The 2008 Presidential Election

A large part of Senator Barrack Obama's victory has to with technology and the youth vote. Becuase of social networking and many other forms of technology, Obama was able to reach out to voters in a way that has never been done before. Being able to friend Senator Obama on facebook, or recieve mulitple emails from his campaign, voters made a connection with the candidate that was very new and exciting. This was particularly appealing to the youth of the nation because for most it is very difficult to sit in front of the tv and watch the presidential debates, but through youtube, text messages, email, etc. it is extremely easy to stay on track with what is going on in the election. Also becuase of technology, youtube in particular, such things as skits on SNL had millions more viewers than those that actually watched the program. SNL, as most of us know, was very obvious with thier opinion of who should be the next president, and because of technology, it had even more of an impact. I think Barrack Obama's large use of technology was key in gaining the majority of youth votes, because our generation is know for being generally very technology savy.

Another issue that I found very interesting surrounding the 2008 Election was the impact of global perception. This website gives explanations about what many nations around the world think of the president elect Barrack Obama. It is across the board very optimistic and happy about who is next in line to run the United States. I think this is a very good start to the changes that need to occur for our nation, and with the wide support from around the world, that will be much easier to accomplish. Ther is also this video which talks about how anti-americanism needs to decrease and how the new president will change what happens in Pakistan.

I also found an article that discusses how technology is going to reach out to try and involve the rest of the world with many issues, specifically through facebook. I think it's pretty neat that this one event, being the 2008 election, has brought so many issues together and made so many people around the world aware.