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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Obama and the Internet

Isaac posted to some of the common "issues" that are coming up for Barak Obama lately. The biggest one (hilariously in my book) is some drama with his Myspace Page.

There's more about this at the Daily Kos.

My take...this is utterly absurd.

Now, I am not about to say I'm completely sold on Obama of late. I think he's a pretty brilliant person, and is a fantastic speaker. I also think that in the recent debate, he came off as overly cautious. Of course, as one of the frontrunners, it would absolutely idiotic of him to make statements that could be easily attacked, especially a year away from the actual election. But John Edwards certainly comes off as more passionate and plugged into the Healthcare issue, and Hillary Clinton comes off as far more versed in actual Policy with a capital "P." Like it or not, the next President will be inherenting a disasterous war, and so her command of the issues (whether you like the way she's voted) means that Obama will have to show more than an inspiring message and the desire to build bridges.

That being said: He has substance and there's tons of evidence of it. He just needs to step up to the plate, which I'm confident he will do.

Whether or not the Campaign mishandled a fan of Obama's who had an unofficial Myspace page has, well, no weight. It's just self-conscious silliness on the part of the internet community for anyone to care, beyond sympathy for the guy who got caught up in serious politics and feels screwed.

The country is in the midst of a moral crisis. Healthcare, Immigration, Terrorism, Social Security, Violence, Education, Gun Laws, Abortion Right, Minority Rights, Gay Rights: these are the things on which any discussion of a candidate's ability should be hung upon.

Barak Obama is an actual candidate to be on of the most powerful human being on Earth.

It's the height of sophomoric silliness to propogate any "scandal" about myspace as an issue worthy of discussion under those circumstances.

3 comments:

parabasis said...

Matt,

WHile I agree that this is the sort of thing that bloggers tend to blow out of proportion, which is why I called it "minor"... how a candidate treats their staff and volunteers is an important issue, which is why I called it "worrisome", because it reflects how they might approach various issues, and a great amount of the president's job is interpersonal relating. Bush's many many many failures are a perfect example of this.

so yeah, I don't think it should be more than like a two-line story, and it's not a huge deal. But it's stillw orth noting a bit. (as opposed to olike John Edwards hair, which is totally ridiculous)

Mark said...

I actually think this is pretty important. I donate money to and volunteer for political campaigns, so how a campaign treats their supporters is important to me. And if a campaign used someone's efforts (to, in this case, create a lot of favorable media about how popular Obama is on myspace) and then treated them badly, that's of interest to me.

Of course, I'm not an Obama guy anyway, so maybe I'm just piling on.

Freeman said...

Isaac:

Just to make it clear: Not directing what I said at your mention of it. It is out there, and you're noting it. No problem. I felt this way moreso when I saw it on Daily Kos.

As for how the Obama campaigns treats its supporter/volunteers... I'd love a little more evidence this is a systemic issue before I'd cry foul.