Who’s Right About The New Media Right?–UPDATE

Aaron Marks, who I did not have the opportunity to meet at the RightOnline deal this weekend talks about Michelle Malkin’s speech and gets to the heart of two questions:

1. The Right isn’t reaching the next generation of voters because the Right is clueless about the next generation’s interaction with information, media and technology.

2. The Right needs to be more like the Left online to succeed.

Marks says this about Michelle Malkin’s speech:

I didn’t write down the exact words that she said, but this is more or less her statement:

“Conservatives aren’t actually behind technologically, we’re just doing it differently.”

Again, this isn’t her quote word for word, but its close enough that you get the gist of what she said. And you know what, she’s right – at least in one aspect. Our side is doing our own thing. Just look at barackobama.com vs. johnmccain.com and you’ll see it. Obama’s site actually engages its users: at their core, every link, every page, every single item is not about Barack Obama. It’s crowd-powered – it is about what you, the average American, can do. It is well-designed, well-organized, and well-branded.

And McCain’s site? By modern design standards, it is mediocre at best. More importantly, it’s not about getting involved, and it fails at engaging visitors; virtually the entire thing is about John McCain. And the best part is that this isn’t John McCain 1.0. This is John McCain’s second website of the cycle. So yes, they’re certainly doing their own thing, but that’s exactly it – they are way behind the curve.

There is no question, to me, that the Old Republican Guard just hasn’t caught up to how important, influential and vital the online community is these days. It is only virtual in that people are not face to face, in person. But that is entirely missing new media’s and the online world in general, purpose: to connect people with people and people with information. That’s it. And what do politicians want to do? They want to connect with people and get their ideas (information) shared. So they should love the internet and on the Left, they seem to get it. And that was helped by Howard Dean. He got the power, harnessed it and the momentum of the grassroots (”nutroots”) people continues to be the fuel of the Democratic party.

The political analysts and politicians on the Right interact with the blogworld and technology in general like the athletic guy choosing teams in gym class: bloggers are the smelly, nerdy kid who gets picked last. And the Republicans do this to their own demise. It is short-sighted. For one, young people spend so much time doing social networking, gaming, and other entertaining things online that they find the interaction online to be as natural as these old guys found the cruising the local soda fountain–yes, the influencers on the Right are that old. Nothing personal here, but when the rousing speakers at a conservative blog conference are Bob Novak and Barry Goldwater, Jr., it tells you something. (Of course the Nutroots had Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi–and just because her plastic surgery is trying to make her look 20, doesn’t mean she is 20.) My point is this: these old guys view the new technology with suspicion and it shows. That has to change. These guys need to get hip to the new media. Repeat after me, “New Media is my friend.”

Now, to Michelle’s point about us not being behind but just doing it differently. Well, I videotaped her speech and will have to go back and look it over. In fact, while I’m doing this I’ll upload her stuff. My sense from her speech was that she was trying to encourage the bloggers to keep on keeping on and that we don’t have to be mean and dull-witted and Machiavellian and lying neanderthals in order for us to get our message out effectively. And to that point, I agree with her. The minute the Right descends into cruel rants against Ted Kennedy like the rants pointed at Tony Snow, is the minute the Right no longer needs to exist. It will be all over. The Left has no moral center so they are free to use any means to achieve their end. The Right does have a moral center and so is constrained. Still, that is not an excuse. The Right must do better.

To McCain’s website: The first impression is Give Me Money. The second impression is Have You Given Me Money Yet? Barack Obama’s site has all the chummy, soft focus family feel that one associates with American greatness. And Marks has a point: The Republicans and conservative are NOT doing good enough technically and by extension, relationally with their voters.

Technology is not the end. It is a means to the end. It is not the end-all, be-all. Unlike others, I believe that the Old Media isn’t going anywhere either, New Media won’t be the savior of the Republican party and Conservative movement. What will save the movement will be relationships, just like it always has and always will. And here’s where the old folks at the top of the conservative power structure need to wake the hell up. The internet is only about sharing. It’s essence is being a part of a greater community. It’s existence is to share information–personally, politically, scientifically, you name it. The internet shares it.

A politician wants to share a message. That is his job. The internet shares. And no, the Right does not understand this and that’s why we’re behind. We have lots of work to do.

UPDATE: Newsflash, old people running the party: Old people are on the internet. My 91 year old Grandma plays Wii at her senior center. So it’s not just the young people who see the power of the internet.

Posted in Nerd Stuff • Political Animals
Tags: Blogging • Conservatives • Internet • Republicans