unplugged? Where would our main source of news come from? Well, the daily papers and journals I suppose that you could subscribe to or pick up at the library. Word-of- mouth for sure--nothing spreads faster, but then theres the truth factor with that. Perhaps radio, which is free of visual stimuli. There are still other sources to go to, but when it comes down to it if you want to be up to the minute on what is going on, you'll find the best media outlet. However, Jindal and any future candidate need to realize that too much media might not be a good idea.
On a side note, I think one plus for The Atlantic is that their website isn't very cluttered. It's just enough and has a nice visual appeal.

Jindal needs more than his age

This article in Huffington Post points out that while Jindal may be young and energetic like Obama, he will need more than just that and the support of conservatives to get enough steam to make it on the ballot in 2012.
"Equally importantly, Jindal's background would play out very differently than Obama's if he were the Republican nominee. First, South Asians are still too few in number to make an impact at the voting booth comparable to African Americans or Latinos, so Jindal would have to appeal to other groups."
If Jindal wants a chance, he needs to start getting his name out in these other groups of people, especially minorities. While America may have been ready for an African American president, are they ready for one of Indian decent? There was a ton of controversy over Obama's past and religion...Jindal was a Hindu before converting to Catholicism. Most of these people were conservative Republicans, I wonder if they would argue the same: "once a muslim (hindu) always a..." if it's someone on their parties ticket.

The writer also points out that while it may the Republican party to have Jindal on the ticket because it will show that they are more diverse and attuned to everyones needs, it can't simply be about race, just as it was not simply about race for Obama.

I think Jindal should make an effort on the social networks and especially get out to colleges and university's--words spread fast around campus's and he may gain a good amount of the younger vote if his policies are attuned to the climate in 2010 and on...

He's Getting Around...

Well our man Jindal does seem to be getting around already--here he is on The Tonight Show talking about his parents and growing up among other things (and he even throughs in some humor.) He has a young vibe and seems energetic, which I definitly think he wants to get out there if he is considering running for President. Also notice how Jay Leno doesn't really interrupt him when he is talking.



Here, Fox news talks to Jindal about what the Republicans need to do to get "back on track" in 2010 and 2012. He knows what he wants to say and he says it, and the media, especially Fox isn't afraid to bring up the fact that he might be running as a candidate in the future, even though Jindal himself won't give any clues.
Like we discussed in class last night, he definitly needs to get his name out there, especially in the social networks if we wants to gain access to all sorts of populations and people of all ages. The fact that the media is giving him any coverage already is to his advantage, and of course he has Hurricane Katrina behind him...

Jindal blogs

I checked out the Bobby Jindal site that Harry posted, and I think it's a metiocre (spelling?) site. Nothing very exciting, but he's got some good pictures up of him out in the community, with kids, visiting sites of the flood etc. I also took a peek at his blog (just a peek since I'm actually at work...I'll delve deeper later ;-). The blog seems to highlight some of the things he has been recently doing in Louisiana and what he plans to do...basically keeping people updated on his merits. At times the blog get's lengthy and wordy--and is a bit dull. I wonder if he actually writes it himself anyways or if he just gives whoever writes it some ideas and they write it up..? Hmmm...

He does have some good pictures throughout the blog though. That will help!

Jindal

"I want to be the best governor I can be for the people of Louisiana. Look, I think the American people are tired of campaigns and politics. We need to get behind our new president and our new Congress, support them, and stop being Democrats and Republicans. We need to work together to make sure our government is successful."

I thought this quote by Jindal was pretting interesting--that we should stop being democrats and republicans and come together. I completely agree, but I don't think anyone can completely just stop being who they are politically--but maybe we can keep more of an open mind.

As far as 2012 goes--if he is interested in the presidency he's getting a head start for sure. It's funny that Obama hasn't even been sworn in yet, and we are already having media coverage of who will be running in 2012. How about just focusing on the now and how Obama is going to solve our problems. And I think the "next Obama" is cheesy...I mean, yes perhaps they look similar, share the youthful factor, but as far as that goes I don't think they should be comparing them (yet.)

Are you on Facebook?

These days, who isn't? What used to be network for college students only, has now been opened to the public and organizations as well. Recently, the NYT joined Facebook:

NYT sees success in Facebook push
The New York Times is happy to be your Facebook friend. An internal memo yesterday from Times president Scott Heekin-Canedy touted the newspaper’s “successful” advertising campaign on Facebook in the days following the presidential election.
Members of the leading social networking site could answer the NYT’s question, “What should Barack Obama do first as president?” and send each other gift icons with a fake Times front page with “OBAMA WINS” stripped across the top. Heekin-Canedy wrote:
The goals of the campaign were to increase our number of Facebook fans; raise awareness of NYTimes.com as an interactive news center; and engage the Facebook community in a conversation about the election outcome.

The Times took out a roadblock, or exclusive, ad on the front page of Facebook with a brief video of Obama and an invitation to submit comments. Heekin-Canedy said the ad was seen by 68.3 million people, and 34,000 comments were shared. The free gift was sent by Facebook users to their friends more than 400,000 times. And in the process, the Times nearly quadrupled the number of fans on its Facebook page — a figure the Grey Lady takes quite seriously:
We increased our number of fans more than three times in just 24 hours — from 49,000 to 164,000 — and in the process far exceeded our 2008 goal of 100,000 fans…Possibly the greatest success of this campaign, however, is that our fans continue to rapidly grow…into a powerful, free word-of-mouth network that we will leverage for future marketing messages.

Organizations, like the New York Times are jumping onboard Facebook to increase awareness of what they have to offer us. According to this article the Times increased their number of fans drastically in a 24 hour period--of course, due to social networking. An idea, video or thought can circulate faster on Facebook than it can if it's in an actual newspaper. It's also far easier and conveniant to hop online, check out your friends pages and NYT at the same time.

I work as the Publicity Coordinator at the Library in Litchfield and among the many things that I am exploring with the director is joining a social network like Facebook or Myspace to get our name out there more. We have an outstanding number of people who visit the Library, partly due to press release that we send to newspapers, advertisements on the radio, but also our website. We have a blog (which I also write for!!) and all sorts of research tools and information on the website. The website is highly accessed, as is the blog. We live in a technological world, whether we want to or not, and more and more people are turning to technology as a conveniant and informative tool. I know many other libraries are using Facebook/Myspace to establish more of a connection with their patrons. For instance, you can get their feedback on how the library (organization) is doing, what could be improved, what do they like the most etc. It's also great for teens who practically live on Facebook. In order to market to all populations you need to advertise in all sorts of venues.

I believe many other newspapers, journals, magazines and organizations will be joining the social sphere in the near future! Even organizations such as Defenders of Wildlife and Sierra Club have their own pages.

Sean Penn :Conversations with Chavez

Well, I'm sorry for my absense. The past four or five days have found me extremely busy...no time to sit down with my computer and blog. I finally have a brief moment today before I go and stuff myself with more food than my body has capacity for, but mostly enjoy family relaxation time!

Here is an interesting tidbit I found on The Nation. Sean Penn actually went to visit with Chavez and Castro, moved by the proclaimation that Pat Robertson said about "we should just kill Chavez, its cheaper than starting a war!" What he found were some intersting things behind the two men...much of which he felt was positive. I think it's worth a look, and theres also a youtube video of Penn talking about it.

I thought htis also played into our discussion of technology---where would we be without YouTube? I often argue against some of the newest technology or every little thing that they have out now,(blackberries,Kindle) but I do love YouTube because of the array of information we can all get our hands on!

Happy Thanksgiving