Matt Bai deigns to explain the truth about politics to naive bloggers: "[B]loggers...imagine that cyberpolitics is no less than a reinvention of the public square, the harbinger of a radically different era in which politicians will connect to their constituents electronically and voters will organize in virtual communities. Politicians know that politics is, by its nature, a tactile business. New technology may change the way partisans organize and debate, and it may even spawn an entirely new political culture. But at the end of the day, partisans will inevitably be drawn to sit across the table from the candidates they support or oppose, just as votes will still be won and lost in banquet halls and airport hangars and all the other seedy, sweaty stalls of the political marketplace. Online politics can't flourish in the virtual realm alone, any more than an online romance can be consummated through instant messaging."

Thanks, Matt. Nobody who writes or thinks about online political activism had figured that out before.

Oh, wait, here's the lede of one widely-read article on the Dean campaign from late 2003: "Zephyr Teachout sits at her computer in a dimly lit nook of the Dean for America headquarters in South Burlington, VT, and dreams of the real world. 'I'm obsessed with offline,' says the director of Internet organizing for the Howard Dean presidential campaign...for Teachout, a 31-year-old lawyer in black high-top sneakers, the campaign is not about the Internet. Online tools are a way to get people to act -- to meet in the physical world, to put up flyers and posters, write letters and checks, speak to other people face to face. And ultimately, to get out and vote."

Comments

[Katherine Hunter]

well those on-line tools worked for me / i even gave a Bake Back the White House sale when MoveOn initiated the idea a few years ago / it was fun to have tourists (i live in a recreation destination) drive up to the sale having found out on the internet / Matt sounds a little behind the times