Posted by: Lynn Stinson in Greenberg, Events on
Feb 28, 2009
Stan Greenberg has worked alongside some of the world's most prominent leaders and will be joining us at the George Washington University Monday evening to discuss his many experiences. We had a chance to chat with Greenberg about his newest book Dispatches from the War Room and his encounters with world leaders before his event on Monday. We hope to see you at the event to hear more from Greenberg March 2nd at 5 pm in the GWU Amphitheater located in the Marvin Center.
In the introduction of your book, you point out the claim of critics that pollsters are "ruining politics", that being said, what value do you think you have added in assisting some of the world's greatest leaders?
It's no secret, the economy stinks, and if you're like many 20-somethings you'll be tight with Sallie Mae for a very long time. In 2009 alone, the U.S. Department of Education is forecasting that college students will tap Uncle Sam for
$64 billion in student loans.
A deteriorating job market, shrinking endowments, and skyrocketing tuition have many wondering how they will manage their educational debt. During his campaign, President Obama made it clear that he would focus on making higher education affordable for those yet to enter college, leaving many indebted young grads asking, "where's my bailout?"
Most agree, forgiving student loans outright would be a costly burden to taxpayers. Even the President and First Lady spent years paying back their debt, a sum so large that it exceeded their monthly mortgage payment for nearly a decade. With forgiveness likely out of the question, what should our new Commander-In-Chief do to reassure grads that their education wasn't a waste? A few options...
- Loan consolidation for graduates at lower interest rates and the temporary suspension of interest payments
- Reverend Jesse Jackson's "One Percent Solution"
- Extend Obama's campaign promise to expand national service programs by offering tuition credit for service (AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, VISTA, military service, teaching in an underserved population etc.)
- Encourage graduate education through yearly and comprehensive tuition caps at private colleges and universities
Posted by: Andy Greene in Untagged on
Feb 26, 2009
Campaigns and Elections' Politics magazine just announced its call for submission for 2009 Rising Stars. GSPM alumni and students who have received the honor of becoming a Rising Star include Carrie Giddins, Daniel Urena, Julie Germany, Mindy Finn, Justin Germany, Brad Bauman, Edgardo Cortez, Robert Hoopes, John Kirinich, Robin Winston, Morgan Young, Tony Bawidamann, Roberto Izuerta, Matt Klink, Todd Webster, and Alvin Williams. More information from
Politics magazine below.
Each year, Campaigns & Elections' Politics magazine selects its Rising Stars. We will feature the Rising Stars of 2009 in our June issue and also at our 26th Annual Campaign Training Seminar, The Art of Political Campaigning, in Washington, D.C., on June 12. We will choose 10 Republicans, 10 Democrats and 10 independent, nonpartisan or non-American nominees.
Our Rising Stars were first recognized in 1988 and have gone on to serve in the highest levels of government and political consulting. Rising Stars are people under age 35 who are beginning to make their mark in political consulting or advocacy. Qualifications can include managing a winning campaign that their candidate was expected to lose, or excellence working on direct mail, polling, get-out-the-vote operations, fund raising and media, among others. Elected officials will not be considered.
Looking for a sneak peak before
our event with Stan Greenberg and his new book, Dispatches from the War Room? (It's Monday, March 2 from 5-7 p.m. at
GW's Marvin Center, 3rd Floor Amphitheater, 800 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC). Politics Magazine's Boyce Upholt
interviews Greenberg about
Dispatches from the War Room.
Given the public frustration with “permanent campaigns,” what role do you think consultants should play once a leader is in power?
I’m not apologetic about the “war room” or the “permanent campaign.” All of these leaders seem to run into problems: They’re not as popular as they think they were; the Congress comes to think they have their own sets of interests; there’s need for fiscal austerity. Pretty quickly you find it’s hard to carry out your mandate. There’s a constant struggle to educate and to bring people with you. I think leaders who understand and build that capacity have a better chance of succeeding. They’re not putting their finger to the wind, but they’re trying to build a bond with people. It seems to me no different at mayor than as president. Wherever there are competitive elections, how you run, what you said you were going to try to achieve will be part of how people judge you.
Read the whole interview.
Posted by: Julie Germany in IPDI, Innovation on
Feb 25, 2009
(cross-posted at www.ipdi.org/blog)
Today Clive Thompson's articles are getting me thinking.
Why Clive Thompson? Because he has a pretty good track record of writing about how and why technology changes the way we think, communicate, and work.
And, look, I just don't get good ideas anymore from reading the same political people all the time. I need exposure to other things, and Thompson gets something that perhaps those of us who work in the political don't have time to sit back and reflect upon: how everything we do online is changing us (and how it changes the voters and constituents we're trying to reach).
1. The Internet doesn't make us less social. It probably makes us more social.
For those stragglers who say they aren't on Twitter because they "really don't care about what their friends are having for lunch," there is Thompson's How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense from Wired way back in 2007.
