Traditional news media follow the US President’s every waking movement. In February he and his wife returned to Chicago for Valentine’s Day. The convoy of photographers and journalists were separated for 45 minutes. That was the largest gap in media coverage since the early days of the campaign. So it’s unlikely we’ll miss much action.
But social media now allows us to get beyond the external action and enter the mind of the president. No - this is not an Oliver Stone film or a pop-shrink’s television analysis. The social media phenomenon Twitter allows you to tag and follow the regular updates of people large and small. Each entry cannot exceed 140 characters - that’s roughly two sentences. But sequential updates allow you to track a person’s day - and their thoughts.
Today I started following the Tweets (Twitter postings) of Barack Obama. I am fairly certain he’s not the one typing away (otherwise we’d read “Hillary’s back. Called Putin and suggested a crisis so we can get her out of DC again”). But it is another example of social media changing politics. Would future presidents be able to shut down the information flow?
Precedent says the inside of the White House - and inside the president’s mind - suddenly got a whole lot more accessible.
Michelle said she cooked tonight but why do I think she had help?
