Posted by: Julie Germany in In the news, GSPM on
Aug 31, 2009
A quick look at a few of the GSPM faculty, alumni, and Council on American Politics members in the middle of this week's news cycle.
GSPM Faculty
"Great expectations and great tragedy has always been the storyline of the Kennedys," said Christopher Arterton, dean of George Washington University's graduate school of political management. "The people of Massachusetts were prepared to forgive a lot of transgressions." - in a CNN.com about the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy.
"There is no way to quantify the effect of one media over another any more — to get your message across, to get an elected official to consider your issue, etc. you have to present your argument across a variety of channels and hope that it finds the right target." - Brian Reich in an interview with Amy Jussel in a Shaping Youth article about communicating with Congress.
GSPM Alumni
"There's no silliness this summer," says Brad Bauman, communications director for Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio. "This year it's trench warfare—just without ties." - in a Slate.com article about what happens when Congress goes on vacation.
"Creigh today effectively said to Virginians, 'Here's what's at stake,' " said Mo Elleithee, a senior adviser to Deeds. "Despite all this noise and all this discussion in the media about whatever the national environment may be, there is a lot at stake here in Virginia. And you could not have two more different candidates on these issues." - in a Virginian-Pilot article about Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds.
Council on American Politics
"They say, 'I'm taking a break from politics, I'm uninformed about the system, I'm sick of Washington, I'm not going to help these people.' It's interesting that he hasn't countered that disengagement," said Celinda Lake. - in an Associate Press article that questions whether young people are active in the health care debate.
"It's an emotionally laden issue, and I think there is a Willie Horton factor here to some degree," said Garry South, a Democratic strategist. "Democrats, in particular, are used to getting their brains beaten to a pulp over issues involving criminal justice, going back several decades, so there's a natural reluctance." - in a Sacramento Bee article about proposed prison cuts in the California Assembly.
"One of the difficulties has been that the explanation has changed," said Howard Paster, a legislative liaison in the Clinton administration. "Originally it was keyed very much to the economy. More recently, emphasis has been placed on issues of fairness and equity. We need to have a consistent set of reasons for doing this." - in a Los Angeles Times article that suggests Obama's healthcare messages are backfiring.
In the early 1970's, liberal leaders were criticized for their failure to condemn in the strongest possible terms the disruptive activities of radicals, some of whom went so far as to take over campus building, plant bombs and rob banks. Responsible political leaders of all stripes have a moral obligation to restrain the aggressive behavior of the extremes among their followers. Thus did John McCain move to tamp down aggression when anti-Obama sentiment in the fall campaign began to boil with the threats of violence. All societies - particularly those undergoing both rapid social change and economic dislocation - produce angry, violent elements. Every nation has its equivalent of biker gangs and hoodlums. At times, these groups have even come to the point of taking over the coercive authority of the state, often abetted by politicians who were then easily swept aside. Certainly this phenomenon cannot be ignored in the United States. We should be worried when anger begins to crowd out rational discussion of public policies. Democracy weakens when such groups intrude on civil debates. The Second Amendment notwithstanding, armed citizens showing up at meetings with duly elected public officials should be condemned, especially by those staunch defenders of the Constitution, the National Rifle Association. Policy by intimidation is their intent, not self-protection and certainly not open discussion, compromise and balanced representation. Rather than abetting, encouraging or tolerating disruptive anger and threats of violence, leadership demands that politicians lead their followers toward civil conduct. Frank Rich's column in the New York Times expresses this view even more pointedly as does the conservative writer David Frum.
I recently received an e-mail from a prospective GSPM online student living on the West Coast. Since many prospective students might have similar questions about the program, I thought it might be informative to share our exchange.
Q - I am 45 year-old, in your opinion, am I too old to get into campaign politics / political consulting as a career? You're never too old to get into the political game. In fact, I spent more than 20 years in the journalism business before getting into politics and I was 44 years old at the time. In fact, I think most campaigns are looking to hire "adults" because they're more focused and understand the idea of commitment.
