The Reality of Politics

I read Arianna Huffington's article entitled "Obama One Year Later: The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing" and I found this to be a very timely and fascinating piece. I found the article interesting because it contained elements of several different types of typical articles; it was part political commentary, part book review and part opinion piece.

It begins with an usual introduction, which really grabbed my attention. It was almost like a paragraph out of a thriller novel, the way it set up the meeting in the morning and described how she couldn't put the book down, reading on into the night. The next thing that caught my attention was the spelling error in the second paragraph. It reminded me that even though bloggers can put out good stories, it's still an amateur game and should serve to remind everyone why true professional journalists are still worth keeping around.

Huffington does a very good job of tying the two concepts together of the book itself and its content, which focuses on the 'outsider' mentality of the Obama campaign while comparing it to the first year or President Obama's administration and how those far-reaching ideals and "Washington outsider" tactics have seemingly fallen to the wayside against the harsh realities of Washington politics. I found this reflection particularly interesting because I had often wondered to myself how well Obama the president could remain true to his cause that he preached as Obama the candidate. Last spring I took perhaps the most interesting and compelling class I've ever taken in my life. It was called Congressional Legislative Policies and one of the topics it dealt a great deal with was Congressional (and to a much lesser extent) Presidential election campaigns. One thing they each had in common was a propensity to run on a platform of being a "Washington outsider" who wasn't tainted by the dirty practices that plague our capitol. However, as soon as they get into office, time and time again the candidates that had played up their hatred of Washington politics were soon faced with the reality that you either play the game by the rules or you're out. I think that this was a reality that any astute observer of politics saw coming with the Obama campaign once they won the election and writing an article centering on just that theme on the one year anniversary of his election seemed like a very good time to take a step back and look at the differences.

This reflection, coupled with the interspersed anecdotes about the book, serve as a powerful message to the Obama Administration. One of my favorite quotes from the article is short, and to the point. Huffington writes, "The book is a powerful reminder of what the country voted for last year -- and could serve as the trigger for Obama and his team to refocus and remember why the election mattered so much." In my view, this is a subtle yet very effective way to slip in her opinion into the article. In the same sentence, she is both calling on the Obama Adminisration (and the people who voted for him) to return to their campaign promises as well as plugging the book as an excellent read with an important message.

The one thing I would have liked to see more from in this article is a delivery on the promise of the interview with Plouffe in the intro. We do get some of it, but it's clearly not the main focus of the story, and I also would have liked to hear much more about what Plouffe thinks of the current administration, rather than just rewording what he talked about in the book. Perhaps Huffington was a little starry-eyed after staying up all night reading this book she liked so much, but if her article was intended to be a comparison between "then and now," why not ask Plouffe himself what he thinks of the "now?" rather than focusing entirely on the "then." I mean, isn't that what the book is for? If you just want to know what Plouffe thought about the campaign, read his book and ask him a couple of questions at a book signing. The interview would have served the story (and the readers) much better if it focused on his perception of the administration's first year in office as compared to the campaign promises and messages he worked so hard to help shape.

Another interesting feature I found about this article was not only the message board attached to the article (which has become commonplace on nearly every website now) but also the Twitter feature that invited readers to Tweet their thoughts and feelings about the article. Personally, I feel a message board is more practical and useful for discussing an article, but at least having the option there opens up possibilities to new uses for Twitter, internet blogs and a host of other media.

All in all, I was impressed with Huffington's ability as a journalist and blogger. I had never heard of the Huffington Post until about a year ago and had never actually looked into it until I read this article. While one good article does not a blogging site verify, it did make me appreciate more unorthodox methods of journalism. While I still value traditional sources of news like CNN or the New York Times, I can definitely find value in alternative sources of news such as the Huffington Post. I think that the more people choose to practice responsible and creative journalism and the more the right to freedom of the press is practiced by anyone who feels that call, the better off our society will be.

why not ask

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-one-year-later-the_b_343209.html