If Abraham Lincoln were stumping for a Senate seat in the 2010 midterm elections, I have a hunch he’d put a special spin on his Gettysburg speech – starting with something like:
Foursquare and 7 months from now, our politicians will bring forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Personal Branding, and dedicated to the proposition that all tweets are created equal.
Not!
If you’re plugged in at all to the social media scene, then you know what I’m talking about – prospective political candidates are using the full force of digital weapons to blast out their campaign promises. Forget the bull horn or microphone. This year will set a new high-water mark for campaign propaganda as we’re flooded with web-based, political paraphernalia.
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It’s a great question, and a good piece. The answer to your question, I think, would be: maybe. Or–it depends on which Lincoln you’re talking about.
Lincoln didn’t need the Internet to be close to the people–he walked the streets of Washington without bodyguards. Large groups of people walked through D.C. at night and *serenaded* him and other members of the Cabinet. Lincoln gave speeches from the White House balcony.
That Lincoln would have loved the immediacy and the intimacy of the Internet, the leveling of the playing field.
But the Lincoln who overturned habeas corpus, who had the mayor and chief of police of Baltimore arrested–not so sure.
How about the Lincoln who ran for Senate a couple times and lost…desperate to get a seat and has limited resources? 😉
Let’s hope politicians’ social media efforts are more effective than their generally mediocre congressional websites (although they do perk up during election years). Brookings Institution recently had a post on it. You can read more about it here.