Political Observations

From early on Barack Obama and his presidential campaign have been able to  brand their campaign and their message very clearly, from the catch phrases that are repeated over and over on the campaign train, to the position speeches on specific topics, to the very identifiable “O” symbol that includes elements of the flag of the United States of America.

This domination of image and message has been accompanied by a relentless spreading thru traditional and not-so-traditional media, including television, radio, telephone in the former, and mobile texting, Internet, email, and social networks in the latter.  Spreading the message and maintaining a coherent image and message without over exposure or diversion.

Here is a list of the technology tools/resources used:

• barackobama.com , including the following subdomains:
• my.barackobama.com : for community participation
• barackobama.com/tv : for videos
• factcheck.barackobama.com : to counter-attack spin
• donate.barackobama.com : to accept donations
• Obama Mobile : text HOPE to 62262
• Social Networks:
• facebook
• myspace
• youtube
• faithbase
• eons
• blackplanet
• flickr
• glee
• digg
• miGente
• twitter
• MyBatanga
• Eventful
• AsianAve
• LinkedIn
• DNCPartyBuilder
• Obama ‘08 : application for iPhone
• After becoming President:
• whitehouse.gov
• usaservice.org
• recovery.gov

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle.

Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.

- Phillips Brooks

Wikipedia has some biographical information on Phillips Brooks.

On his weekly address on 14 February 2009, President Obama quoted President Kennedy with similar words (watch this weekly Presidential address on YouTube, quote happens at 4:00 to 4:15).  One can assume Kennedy was paraphrasing Brooks, and in turn, Obama was paraphrasing Kennedy.

An easier life would not contribute to your growth, whereas becoming stronger would.

Connections: Brooks was a priest in Massachusetts. The Kennedy family was from the Massachusetts area.  Obama sees in Kennedy a model for being President and a better American.

Also, Obama understands how people in the United States feel about the Kennedys and uses that connection (“This morning I’m reminded of words President Kennedy spoke..”) to elicit a certain kind of response.  He does not quote Brooks; that connection does not have as much value as the Kennedy one.