( Maybe this video explains some of the reasons for the differences between the candidates. Not much reinforces the perception of being old like not knowing how to use a computer!)
If you google the following names check out the number of results you get:
Barack Obama:
56,600,000
George Bush :
45,100,000
John McCain:
38,700,000
Now onto their Myspace pages:
Barack Obama:
421,953 friends
John McCain:
58,674 friends
What do you think explains the google results?
This election seems to be about Barack Obama and not John McCain. Because of the extended primary, his becoming the first African-American nominee of a major party, and his connection to young voters it is obvious he is well positioned to draw excitement to his campaign.
But how did he top George W. Bush ( or for that matter both George Bush's combined) who has been president or a candidate for president for almost 8 years? Is there really more being written about Barack Obama in the last couple of years then it was about Bush in total?
The 1992 election was about George Bush Sr. and the economy. In the 1996 election Bill Clinton was the topic of discussion, not Bob Dole. The 2000 election was in part a referendum on Bill Clinton. In 2004 the campaign was about George W. Bush but then shifted to being about John Kerry.
This election, for both sides, has become about Barack Obama. When I listen to KFI or watch television it seems that Barack Obama is more often being talked about. Even John McCain is resorting to trying to get some attention from Barack Obama instead of generating his own. He advertisements are all over the internet in odd places like next to Obama Girl or on website promoting racially charged lies about Barack Obama. If you google Barack Obama you even get paid ads by John McCain.
With John McCain's inability to attract excitement on his own it isn't surprising he wanted to be with Barack Obama at town hall meetings!
The Myspace results are easier to explain. Among young people Barack Obama is way ahead.
What do you think about how the candidates are using the internet?
I can't judge either way because I hardly know how to work the interwebs myself. However, I don't think this discrepancy represents favor for any candidate, just an incredibly obvious generation gap:
McCain has less popularity online, but many of Obama's myspace friends are probably either too young to vote or need more of a push to get out and vote in the election. Adults over 30 aren't as inclined to go make a myspace profile...and I think we can all agree that all of the 30+ "geezers" still make up a pretty good portion of the popular vote.
More than half of the users are over 30 years old according to this website:
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1019
But I agree with you on why McCain hasn't attracted Much attention on Myspace. The cut off that explains the generation gap isn't 30+ but even older.
Aren't you amazed though that google has more hits for a candidate than a sitting president? It isn't like young people haven't written what they thought about Bush over the last 8 years.
Young people cannot explain all the google hits.
OK. This is incredible! Why wouldn't he learn? Is this how McCain addresses other issues like HIV diseases and sexually transmitted diseases he again professes to knows little about? Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara,Ventura)a former nurse takes McCain on about this crucial issue recently. A President must at least learn enough to make informed decisions. I suppose this takes in economics, health care, education issues too.
Can we really trust a candidate that knows so little about the technology our country now relies on? What if Obama knew next-to-nothing about simple things like emails and web browsing? It would be absurd, and he would be ridiculed by the Right as "incompetent" and "inexperienced", but it's ok for McCain because there is an age gap that gives him the excuse to not be familiar with current technology.
The reason for so many more Obama hits is quite obvious, in my opinion: Everyone has something to say about him. If you could break those results down, 1/3 of them would probably come from conservative sites bashing Obama. So, in a way, conservatives are generating excitement over Obama in their own right.
Right now, with all the excitement surrounding the election, and the candidates, I expect a record turnout at the polls, and unless Obama does something incredibly stupid or McCain does something incredibly brilliant, Obama is going to win.
Can we really trust a candidate that knows so little about the technology our country now relies on? What if Obama knew next-to-nothing about simple things like emails and web browsing? It would be absurd, and he would be ridiculed by the Right as "incompetent" and "inexperienced", but it's ok for McCain because there is an age gap that gives him the excuse to not be familiar with current technology.
The reason for so many more Obama hits is quite obvious, in my opinion: Everyone has something to say about him. If you could break those results down, 1/3 of them would probably come from conservative sites bashing Obama. So, in a way, conservatives are generating excitement over Obama in their own right.
Right now, with all the excitement surrounding the election, and the candidates, I expect a record turnout at the polls, and unless Obama does something incredibly stupid or McCain does something incredibly brilliant, Obama is going to win.
This is a very interesting subject. Should we think of it as how difficult it was to begin using a telephone in early 20 Century? I remember my grandmother telling me that they had first phone in the neighborhood and everyone came to have them make calls for them. That didn't last very long.
Now from the furthest reaches of the amazon to the Canadian north everyone is using the technology to connect them to the web. Even old activists have become connected in Ventura and Santa Barbara. So do check out http://www.PoliticalWatchCentralCoast.org and blog on.
Thanks Brian.
This is a very interesting subject. Should we think of it as how difficult it was to begin using a telephone in early 20 Century? I remember my grandmother telling me that they had first phone in the neighborhood and everyone came to have them make calls for them. That didn't last very long.
Now from the furthest reaches of the amazon to the Canadian north everyone is using the technology to connect them to the web. Even old activists have become connected in Ventura and Santa Barbara. So do check out http://www.PoliticalWatchCentralCoast.org and blog on.
Thanks Brian.
I recall during the extended Democratic primary, there was concern among Democrats that the neck-and-neck race was damaging to the party. Well it might have hurt some feelings among Dems, but it had one major positive result: massive coverage of Obama. Obama the underdog, Obama the first black candidate, Obama the savior of America, Obama the untested. At times it was hard to remember there was another party running.
At another point in history, McCain should have had a clear advantage, locking up the nomination so early. He should have been able to start creating an air of inevitability to his eventual election, while the other party dithered. But unfortunately for him, he was running against two other strong candidates for a long time, from a party that had taken too many bruises recently.
Obama, as part of the long primary, and now as the candidate, is exciting. He has an exciting story. Especially to young people, who generate more internet traffic than the 'McCain crowd'. I think the search results differences are completely understandable between Obama and McCain.
But you're right...more than Bush? He's hardly been an uncontroversial president. All those young people generating internet traffic have had plenty of time to B&M about him (or laud him, as the case may be). I don't quite get that one.
Unless it's a conspiracy, and google is in on it!
I think Obama is really going to have to rely on the young vote to bring this thing to victory. And, quite frankly, I'm not real confident this is going to happen.
Young people tend to get excited at the start of a campaign when they see a new face and someone excites them with platitudinal speeches and rhetoric. But, historically, the enthusiasm tends to wane over the course of the campaign and they either get disillusioned, bored, or both.
Maybe it will be different this time. We'll see. But, I think the youth is going to be an important element to his campaign.