Fresh off of the Institutes’s conversation with Bernard L. Schwartz and planning for the next Annual Symposium on Communication and Communication Intensive Instruction, I have found myself to be highly attentive to issues of audience in communication. I am fascinated by how these issues are playing out on the political scene during Barack Obama’s transition into his role as President Elect. His audience has substantially changed from the democratic base and undecided voters to the nation. However, I keep asking the question, has his message changed?
I think back to what usually happens in elections, when soon after winning and taking on a new audience, we often see drastic shifts, not only in politicians’ messages, but also in their personalities and communication styles. It may be too soon to tell, but I am not noticing these often disheartening shifts with Obama and his underlying message surrounding his short-term and long-term visions for the country.
For those of you interested in empirically investigating this question, here are some pieces of data:
Obama’s interview with 60 minutes while on the campaign trail…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHe8N5hL0Wo[/youtube]
A piece of his post-election interview with 60 minutes…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTl6UmlaL2E[/youtube]
Also, you can take a look at the content of the postings on his Obama Blog.
Finally, consistency we can believe in.
And let’ not forget to be vigilant about the most important issues, and see if President Elect Obama changes his stand on…low riding pants as he becomes president!http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/billy_dee_williams_says_young_man_pull_up_your_pants.php