Video Conference Story 2

Obama’s Victory and Electronic Resources


January 29, 2009

Jose Antonio Vargas, a reporter for the Washington Post, gave a great conference and answered questions that mainly had to do with the participation of the general public in politics through electronic resources. Also, how Obama’s use of these resources helped him win the presidential election.

This video conference connected Vargas with students at George Mason University (Fairfax, Va), Pace University in Manhattan and the University of Denver. The video conference was transmitted on C-Span. The George Mason television studio is on the fourth floor of the Innovation Hall building in the Fairfax campus.

When asked if he believed Obama would have won without his electronic campaign Vargas responded that “Barack Obama would not have gotten elected without the internet.” He believes that Obamas movement had more energy and more involvement. “The fact that he (Obama) was able to raise three billion dollars from half a million donors was something that had never been seen before.” Vargas also stated about the great importance of people’s own personal networks in the organization, planning and carrying out events for the Obama campaign.

Also Vargas found it incredible how “kids organized on Facebook, took over caucuses,” and in one example, “they (kids) won Barack Obama the Iowa caucuses.”

On this issue, George Mason communication student James Thompson stated, “I think his (Vargas’) argument makes sense. Using the internet the way he did (Obama) helped him to communicate with a much larger audience than McCain by tapping into technologies young voters use to communicate more with them.”

Vargas also stressed the importance of text messaging in the Obama campaign. He stated that there are still many people without internet and that involved and organized them.

According to Vargas it is important for politicians (both liberal and conservative) to invite people into the process. He felt more energy in the democratic presidential campaign than in the republican campaign and this was and a big reason for that was that people felt more connected.

Vargas stressed the importance of youtube and other similar resources because they are a two-way form of communication. He stated “youtube is not tv.” The public has become a lot more important and is demanding and using two way communication with politicians to get what it wants.

Also, with all the information and forms of electronic communication available, Vargas stressed that“ At the end of the day it is about you,” referring to we (the general public) need to be responsible about the information that we believe and how we use it (especially to communicate). We as the public also need to do our research before we communicate or decide to believe something.

Jose Antonio Vargas in the Washington Post...

President Barack Obama on Facebook...

Interesting Blog Article on Iowa Caucus...