The near ubiquitous presence of the Internet has spurred dozens of changes in the everyday lives of Americans. Celebrities have been born overnight, business operations have been revolutionized and with Monday’s CNN-YouTube Democratic presidential candidate debate, the Internet has been reaffirmed as a viable tool for the political arena. The political playing ground is not what it used to be.
The Internet does not forget, and it has proven to be a harsh mistress to many politicians. Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens’ explanation of the Web as a "series of tubes" made him the laughing stock of online communities everywhere, and the lightning-quick speed at which Howard Dean’s now infamous scream proliferated only accelerated his presidential plummet.
To stymie such public relations fiascos and compete advantageously in an ever-shifting political climate, politicians will have to actively incorporate the Internet into their activities and campaigns on a much broader basis.
On Monday evening Democratic nomination hopefuls were thrown a number of curveball questions, illustrating that the technologically savvy crowd is packing some serious political skepticism, with a dash of ribaldry.
And although those in the younger demographic don’t vote in numbers large enough to make politicians fear any major upsets, the expansion of politics onto the Internet means that mistakes are irreversible as never before, and that every citizen truly has equal access to information.
