September 04, 2002
From the desk of Jane Galt:So Dave Winer thinks that
So Dave Winer thinks that in five years every member of congress will have a weblog. Oh, I don't think so. In fact, I think that any member who seriously tries to start a weblog will blow up, and quick.
The point of weblogs is their off-the-cuff nature, their unscripted, up-to-the-minute commentary. Politicians do not do unscripted, up to the minute commentary, and with good reason. I do not have several thousand motivated readers seeking out-of-context quotes or unfortunate phrasings with which to get me fired come next November's electoral performance review. And if I take a position which subsequently turns out to be wrong, I just say "oops, called that one badly" and move on. Politicians can't do that. Any position they take attracts the attention of highly motivated interest groups, and if they renege on that position, however mildly, those interest groups become highly motivated to get them unelected.
Any politician's blog would have to be vetted by the Committee For Making Sure the Congressman Doesn't Say Anything He'll Regret. By the time a post actually gets through this process, it will either be utterly banal ("The Taliban is killing puppies for illustrative purposes. Let me go firmly on the record as against the killing of puppies. If re-elected, I promise to do something about the deaths of cute little fuzzy puppies everywhere.") or hopelessly out of date. Congress might develop this sort of weblog. But then it wouldn't be a real weblog. It would be an extension of the congressman's website.
There are exceptions. Jim Traficant would make an interesting blogger, since clearly he doesn't care what the hell comes out of his mouth, and neither do his constituents. I can imagine Barney Frank with a blog; the Democrats will keep on nominating him, and it's not like his constituents are going to vote for a (eew!) Republican. But mostly, they'll avoid any sort of lively, timely commentary like the plague. And really, that's probably a blessing.
Posted by Jane Galt at September 4, 2002 08:31 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links