John Hawkins [1] deals with a reader’s question about why the ‘sphere hasn’t been more effective in this campaign:
First of all, it is correct to say that the blogosphere’s two favorite candidates have been Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson, both of whom, obviously, are out of the race. Also, it’s worth noting that on the left side of the blogosphere, they backed John Edwards and only started gravitating towards Barack Obama when it became obvious that Edwards wasn’t going anywhere.
So, that begs the question: why wasn’t the blogosphere able to provide more help to its favorite sons? Well, to be blunt: we’re just not big enough.
Getting into more detail, as I’ve said before, when it comes to the blogosphere, “it’s the who, not the how many.” Bloggers generally make a difference by finding stories that have been missed, angles that haven’t been worked, or by breaking stories and getting bigger outlets to pay attention to them.
However, in a presidential race, the bigger outlets are already paying attention and trying to come up with new angles. Moreover, if there is a story broken, it’ll probably be because an opposition researcher with one of the campaigns finds something on an opponent and forwards it to a MSM outlet. In other words, in a presidential race, there are too many other large forces at play for bloggers to have a big impact.
There certainly is that. But remember what I said to Rick Moran some months ago: Blogs are in the strictest of senses, REACTIVE. We are at our best in reacting to what’s already out there, particularly in terms of what is and is not news, or what is or is not a movement. Promoting one candidate over the other is perhaps not our forte’, yet.
Of course, it’s kinda like the concept of original sin…the candidate in question has to WANT it. By way of Henke, I’m reminded of a passage from the hand of Eric Scheie at Classical Values, [2] It’s one I thought at the time made the strongest case possible for Fred Thompson:
Those who most want to be president are those who least deserve to be elected. The best presidents are those who are forced or persuaded by others into accepting the job.
All the more reason he would have been a great president.
Just so. Such a reluctance strikes me as foundational, because I want someone in the office who doesn’t think government the end all and be all to every one of man’s problems, both individually and as a group.
I wondered at the time about a comparison between this, and what I will call the Prometheus [3] Syndrome, whereas anyone who brings a little fire to the process, and is guilty of original sin; IE Wanting the post, is proverbially chained to rocks and fed to vultures, particularly if they obtain it. The problem of course is that there has to be a perception of ‘wanting it’ long in advance of the primary season for a candidate to catch on…. and usually, by the time the general election rolls around, the reason they were running in the first place, has gotten lost.
Now, with those roles thus defined, I’ll point out that we in blogdom, like the mainstream media, react best to what’s already on the table, what’s already established. The perception of desire simply wasn’t there, guys, sorry to say. THere were a lot of good reasons for wanting Thompson in there, but Thompson apparently didn’t want it. Note the use of the word apparently, which I add since the desire may actually have been there. So two things, really need to happen, the fire needs be there, and the voters need to see it. (Now, of course once they get into office, perception becomes a different matter, particularly in terms of how various media are able to describe and alter perception.
On those occasions where Blogdom has been on the leading edge, seemingly, of a movement, it became a movement because of people reacting to the call. Occasionally, gang, there’s going to be a media push, where we manage to get an issue to the front burner. We can certainly amplify what noise already exists and we can certainly fan the flames… but we lack the ability to make the spark. That being a flaw, or a design feature is arguable.
Bottom line: we bloggers are more likely to make a difference in changing public perceptions where there’s a little heat.