Politics, In A Roundabout Way

Tonight, I was discussing Phoenix Comic Con with some friends online.  Wil Wheaton is going to be there, you know.  He's doing a panel with Brent Spiner.  Apparently, Brent has been giving Wil some serious junk on Twitter about this panel.  A friend sent me to Brent's account so I could see for myself what fun the shenanigans were.  (A lot, for the record.)  But the joy doesn't end there.  See, both Wil and Brent follow one Levar Burton on Twitter.  And Levar follows some random account called The White House.

In case you missed it, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States today.

I watched part of Obama's inauguration at work, but despite his lovely words and the historic significance of this day, I felt nearly as disconnected with Barack as I have with every other President of this country.  Sure, I have high hopes, but my cynical side says that things won't change much; that Barack is so far above me that there's no way I can relate to him, or him to me.  But I think my cynical side just might be wrong.

And this is why:
http://twitter.com/TheWhiteHouse

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/

Yes, geeks of all ages and creeds.  We have a White House twitter account.  We have a White House blog.  We can sign up for White House e-mail newsletters.  I know that some of this is not new, but the profound internet presence of this presidency feels so real that it's overwhelming.  There's someone in the White House who understands that many of us do not turn to the printed page or even a television for our news.  (I watched the inauguration on cnn.com, thank you.)  We do not buy magazines or subscribe the The Times.  Instead, we e-mail, blog, hyperlink, and tweet.  Rightly or wrongly, it is what it is.  And finally, we are not alone.

All I can say is: Thank the Maker.



NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.