Obama Web Address December 6, 2008

Bobby Jindal For President

Fast forward to late 2010/early 2011:



"We were promised change, but the change that we got is not the change we need. Bobby Jindal has a vision...His vision is what we need now."

Jindal Speculation

A local TV clip speculating on why Bobby Jindal made the recent trip to Iowa.

Not Ready For Prime Time

David Gregory did a competent job as Chief White House Correspondent for NBC, periodically challenging all of the President's men - Fleischer, McClellan and Snow - and at least once, the President himself.

A good reporter, though, does not necessarily make a great moderator or host. Gregory does not "engage" in the studio roles he has assumed: first, Race to the White House and currently, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. After five minutes, I'm usually reaching for the remote.

Rarely have I seen him ask the tough questions of one of his guests as he might have in a press conference. The format is often a panel of experts with Gregory serving as the facilitator. With his relatively thin resume as a host, his apparent ascension to moderator of Meet The Press may say more about the depth of talent at NBC than it does about Gregory.

Is there no one else within the news division at NBC - or for that matter at CBS, ABC, CNN or Fox - to choose from? Did NBC conduct an extensive search while Tom Brokaw provided continuity after Tim Russert's passing? While many were likely interested maybe no one was available. Or was NBC committed to staying within the family and chose Gregory as the least partisan prospect with the most journalistic experience? From the March 14, 2006 Washington Post:

When Vice President Cheney accidentally wounded a hunting companion last month on a Texas ranch, White House reporters pummeled McClellan with questions for days. "The vice president of the United States accidentally shoots a man, and he feels that it's appropriate for a ranch owner who would witness this to tell the local Corpus Christi newspaper and not the White House press corps at large?" Gregory demanded. He also scolded McClellan: "Don't tell me you're giving us complete answers when you're not actually answering the question."

At the off-camera morning briefing known as "the gaggle," McClellan tried to deflect a question by saying: "David, hold on. . . . The cameras aren't on right now." Gregory responded: "Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question." McClellan said he didn't have to yell, and Gregory said he would indeed yell "if you want to use that podium to try to take shots at me personally, which I don't appreciate."

Within hours, lots of people were taking personal shots at Gregory. Jon Friedman, the media columnist for Marketwatch.com, wrote that Gregory had become "the poster child for inappropriate, self-serving behavior."

Gregory publicly apologized to McClellan. "I thought he insulted me, but it was inappropriate to say what I said," Gregory says now.

McClellan calls the apology "an incredibly classy thing to do on his part. . . . We both have a job to do and both have respect for one another. David is a hard-nosed reporter who asks tough questions and works really hard to be fair."

If he can ask tough questions on Sunday mornings, over time he may be able to win me over; otherwise I'll be looking for the remote.

UPDATE: Apparently David Gregory's height will be an advantage as he takes the reins of MTP.

Question No. 58

Apparently, Obama speechwriting director Jon Favreau has embraced Hillary Clinton.

Top Conservatives on Twitter

Here is an organizational website promoting the use of Twitter for conservatives in preparation for the next election cycle, along with their action plan:

10 Things You Can Do To Build The Conservative Community on Twitter
1. Follow everyone on this list.
2. Make a point of tweeting conservatives on the list who you don't know, but you think might be interesting.
3. Use the "#TCOT" tag before tweets you think might be of interest to the entire community.
4. Tell your conservative friends who are not on Twitter to join now.
5. Do something nice for someone on the list.
6. If someone follows you, follow them back.
7. Try to keep your following to follower ratio greater than 0.85 to 1. The point of a community is to engage in a dialogue. You can't engage unless tweets flow two ways.
8. Follow the people who follow people on the list with whom you have much in common. Especially follow people on the list who are rapidly adding new followers, such as @pinkelephantpun and @nansen.
9. Volunteer to be a Project Servant-Leader or Team Member on a #TCOT Action Project
10. Propose and gain approval for a new #TCOT Action Project.

Fridays with Ziegler

Nate's latest on Ziegler.

Facebook Connect

Facebook has just launched Facebook Connect, providing greater ease of access to social networking sites:

Facebook Connect lets you use your Facebook ID and password to sign-in to third-party sites. It's kind of like another Web-wide sign-on protocol called OpenID in that regard, but Facebook strikes me as having far greater potential of taking off on a large scale.

The reason? It's easy to use, understand, and control -- and users won't have to do any extra work to find it or make it function. OpenID, if you're not familiar with it, lets you use a single username and password to sign-on to numerous sites. But let's be honest: How many average, non-techie-type Web users are even aware OpenID exists? Odds are, most people have an OpenID-linked account somewhere. But does the typical Internet surfer even know what it is or how it'd be used?

Facebook Connect has visibility on its side. As the most visited social network worldwide, according to traffic measurement data by ComScore, it has an audience already connected and ready to roll. And with 100-plus partners expected to be on-board within Connect's first weeks, there will be plenty of places for that audience to go. Sites like CBS, CNN, and CitySearch are already signed up...countless blogs and Web sites are sure to follow.

