My Blog is a Nobody Blog

Let’s see, where to begin.

On Tuesday, the news station Kevin had on spoke with a professor from Harvard who had taught both Michele and Barack. He said that Michele had always struck him as presidential material, while Barack seemed more like he’d end up as ‘the world’s greatest mayor’, rescuing kittens from trees and helping people bring their laundry in.

One of the magical mysteries of this election is how relatively small actions have drastically altered my outlook, especially when it comes to the meaning of words. Once a few conservatives came out for Obama, declaring that the Republican party was no longer conservative, I found that I was no longer willing to use the words ‘radical’ and ‘conservative’ in the same phrase (unless I was pointing out how they were mutually exclusive), that conservative had regained its meaning again, a word for an attitude that dislikes change and dislikes the expenditure of power and resources without a damn fine reason. And I was willing to give more consideration to the Republicans running for local office, instead of having a kneejerk reaction. (I’ve never been particularly partisan, instead preferring to hate both parties equally, but the religious core of the current Republican party upsets me a lot more. )

(As a tangent, I don’t even like the distinguishment between ‘fiscal conservatives’ and ‘social conservatives’. A change back to the mores and attitudes that prevailed during an era before not just my birth but the birth of many of its proponents is a drastic change. I don’t begrudge the people who want to make those choices for themselves the right to do so but wanting to force them down everybody’s throat is not conservative.)

Barack: World’s Greatest Mayor tickled me, but that’s all. I theorized that the phone calls to random people which show up repeatedly as anecdotes from his campaign would continue into his presidency.

Then I saw this. And my jaw dropped, because that website is from the same marketing philosophy that, okay, shows up in a lot of different areas, from movies to Starbucks, but that I’m most familiar with, deeply familiar with, from video games. It’s a website designed to raise enthusiasm about a product through providing transparency, soliciting involvement and strongly encouraging community-building. It has a countdown. And it has a page where you can apply for a job.

I was flustered, astonished and a little frightened. And while I was chasing down the source of my fright, linguistic alchemy happened again in the back of my head. Suddenly, the presidency wasn’t a faraway position of mind-boggling power, occupied by an unreachable man separated from people like me by a field of press, Secret Service, personal assistants and a flock of the wealthy and celebrated. It was a… job, one recently offered to this guy I know on the Internet. Stressful, a lot of responsibility, but a chance to make a real difference. It’ll wear him out and break him down but fortunately, they don’t let anybody do it for more than 8 years. So he’s accepting it and I’m looking forward to hearing how it goes. Maybe we’ll chat at a picnic sometime.

Barack: Mayor of United Americaville.

Other things.

I expect the Mayor of United Americaville will have to make a speech sometime pointing out that in United Americaville, it’s okay to disagree on issues, even important ones. The point is to still respect each other and go out for a beer afterward. Or to remember we’re all still Americans. Or something. I’d work it out more but not until I get contacted about that Obama Administration speechwriter position.

Why Change.gov frightens me: It isn’t because I percieve some essential dishonesty in using such well-honed tools to encourage the growth of an American community. No, I respect the goal, and I respect the method. It works, and just because it plays us like a fiddle… well, fiddles make beautiful music when played well. A fiddler isn’t dishonest. I still trust Obama. We’ll sing good songs. So, that isn’t why.

I fully expect we’ll see a White House blog sometime. There’s one at Change.gov but it’s not from anybody’s perspective, not yet. Considering that excites me, without much trace of the fear. So I don’t think it’s actually the grasp of social technology or information technology that scares me so much as what it means: true change is coming.

That makes sense. I like change, but it is alwards accompanied by a faint touch of fear. True change is. We’re human. And suddenly, I don’t think Obama represents ‘change’ that simply means ‘like what’s been there before, but one of the good guys/on our side’ (which is, I think, what a lot of people were voting for). I think he means changes different from anything before.

‘Town hall meetings’ have been a detail of more than one election cycle. They’ve always felt like a staged farce, a laughable attempt to make the President or candidate seem real and approachable. I suspect Obama has realized that with the internet (and sufficient dedicated manpower, because let’s face it, the internet is big) an educated fellow can do a much better job of wiping away most of the barriers between President and people. With the internet, the President doesn’t need to rely on the media to present himself to the population. 

As far as I can tell, back when the office of the President was created, the Founding Fathers were trying to give us a new King. A King we chose, a King strictly limited by Congress, a King whose term would pass away if and when we wanted a different King, but a monarch all the same. Or maybe the early presidents who set traditions simply followed in the footsteps of the only role models they had. In any case, the grandeur and elevation of the royal we has always accompanied the presidency. He lived in a castle surrounded by guards, flanked by his court, on the other side of a high fence, and only the celebrated gained an audience with him, save for when he condescended to walk among his people. He was a playboy or a father figure or a heroic general or a cackling hunchback, and his Queen was the most gracious hostess in the land. He was a symbol that we hated, or admired, or wanted to be. He was not a friend.

I think Barack has decided that here, now, the royal we is not what America needs any more. This is the era of first names. (Who uses Mr. outside of schools and Capitol Hill?)  I’m not quite sure what we do need, but… I suppose we’ll all find out together.

I kind of wonder what’s going to happen with the Inaugural Galas.