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oBaMa girl and tHe oBaMa eleCtion CoVerage In the 1990s there were some who argued that the World Wide Web promised a new age of democracy or at least individual participation in the making of media. (See, for example, Holmes 50–54.) According to these authors, the era of television , film, and print publication was characterized by a fundamental inequality between producers and consumers. A relatively small group of writers, directors, and actors created the content that was broadcast to millions of viewers or readers , who could only respond to what was provided. The Web could be different, because a small organization or even an individual could create a website, which in theory if not practice was as accessible as the CNN or New York Times site. The Web promised a new era of creativity and social and political action, in which the people could talk back to those in positions of cultural authority and economic power. They could create their own publications on the Internet and offer direct alternatives to the mainstream. The Web in the 1990s provided this capacity, and thousands, perhaps millions, took up the challenge and built their own pages, some even delivering their own video or other content. Nevertheless, the skill required to build a good website prevented many from participating, and participation could never be casual or immediate: it required planning, design, social media and the future of political narrative J ay dav i d Bo lter 249 s oc i al m e dia and t He F u t u r e o F P o l it ic a l n a r r at iv e and content production. As it developed in the later 1990s and in the 2000s, Web 2.0 made a much better case for the widespread participation and spontaneous creativity (if not democracy) than the original Web. Web 2.0 comprises social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, in which hundreds of millions of participants do contribute, often on a daily or hourly basis. It comprises YouTube, where a surprising number (millions) of visitors add their own videos and even more comment on videos produced by others. “I Got a Crush . . . on Obama” was such a post on YouTube in June of 2007, a music video in which a young woman sings of her love for Obama, who was at that time still a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. The video went viral and has been viewed over 23 million times, according to the YouTube site. The creators of this music video capitalized on this success to create a website (barelypolitical.com) and went on to make a series of videos that they characterize as political satire. But traditional satire has a clear object, and it is not at all clear where the political commitments of “I Got a Crush . . .” lie. The woman sings of her love in various scenes, some of which appear natural and contain other people, some of which take place on a stage. She seems earnest as her lyrics mix praise of Obama’s sensuality with predictions that he will be a great president. But how is this to be read? As a piece of political propaganda meant to raise interest in the candidate among those young women (and perhaps their boyfriends) who watch music videos regularly? Is it instead a satire of Obama himself, as a shallow candidate whose appeal lies in his youth and attractiveness? Or is the satire aimed at the news media, which did treat Obama the candidate simultaneously as a rock star and a serious politician? There seems to be no good way to decide based purely on viewing the video; its narrative is fundamentally and happily ambiguous. The video does not give the impression that it is trying to achieve biting satire but failing; instead, it seems to be piecing together political and social elements into an entertaining whole. It is easy to imagine Obama supporters and detractors both enjoying this video, by reading a coherent ideology into it. It seems likely, however, that most of the millions of viewers came away with no political message, nor did they regret the absence of a message. We can contrast this viral video with the network news coverage of Obama on election night. The networks have always understood their task as “telling the story” of the election, and as soon as Obama’s victory was guaranteed, they chose the spontaneous celebration in Grant Park in Chicago...

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