So far, Facebook says the sites involved in early testing reported a 50 percent jump in user engagement. For people who are really into social networking and use Facebook -- and, let's face it, that's a massive number nowadays -- Facebook Connect will offer a powerful new layer of interaction across the Web. It may not be the first system of its sort, but it could just be the first one to make a significant splash.

Open ID

The innovative use of social networking sites by the Obama campaign for communication, mobilization and fundraising has set the standard for future national campaigns.

The point of all of the online gadgetry is to get people to show up for offline events. "We've tried to orient the tools less as a social network and more as a mobilization network," said Joe Rospars, Obama's online director. "We're creating opportunities for people to get out there and do things -- the campaign is election-outcome oriented."

The easy flow of information to millions of people, particularly those in the 18-29 age group (and younger, as today's 15-year old will be eligible to vote in 2012), so valuable to Obama both throughout the primaries and the general election campaign, will be even more valuable as we become even more wired. However, what happens if we become mired in the web, trapped in the "Walled Garden" as described here?

There's been a growing concern among companies operating social networks such as Facebook , MySpace and LinkedIn -- as well as the hundreds of niche sites that have sprung up -- that too many of these online hubs could lead to paralysis among users. Inevitably, a user with too many sites to visit and update will abandon some, if not most.

OpenID caught my attention because it was utilized by the Obama campaign.

OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.

As first reported by ReadWriteWeb, President-elect Obama’s website Change.gov now supports OpenID sign in for commenting on certain blog posts and sections of their site. Change.gov uses Intense Debate to power their comment who recently relaunched with OpenID support. As ReadWriteWeb wrote:

Every other major player that has announced support for OpenID has in fact only allowed accounts with their company to be used as an OpenID elsewhere - they have not allowed other OpenIDs to be used to log in to their own sites. That means Barack Obama is cooler than AOL, MySpace, Google and Yahoo!. Maybe you already knew that, though.

Intentional or not, it’s great to see OpenID continue to be built into tools used all over the web whether it be Open Source development frameworks, OS X Leopard, or hosted services like Intense Debate. Putting OpenID in front of such a mainstream audience will certainly continue pushing the community down the path of smoothing out OpenID’s user experience.

As social networking sites evolve, and as political campaigns rely upon them for communication and recruitment, ease of use will be vital to their value.

Hollywood Responds to Prop 8

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

News Media Rankings

A recent report by Experian Simmons evaluated media on "five dimensions of engagement" and provided rankings of news sources for their power at creating social interaction - essentially, what formats/platforms do people find compelling and worth talking about.

Not surprisingly, Americans gave news media highest marks for Social Interaction, indicating that they regularly talk with friends and family about things they see on news programs or read about in news magazines or on online news sites.

News media also get high scores for Trust, meaning that while other research has shown Americans don’t necessarily trust “the media” at-large, consumers believe that the news they personally consume provides them with accurate and trustworthy information, Experian Simmons said.

Among the TV and magazine news properties evaluated, Experian Simmons found that the most talked about news property is The Drudge Report, followed by The New York Times, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The O’Reilly Factor and The Wall Street Journal.

Paradoxically, the study revealed that the dimensions of Trust and Social Interaction don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, according to Experian Simmons. The most-talked-about Drudge Report scored 12% above average for Social Interaction and ranked #1 in that dimension, while scoring 10% below average for Trust, for which it ranked #46.

Louisiana NBC-Affiliate News Package

Jindal To Meet With Obama

Bobby Jindal attended the Governors meeting with Barack Obama today in Philadelphia.

Jindal says he wants the new administration to know that Congress has authorized billions of dollars for hurricane flood protection for Louisiana that has yet to be funded.

Jindal also says he will push for the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to report directly to the White House.

bobbyjindal.com

The Jindal gubernatorial website: www.bobbyjindal.com is a good foundation from what will be a migration to a presidential run. It includes links to YouTube, Flickr, MySpace and Facebook, along with a variety of information portals, including the Action Center and invitations to join the campaign (not to mention merchandising). It is not as savvy as BarackObama.com, but more advanced than JohnMcCain.com.

Note the links to three important potential constituencies: Sportsmen, Farmers and Veterans.

Jindal 2012

Bobby Jindal on The Tonight Show

Here's the link to a Summer 2008 Bobby Jindal appearance (embed script was unavailable) in which he is both personable and self-effacing; a return there in early 2010 would be well-timed as the question of his bid for re-election in LA/run for the White House will be very much alive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg5GWI7UKtQ

Research Opportunities

Levenstein & DeCrescenzo LLP has developed four critical contacts for foundation research for the 2012 campaign. They include:

Political Consultant Roy Occhiogrosso
Internet Campaign Expert Tim Tagaris
Former Clinton White House Guy Bill Curry
CT Republican State Chairman Chris Healy

Please comment with your email contact information and indicate which expert you would like to interview and I will email you their telephone number or email address.