Can Facebook & Twitter Save The White House?

It’ll be interesting to see what the final outcome of Scott Brown winning the election in Massachusetts will be for Washington. I love how all of the pundits scramble to define it immediately. Yesterday, the news was all about how the “voters had spoken” and Democrats were madly adjusting to the new layout in D.C. While this special election will definitely reshape how the Democrats will do things in Washington now, the broad statement that the somehow this was a major reflection of the people struck me as funny. I mean, this was just an election from one state under special circumstances – and all of a sudden it had become a referendum on everything being done in government. I question that – but it will be interesting to see where this all goes.

It has caused people to relook at some things though, and I always think that’s a good thing. Even the interview that Obama gave to George Stephanopoulos showed more reflection and honest talk from President Obama than I’ve seen of late. The admission that what brought Scott Brown into office was similar to what brought Obama into office I found to be correct. People voted for Obama because they don’t like the way things have been going and being accomplished in Washington over the past ten years (at least). They want things to change. The backbiting, the division, the under the table deals – it wears on people. I think it’s why, although you see in the polls that a large number of people think that something needs to be changed with healthcare, they’ve grown weary of this current efforts at reform, and now think that things are on the wrong track.

The one thing that has bothered me the most so far about what Obama’s done in office is that it feels like he has failed to capitalize on the message of hope and connection that he seemed to have with the American people. More so that other recent elections, he was able to energize a portion of the public, and engage them in the political process. People liked that – and they were willing to help get the country on the right track. I was one of those people. I repeatedly received updates from the campaign, and was pulled in through their use of the internet and social media. I felt included, and it caused me to get more involved. In fact, it was one of the things talked about often regarding what Obama did to succeed in the election. But once he entered into office, the grand plans for that interaction to continue, just seemed to fade away. Yes, I still get updates – and they largely tried to convert everything over to the whitehouse.gov address – but it wasn’t the same. Somewhere along the way, the momentum got lost – and to a large degree it felt like the ball got dropped. Now I do understand that the new administration had a lot on their plate – how many times have we already heard that they’re trying to do too much (and in the same breath, you then hear people complain about something that hasn’t been done yet which is important to them – kind of ironic). But I do believe that much of this last year could have gone a lot more smoothly, if they had managed to keep the American people engaged – and continued to listen more intently to their concerns – and filled them in on the process… during the process. People lead busy lives – they lose interest – and all of the haggling in Washington can wear out in the most hearty of politicos.

So where am I going with all of this… well, there may be a ray of hope coming around the bend. Just maybe, as they head into year two, the administration is starting to awake to this issue. Just the other day, Mr. Obama himself admitted that they had failed to take the American public through much of this past year – that there was so much to do, that it got dropped somewhere along the way (I’m paraphrasing here). And it looks like their taking some steps towards trying to integrate social media and technology into this part of the process. The White House held a meeting with some very big internet players the other day to figure out how to best use technology to bring the message to the people. The White House even launched an iPhone app.

Now, I’m not a huge social media fan – I use it, but it also drives me nuts at times. But what I like about all of these new plans, is that it’s exactly what they did during the election to engage the public and make them part of the process. And it’s about more than just keeping people informed – it’s about including them in a way that they feel they can do something about it… that they’re not just a lost cog in the giant wheel of the current state of our government. Mr. Obama went into his presidency with a lot of support and a lot of people willing to help him do what he needed to get done. And I sincerely hope that he’s realizing that he needs the American people to help him now – and he starts re-engaging all of us to do our part. We need that sense of hope that he talked about (maybe now more than ever) – and we need to feel that it wasn’t just about an election, but that it is truly about putting the country back together. So please Mr. Obama – include us – include all of us no matter what our political affiliation is – because that change you talked so much about will only really happen if you reconnect with the very people you’re trying to help.

Read more about the White House technology forum.

Read more about the White House iPhone app.