Friday, July 27, 2007

Republican Candidates To Duck the YouTube Debates

It looks like the frontrunners on the Repub side are going to try to dodge the YouTube debates scheduled for Sept. 17:
A story in the Washington Post this morning suggested that “sources familiar” with the Giuliani campaign said that the GOP frontrunner was considering bypassing the debate. A spokesman for Governor Mitt Romney said that the campaign had received 7 debate invitations over an 11 day period in September and had not committed to any of them. Romney himself expressed some good natured skepticism with the YouTube format saying “I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman,” referring to a questioner at the Democratic debates on Monday night who dressed as a snowman to ask about global warming.
That was a snowman made by an American citizen that is asking a question of a person that wants to lead his country. Romneys scoffing opinion of an American that did something creative to get his voice heard is indicative of why Romney will lose this thing strait up if he manages to win the Republican nod.

The Rebulicans are show time and time again that they are simply unwilling to embrace technology and try to use it to its fullest. The Dems know that this "intraweb thing" is very powerful and is a game changer when it comes to trying to become President for here on in. These YouTube debates allow actual Americans to ask questions of their potential leaders in their own voice. They get to do so on a national stage without being put on the spot with all eyes on them like at a Town Hall meeting.

These aren't questions posed by elites, journalists, or big media types. Instead they are written by any regular American that owns a webcam. The only bad part is that the YouTube questioners don't get a followup so they can cut through the political BS that is usually shoveled out by candidates.

If the Republican frontrunners dodge this thing then they are thumbing their nose at Web 2.0. How will this person handle all of the technological change that will occur during the next 4-8 years in office? Will Romney be the next Republican Luddite to stand in the way of Stem Cells, Alternative Energy, or any other type of technological change coming down the pike?

In any case I can't trust a guy like Romney when he is unwilling to listen to an American because he feels that he is "higher level" then that American. Romney should remember that he is at a job interview and the American people are his potential employer. And he better give our snowmen some respect.

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