Obama's State of the Union Address (No Longer MediaMed)

For my final meditation this month I have chosen to do the 2010 State of the Union address.


Watching this was a interesting for me in a few ways. First off, I don't think I have ever actually watched a State of the Union address. Bad of me I know, but it just has never happened. Watching over YouTube was another interesting thing for me. I didn't know that these were available officially on YouTube. Everything is unofficially available there, but I did not know that the White House puts the actual addresses up there themselves. I suppose it is inevitable. Its gonna end up there eventually no matter what, so they might as well do it themselves. This brings up an interesting thing to consider when writing.

With YouTube and other video sharing sites as pervasive as they are in US and Global society, writers must also consider this. In the case of the State of the Union for instance. Before, it would broadcast, and all the pundits and talking heads would have a go at it, and then it would be done. Now it is there, and it will stay up until the servers die or something of that nature. People will be able to see it and scrutinize it for that entire time. Bad lines or even bad delivery of lines can haunt someone for far longer than they would have in the past. Take Howard Dean for instance and his infamous yell. That one misstep, and honestly, it was not even a true misstep, it was just funny, will be there forever. He became a laughing stock to some degree because it was there and stayed there. Things just don't fade out of the spotlight as anymore. They will always lurk on the edges, just waiting for someone to rediscover them.

When creating the speech for the State of the Union, Obama and his speechwriters must have considered this. There is no way they would not. If there is one thing that Obama has done more than any of the candidates he ran against, it is utilize new media to further his agenda. Things like YouTube are can cause problems, but they can help as well. If he were to give a speech that was very well receive and done, then it can quickly spread all over the place. Once something like that goes viral there really is no stopping it artificially. The only thing to do is to let it die.