President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was known for his fireside chats, a series of radio broadcasts he gave to inform the American public of his policies.
During his rise to the presidency, John F. Kennedy took advantage of the then newly developed technology of television to broadcast his image and his politics.
A cool, collected and suave Kennedy outmatched a stumbling and sweating Richard Nixon during a critical televised debate in 1960.
Fast forward into the 21st century and the platform politicians use to communicate is completely different.
“Politicians who have mastered the patois of new platforms have consistently held an advantage over opponents who failed to appreciate the power of those technologies,” Derek Thompson wrote recently for The Atlantic.
That “patois of new platforms” is social media, particularly the live-streaming and story features on Instagram. One attraction of Instagram is that material posted there is not permanent, being deleted after 24 hours.
The past few weeks have been notable for politicians’ use of the feature.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who is now running for president, told her followers, “I’m gonna get me a beer,” during a live-stream. Speaking in a colloquial manner, Warren hoped to appear authentic. Instead, she was mocked for being inauthentic and too contrived.
Former Texas Rep. Francis “Beto” O’Rourke is known for his live-streams, both on the political and personal end. He may have gone a bit too far, though, when he live-streamed during a dentist appointment.
Mouth agape, with dentistry stools stuck in, people saw a side of O’Rourke many would rather not see. He did touch on an important issue, allowing his dentist to speak about her life growing up along the U.S.-Mexico border, but the manner in which he began was confusing.
You can’t fault Warren and O’Rourke for trying to keep up with the latest technology and their younger colleagues, who are naturally more comfortable with social media.
Of all the young politicians elected in the midterms, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, is the youngest, having been sworn in at 29 earlier this month. Like a stereotypical millennial, Ocasio-Cortez is a master of Instagram, effectively sharing her political and personal life.
Perhaps the reason Ocasio-Cortez clicks so well is that she’s just like her followers. She’s young and knows the meaning of hard work. (She used to work at a bar.)
In short, she is authentic and relatable, or at least appears more authentic and relatable than others.
Her social media presence is inviting, as if she’s lending an open hand to her followers to experience life on the inside of the political ruling class in Washington.
“She embodies this surrealist thing of, like, ‘WHAT IF … you were elected to Congress? What would happen next? What would you do?’” wrote Katherine Miller for BuzzFeed News.
As 2020 moves closer, expect to see more politicians live-stream themselves, mingling their political and personal lives to appear less elitist. They may still use tried-and-true platforms of communication, but social media will be added to broaden their reach.
We may see them live-stream from their garden, from their children’s sporting events and on vacation.
Let’s just hope they don’t take it too far and stream from the toilet.
• Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
