Inside View from Ireland: Time for Healing

I SERVED IN WASHINGTON, the capital of the United States, at a time for healing. A decade before, lies and corruption nearly wrecked the institution of the Presidency. And when I rode in aboard my aluminum overcast (the now retired Lockheed C-141), the mood in the States was more upbeat. From what I hear through early Christmas greetings of retired Pentagon staffers, change will affect the American military establishment in ways far more incisive than anyone expected during the long-fought Presidential campaign. That change will be good because it will come from the top, articulated in doctrinal frameworks that will commit the United States to a much minor role as a world policeman. Those who study the way policy is formulated will have to wait another five decades to see the tissue-paper co-ordination copies from President Obama--the ones bearing his distinct "BO" initials, before any historian can say who directed the shift in direction of American foreign policy. Few will question the role of the President in the way the American military will project itself. But it will take the work of archivists, long after I've been buried from the internet, to clearly link "change" to the President himself. One thing for certain--change is coming and you don't need to see who signed off on it to know it's going to happen.

The Obama campaign made the most of a range of social networking technologies and a three years from now, when an Irish general election campaign is ramping up, some of these ideas might be woven into the process of electing another government.

Obama Website. Facebook co-fonder Chrish Hughes played a key role in designing the Obama website. It was friendly for mobile users.

Facebook. Barack Obama has 2.43m fans while John McCain has 620,000 fans.

MySpace. Obama had 665,000 more friends than McCain.

YouTube. Obama posted 1800 videos since November 20006 and has notched up 114,000 subscribers to his uploads. His videos have been viewed more than 18 times. McCain posted 329 videos for 28,000 subscriers with 2m views.

Twitter. Obama amassed more than 112,000 followers on Twitter before the election.

Thoughts while reading The Library of the Presidents from the Easton Press and watching Jyri send election updates from the Finns for Obama HQ.