Posted by: Caitlin Harvey in Untagged on
Aug 31, 2009
As a GSPM student beginning my second year in the program today, I thought I'd share some of what I've learned about the GSPM during my first year for the new students starting classes this week.
1.
Make use of the GSPM listserv. Read and post school/program related questions, job and housing listings, social events, volunteer opportunities and more. For guidelines on how to post and what is okay to post,
click here.
2.
Get a job or internship. The fact that GSPM's classes are only offered in the evenings provides you with a great opportunity to get some real world experience during the day. Check out the jobs that are posted on the above mentioned GSPM listserv and join other listservs and websites for jobs in DC, such as thehill.com or rcjobs.com. Set up an appointment to meet with GSPM's very own
Director of Career Services, Mag Gottlieb.
3.
Spread out the classes that you are required to take. All required classes are offered each fall and spring and most are offered during the summer. By taking one or two required classes and an elective each semester, you'll have the opportunity to take unique electives that may only be offered once a year or once every other year.
4.
Instead of spending hundreds of dollars purchasing your books, take them out of the library! This is something that I wish I'd figured out while taking my undergraduate classes. If you can't find them there, find a friend in your class to share books with. Unless you're sure you'll read the book after you finish your the class, you'll only get a fraction of the cost back by selling it or it'll just end up taking up space on your bookshelf.
5.
Check out the events that GSPM puts on. They're posted on the GSPM listserv and this blog. They're a great way to meet fellow GSPM students, alumni, faculty, and other prominent people in DC. In DC, you can never network too much!
If you're a current student, please share some more tips in the comments section!
Among the many great people and organizations that the GSPM and The Institute for Politics Democracy & the Internet are working with is Wayne Moses Burke, Executive Director of the Open Forum Foundation. We will be hosting Congress Camp, which he has been organizing, on September 12 & 13 at the Media and Public Affairs Building. Congress Camp will provide a venue for those working in and around Congress to have an open and honest discussion about Gov 2.0 and how web-based social and collaboration technologies are being used, or could be used, to transform engagement with the public.
Another way that Wayne has been trying to bring Congress into the world of social media is his new project GovLuv, which will seek to aid Congress Members and their staff in effectively using Twitter to communicate with their constituents. Today I sat down with Wayne to discuss GovLuv. Here is my interview:
Over the last four years, slamming the way Republicans using the Internet has been one of the most popular past times in the Beltway/social media/Internet world. I don't think I've left a networking event, panel discussion, or conference without hearing about how much the Republicans don't get the Internet at least five times -- if not more. Republicans not getting technology has become the Beltway equivalent of the dumb blond joke. We all laugh at them. However, while you might see a few of them on TV, they hardly reflect the entire population.
After all, categories are simple. It's easier to overlook the many smart individuals on each side of the political aisle who get technology and lump everyone into general categories than it is to actually some of the really smart, interesting things that online operatives and activists are doing.
Enter GSPM alumnus Erik Telford. Last year, during the summer before the general election, Telford organized the first Right Online, a training conference for the Republican Party's core base of grassroot supporters. Telford, who works as the director of online strategy for Americans for Prosperity, designed Right Online to look similar to Netroots Nation, the annual gathering of progressive netroots that now attracts around 3,000 attendees each year. Right Online is held in the same city at the same time as Netroots Nation.
When I attended this year's Right Online in Pittsburgh (I divided my time between it and Netroots Nation), what struck me the most was that the Right Online audience is not the Beltway crowd. I was the youngest person by at least 20 years in many of the panels I attended, and I was often the only person, other than the speakers, from inside the Beltway. The attendees were real Americans -- the kinds of people those of us in Washington usually only meet when we go home to Ohio, Florida, Texas, or Pennsylvania for family reunions (or when we bus out to battleground states to get out the vote during campaign season). And they really wanted to learn how to use the Internet to be better advocates for their political causes.
Right Online focused on teaching. Sure, there was a healthy does of political rallying, but there was also a lot of learning, and I don't think that should be overlooked. At the end of the day, the way we use technology in Washington politics really doesn't matter as much as how our base of support in the rest of America uses technology.
