Obama Gets Geeky
The man who built a high-tech campaign out of the concept of "change" is already bringing Internet technology into his administration. President-elect Barack Obama has announced plans for a presidential YouTube channel, along with plans for thorough social network and blog screenings as part of potential staffers' background checks. If you've so much as left a questionable comment on a blog somewhere, you might be disqualified. Think you could pass?
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It's really very simple.
Anyone who aspires to high office should assume that there is no such thing as private electronic communication. Period. If it's not on somebody's backup, the NSA is reading it.As for drunken party pics -- I don't want my public officials to be the kinds of people who GET drunk at parties, so I figure if there are any drunken party pics of you on the Web, you deserve the consequences.
But sometimes we forget that
But sometimes we forget that our politicians are human. The idea that our politicians must prepare for office essentially from birth is relatively new. There are good people with unusual pasts, families, and friends who are now unable to run for office because of the stringent tests that the American people put politicians through. Perhaps these things have less influence on a person in office than the American media and public like to think.Privacy?
I don't really see this as a big scary thing. It's called "vetting" and it's supposed to be done before hiring someone to do a government job. Also known as "due diligence."This last administration has done a lot of surveillance on ordinary people. If Obama keeps *that* going, I'm going to be less than happy. But we could use a more honorable set of public servants.
And yes, BTW, I think (I hope?) it's not too difficult to find people who haven't left a trail of nasty remarks behind them when they thought they were anonymous. *That's* called character.
I'm actually qualified.
So I wrote a widely-acclaimed book and mentioned that I used cocaine. Will this hurt me?Well, election is now over
Well, election is now over and the people chose Obama as the next president of the United States. Obama wants to learn everything about you if you plan to take part in his administration. That seems fair, doesn’t it? If a person is going to uphold a title in any high-responsibility position in America’s federal government, it is in the best interest of the nation and its people that the person meets certain qualifications and not be a security risk. However, it seems reasonability has its limits. On his seven-page 63-question application, Obama asks for detailed information on each person that’s a hopeful for his team. With this profound application screening, you’d think the administration would have enough to perform credit repair for everyone who applies. CNN revealed a copy of this questionnaire, which requires applicants not only to thoroughly clarify their deeds and accomplishments over the past 10 years or more, they must also do the same for their spouse. As part of my hope that applicants indeed get free credit repair through this deal, here are some of my favorite questions… (1) Writing: Please list and, if readily available, provide a copy of each book, article, column or publication (including but not limited to any posts or comments on blogs or other Web sites) you have authored, individually or with another. Please list all aliases or “handles” you have used to communicate over the Internet. (2) Electronic communications: If you have ever sent an electronic communication, including but not limited to an E-mail, text message or instant message, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect if it were made public, please describe. (3) Please provide the URL address of any Web sites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, etc.) This is only the top layer of how deep the application goes. So, if you’re planning on serving under the “change” administration and you don’t have all you’re aces on the surface, you should probably start digging. Read more on Credit Repair.