The power is in the surprising effects that come from receiving thousands of pings from your posse. And this, as it turns out, suggests where the Web is heading. . . .The animating genius behind Twitter will live on in future apps. That tactile sense of your community is simply too much fun, too useful — and it makes the group more than the sum of its parts.
A look at how the way we use some of the most addictive tools online -- like Facebook's News Feed and DC's favorite new past time Twitter -- is feeds our ambient awareness in
Brave New World of Digital Intimacy from the New York Times Magazine (September 2008).
You could also regard the growing popularity of online awareness as a reaction to social isolation, the modern American disconnectedness that Robert Putnam explored in his book “Bowling Alone.” The mobile workforce requires people to travel more frequently for work, leaving friends and family behind, and members of the growing army of the self-employed often spend their days in solitude. Ambient intimacy becomes a way to “feel less alone,” as more than one Facebook and Twitter user told me.
2. Why worry only about the NSA tracking you when we already track ourselves (this is me being cute and not Thompson). And we'll track ourselves even more over the course of the next few years, as we continue to store our thoughts, ideas and meetings online instead of merely storing them in our brains. Thompson looks about the rise online sousveillance and using technology to build a better memory. He writes about Gordon Bell, who logs multi-media details (photos, audio recordings, email, everything he writes, etc.) about everyone meets, every details of his life in
A Head for Detail for FastCompany.
It's a crazy experiment. But perhaps its craziest aspect is that soon you'll be part of it too--whether you want to be or not. The way Bell sees it, computers and the Internet are now rapidly becoming capable of storing everything you do and see. Hard-drive space has exploded in size, and every day people are recording more and more of their lives: We blog about our thoughts, upload personal pictures to Flickr, save every email on our infinitely expanding Gmail accounts, shoot video on our cell phones, record phone calls straight to our hard drives when we use Skype.
3. It's ok to admit that the pace of life online and offline is driving me crazy. It might get worse, if this single-tasking movement doesn't take off. He looks at interruption science and how technology is changing the way we work in
Meet the Life Hackers for the New York Times Magazine (btw, telegraph operators were the first humans to experience the stress of constant interruptions 100 years ago).
In the language of computer sociology, our jobs today are "interrupt driven." Distractions are not just a plague on our work - sometimes they are our work. To be cut off from other workers is to be cut off from everything.
But
Researchers find that 40 percent of the time, workers wander off in a new direction when an interruption ends, distracted by the technological equivalent of shiny objects. The central danger of interruptions, Czerwinski realized, is not really the interruption at all. It is the havoc they wreak with our short-term memory: What the heck was I just doing?
(cross-posted at www.ipdi.org/blog)
Public speaking has been public speaking since, well, since before old Greek guys gathered to talk about politics in the agora.
Posted by: Bryce Cullinane in Untagged on
Feb 23, 2009
(This article is written by Ashley Selmon)
Just when you thought that the saga was over in Illinois politics, Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) managed to keep it interesting.
Posted by: Julie Germany in In the news, GSPM on
Feb 23, 2009
Bringing you weekly news clippings of GSPM alumni, faculty, staff, current students, and friends.
- Voicebox, an hour-long community talk show, hosted Julie Germany (director of IPDI and director of marketing and comms for the GSPM) for an hour to discuss new media and politics.
- GW Hatchet covers our Gwen Ifill event.
- ePolitics covers the winning breakout panels for the Politics Online Conference in its Quick Hits feature.
- Infoperdistas (Spanish-language) announces that GSPM alumnus Thomas Marcos will join the company Avazza as head of communications, marketing, and internal relations.
- Cheri Jacobus (adjunct faculty) authors the piece "A cool 10 grand " in The Hill.
Send your clippings to gspminfo@gmail.com.
With a couple of months left to iron out the details of the Politics Online Conference, we have already accomplished so much in the planning stages for POLC. This year's conference will be held at the Reagan Building in DC. The space is awesome. If you haven't been, I highly suggest a visit to check out this enormous building in the heart of DC. There's a massive food court right past the Atrium - lots of options and a good excuse to leave the office for lunch! The Atrium and the Atrium Ballroom will house a huge portion of the Politics Online Conference this year. General Sessions will be occurring in the Atrium Ballroom along with a few of the larger breakout panels.
The breakout sessions will occur in a few other areas of the building. But don't worry! We are going to have an army of volunteers in bright t-shirts directing you exactly where to go.
The Atrium itself will be your home base at POLC. Imagine couches, chairs, coffee, and conversations scattering the Atrium space - providing room for relaxation and networking amidst the discussions occurring in general and breakout sessions.
We hope that through our vision of the conference, we can promote a hub of innovation. Small lounges in the Atrium could inspire an idea amongst new acquaintances. Over a cup of coffee near our Geek Lab we hope to find a clump of people engaging in a discussion about the latest technology presented by one of our sponsors. Overall, in our planning, we are keeping the attendees in mind and attempting to adapt to make the experience for each individual one that is entirely worthwhile. Keep your eyes open for more updates on the conference in the future!
Posted by: Charles Cushman in Untagged on
Feb 22, 2009
Welcome: The Angry Civics Teacher