Watch out for the conservatives. The enthusiasm at Right Online suggests that parts of the Republican base have the desire and the tools to be online advocates -- and this time around, the have something to fight against.
For further reading on Erik Telford and Right Online, check out these stories:
Posted by: Julie Germany in Untagged on
Aug 27, 2009
The GSPM is launching many incredible classes this autumn. I'm particularly thrilled about one of them, Media, Government, and Social Change, because I helped recruit its professor, Brian Reich.
Brian's blog, Thinking about Media, and book, Media Rules, lay out some of his thinking about how organizational development, technology, and people. His course, Media, Government, and Social Change, applies those principles to the politics and government space.
Brian recently discussed his philosophy as an instructor for Media, Government and Change:
I designed this class to look at three big issues/questions:
1) Technology and the internet have dramatically changed the way people get and share information. Those changes impact everything - what we buy, how we spend our time, what (and how) we read, watch television, listen to the radio, talk to eachother, and certainly our expectations of the organizations that we support and engage. That has huge implications for our government, and the various organizations that contribute to the functioning of our society. What must we understand and what must we change for government to serve its constituents better, for issues to be addressed more effectively, and for people to be more fully engaged in our democracy?
2) When it comes to organizations - and how they manage their communications, education, advocacy, and more - real success is hard to find. The groups we hold up as models, because of their size or the level of awareness of their cause, aren’t breaking much new ground. The legislation that is created, doesn't do enough to address the core issues that challenge our society. Even those who have successfully establish their brand or built an audience aren’t necessarily able to change minds, change behavior, or tackle serious issues. What does a successful organization look like today and how does its role change if the goal is to achieve meaningful, measurable change?
3) There continues to be far too much focus on activity (how big your email list is, how many people signed your online petition) and not enough on impact (whether you are really serving a need, or changing things for the better). There is too much emphasis placed on brand (i.e. what groups call themselves, or say they are doing) and not enough on experience (what is really happening, are the needs of our society actually being met). There is too much energy put into growth (how big can we be, how many people can we reach) and not enough commitment to sustainability (can we maintain the quality of what we do no matter how many things are choose to do) or impact (are we achieving our goals). Where should our focus be if we want to improve how we govern, how our society functions - and what role do citizens, media, and others play in those efforts?
I have spent my life working in and around politics, helping to direct dozens of campaigns across the country. I spent two years as Vice President Gore's Briefing Director in the White House, handling both official activities and activities during his 2000 presidential campaign. Over the past eight years, I have helped hundreds of organizations to understand how technology is changing society and what that does to impact how we communicate, educate, and engage. I wrote a book, Media Rules!. I blog, and speak, and write about these issues every day. But society is changing so quickly, and new opportunities to use technology and the internet to change our society emerge every day. I designed this class to explore these issues in depth and to begin to apply those lessons to meet some of the real, immediate challenges that we are facing today.
I hope you will join me.
You can watch Brian talk more about the class on YouTube.
With the Fall Semester just around the bend, students have the chance to make a few last minute updates to the upcoming semester's schedule. There are a few new classes added to the ranks for GSPMers to choose from. Classes start August 31st, so register ASAP!
Here are the new classes to check out:
In my humble opinion, the bars here in Washington, D.C. are unlike any other bars in the country. Where else can you consistently find CNN always on, the conversation unusually wonkish, and the majority of clientele in suits? It is a different world to be sure.
In these uncommon environments, there hasn't been a single time that I have met someone without the subject of social action and activism coming up. DC residents are passionate. Whether it is the environment, the economy, the deficit, abortion, marriage, or any number of issues, the common thread of spirits in DC is a passion for doing.
Posted by: Lynn Stinson in Untagged on
Aug 19, 2009
As the governor's race in Virginia shifts into the final few months, victory is still up for grabs. While some polls in the past month have shown Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate, as the leader over Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds, the race will remain close as many voters have yet to enter the political arena of this contest.
Mo Elleithee, senior advisor to Deeds and GSPM alum, explains:
