The First Online President

The first African-American president of the United States intends to create the first online presidency. His staff has already started calling on citizens to send in their ideas through the internet, and therefore participate in the drawing up of new legislation. While their move to the White House is still pending, Barack and Michel yesterday visited the house they’ll call home as of January 20th.

With warm handshakes and smiles, George and Laura Bush met with the Obamas’ at the White House. The two men were seen a couple of minutes later walking towards the Oval Office, chatting, despite the new president-elect having harshly criticized the Bush administration throughout his presidential campaign. However, it wasn’t such a good day for George Bush: a new gallop poll by CNN revealed that he will be stepping down from the presidency as the least popular president ever recorded, ever since the polls started six decades ago: a mere 24% approve of his work, while a whopping 76% hold negative feelings about it. President Bush is now officially recorded in history as even more invidious than president Nixon.

In the Oval Office

While Bush and Obama were talking together in person in the Oval office (the economy being the main topic of discussion, obviously), Laura Bush gave Michel Obama a grand tour inside the immense house. The visit lasted a total of two hours, more than expected, and the Obamas left without making any comment. Nevertheless, Barack Obama’s consultants did have interesting announcements to make yesterday: they claimed that Obama will be the first president who will be in direct connection with millions of Americans. During the amazingly successful cyber-campaign, his staff was able to accumulate more than 10 million emails from citizens, with whom he intends to keep in touch. The first example was during the night of the election, when everybody received an email that wrote: “I’m headed to the Grand Park in Chicago to celebrate our victory. Barack.”

Now, Obama has a new way to interact with people through http://www. change. gov: blogs that record everyday activities and meetings of the transition teams, give information on Obama’s program, and even advertise job applications for qualified people who seek low-level government positions. ‘This is your America, this is your government’, reads the first page. ‘Send your ideas and become a part of the effort to bring about a positive change in our country’. According to an Obama representative, it was suggested that every legislative proposal is published through the website and set for public discussion for five days, prior to making its way to the Senate. Moreover, the new president intends to appoint an under-secretary relatining to matters of new technologies.

As many political observers have pointed out, Obama is bound to create a vast lobbying team that will be able to exert significant pressure on Congress members that do not support certain laws. At the same time the new president will have access to millions of voters, who he can invite to show their preference for candidates in the Senate in two years, or ask for financial contributions.