The Connectivity Campaign

David Weinberger is enthusiastic about Governor Dean’s guest-blogging over at Larry Lessig’s blog. David asks, “Has any presidential candidate ever in history been dropped into a free-for-all quite like this? Could it be any more different than Bush’s scripted press conferences and tailored, crotch-enhancing photo opps? Democracy just got a little real-er.”

The conventional wisdom would have you believe that the day Bush 41 asked what the barcode scanner was at the grocery store was the day he lost the presidency: in that one action, he demonstrated that he was out of touch with the American people. (Politics aside, I tend to disagree witht the conclusion: he ran a lousy campaign and Clinton ran a brilliant campaign. But as Bush 41 demonstrated repeatedly in post-election interviews, he was — and is — a sincere individual with a great sense of humor and a piercing intelligence.)

With Bush 43, it’s increasingly bizarre pronouncements that demonstrate the lack of connectivity to the population. Ari: “To the people who say the WMD don’t exist, I say the burden of proof is on them to show me where they are.” Huh? Or our President: “Bring ‘em on.” or even “We had to go to war because Saddam wouldn’t let inspectors in.” (Shh — maybe someone will remind President Bush that he did let them in.)

And Governor Dean’s demonstration of connectivity — in all aspects of the campaign — is what is driving its success.

3 responses to “The Connectivity Campaign”

  1. You and anyone else are welcome to shack up here. Free WiFi and great cooking. Warning: one and three year-old boys come with the package.:)(On a serious note – we're a good 25 or so miles west of Chicago. So the hospitality is good, but we're not your closest option. So let me know…)

  2. You forget the Perot factor. The votes Perot got were Bush votes, 2-1.If Perot was not running, we might have had a 2000 election in 1992 (the electoral college winner different from the popular vote winner.)But you are right, Bush showed he was out of touch and Clinton was *extra* in touch (especially with female campaigners.)Dean will win this election because he is the most outside-the-beltway.

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