barack

Would an Obama government be a Googleocracy?

There they were, two up and coming Senior Vice-Presidents discussing how they would change things if they got the top job.

The top job they were talking about was National CEO.

Barack Obama and the leader of the traditionally snooty, but now trying desperately to be hippish, UK Conservative Party, David Cameron, strolled through the British Parliament last week and didn't mention V for Vendetta once.

Instead, Mr. Cameron told Mr. Obama he should go to the beach. Really.

And Mr. Obama recounted how someone who has already gone through the White House experience told him "the most … Read more

Obama on video: a new way for new media

In a very special design mind event at NYU last week, we featured Arun Chaudhary, who is traveling with the Obama campaign as director of video field production. The conversation between him and Fast Company senior writer Ellen McGirt brought forth some surprising insights into the emergence of online video (and new media in general) as a crucial component of political campaigning.

Although Chaudhary is a NYU film school graduate, the venue didn't provide a home court advantage. The audience -- a cross-section of New York's media community -- was attentive but critical. As became clear in the … Read more

Five ways John McCain can become the Wizard of the Web

My heart, or at least some recondite part of me, went out to John McCain this weekend when I read his plaintive words: "I'm an illiterate who has to rely on his wife for any assistance he can get."

He was, I understand, referring to websurfing rather autocue-reading.

And I can honestly say that I feel his pain.

Thankfully, he is, on this page, in the hands of the experienced.

In the early part of this century, I was asked to help a company called Senior Surfers. Senior Surfers' goal was to find easy ways to take … Read more

Thousands of liberal bloggers meeting face-to-face

Between 2,000 and 3,000 liberal-leaning bloggers are getting some face time this week, in hopes of gathering strength before the fall election.

The four-day Netroots Nation 2008 conference, which started Thursday in Austin, Texas, will feature more than 150 speakers and 125 panel discussions and events.

With the presidential election less than four months away, the conference is attracting the attention of a number of Democratic heavyweights--with the major exception of presidential candidate Barack Obama himself. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Obama apparently bowed out due to a planned trip to Europe and the Middle East.

Keynote speakers … Read more

Obama's Web-video strategy revealed

There's an interesting blog at Silicon Alley Insider about how Barack Obama's team has exploited Web video better than Hillary Clinton's.

Obama's go-to guy for online is Arun Chaudhary, who spoke at an event at New York University. He says the senator devoted way more resources to video than Clinton.

At campaign stops, the Clintonites would send one person to tape her. Obama's side often would train five cameras on him at events.

"They posted new video constantly, and quickly--19 minutes from shoot to post, in one case," wrote Alley Insider's Michael … Read more

Design mind event with Barack Obama's director of video field production

In a recent blog post on the upcoming Fortune Tech summit, Fortune's senior editor David Kirckpatrick hinted at the possibility of having "a super-amazing special guest from outside the industry who we aren't yet able to announce. (Joining us at the original Brainstorms were Bill Clinton, Shimon Peres, Jordan's King Abdullah, and John McCain.) This visitor could make things really rock."

Hmm...who might that be? The magazine, in its current print issue, just examined both candidates' economic policies in a 1-to-1 comparison, and, in a not so subtle endorsement, chose to display Obama on … Read more

Obama flip-flops on telecom immunity

Sen. Barack Obama is taking heat from liberal supporters for changing his position on granting phone companies involved in President Bush's domestic spying program retroactive immunity for breaking federal laws.

According to a New York Times article published Wednesday, more than 7,000 Obama supporters have organized on Obama's own campaign Web site to protest his recent move to support legislation that will grant legal immunity to phone companies involved in the National Security Agency's domestic wiretapping program after the September 11 attacks.

Previously, Obama opposed any immunity for the telecom companies. In February, Obama voted on a Senate bill against retroactive immunity. … Read more

Kevin Rose. The man who holds the balance of power between McCain and Obama

How many of us are really comfortable crossing over to the other side?

You know, those people who do and believe things that you really don't like.

For some, that might be David Duke. For others, Doris Duke. And, for me, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Nowhere is this reluctance greater than in politics.

The media, each as objective as a Vegas casino owner, have abdicated their objectivity throne and decided to cater to their own skewed crowd.

Those barely left of center wander off to the New York Times, the Huffington Post and the Bill Maher Bible Study Group. … Read more

The 404 112: Where all we are is dust in the wind, dude

CNET producer and SF transplant Cheryl Holloway steps into the studio today to lament over crappy New York burritos and discuss the "dangers" of marijuana smoke, awful movie sequels, Hilary's announcement, and the upcoming movie from faux-news group The Onion. EPISODE 112 Download today's podcast