TechPresident points to a nice blog post by Nancy Scola about Obama’s use of video. Nancy liveblogs an event with Obama’s director of video field production, Arun Chaudhary. It is a fascinating romp through some classic Obama video.
Arun says the new media team spends a fair amount of money, but they’re buying fishing poles rather than fish; the broadcast quality footage they capture, for example, can be used for advertising in addition to online video. Asked about past campaigns he tried working with, Arun says they saw media as “too precious” to take creative risks with.
I am especially impressed with a note at the end of the event. Here Arun speculates on the role of video in an Obama administration.
Asked by Emily about what an Obama administration might bring, Arun says that the role of video in an administration would be even more powerful than in a campaign. He mentions the broadcasting of health care meetings — creating a broader base of people who are able to keep an eye on the proceedings. The idea, Arun says, is not ‘telling people who tell people to tell people,’ but to use video to tell people directly. The role of video in governing, he says, is to achieve the goal of “cutting out the middleman.”
I am a strong Obama supporter not because I have confidence in his positions and policies, in fact, I see those as shifting and a bit immature. No, I support Obama because of the change he will bring to the makeup and face of government. This is a potentially deep and transformative approach to opening government to new voices. That excites me!