Chris Matthews Version 2.0

Everyone who has read Hardball, including you, now knows the game of politics, or at least thinks they do. The lessons or advice given to win the game that comes with catchy titles are embedded in each chapter. The art, discovered in the book, is using each of those lessons in everyday life to get ahead of the competitor. As I’m sure you know, Mr. Lloyd Blevins, social media will be your way into the world of politics. The increase in social media is causing the game of politics to evolve. No longer is LBJ’s strategy: the door to door campaigning, necessary to get the vote. The door is your Facebook or Twitter home page, the act of knocking is now called clicking, and the act of speaking to someone is now called typing. Since the game is growing, a person must fight to get ahead, and the way to get ahead now, is recognizing the strengths in and then using social media.
Social media can be defined as media designed to be disseminated or spread through social interaction using easy and quick publishing techniques. These publishing techniques are shown when a person updates his or her status, posts a video on someone’s wall or even clicks “Like” on a picture or comment. The reason I stress using social media is because it’s an easy but efficient way to establish alliances with a force that a politian rarely sees all of, but should be constantly aware of the existence of: the constituents. Utilizing social media will help you connect with the people and talk to them through a portal in which distance, time and formality doesn’t matter.
While formality might not matter, the issues still do. Putting your thoughts on issues and other things in one easy to locate place is a good idea. The whole idea of a computer was to make finding information faster and easier. You can put notes on your Facebook page, either linking to another site where you comment on issues, or you could break down your own opinion right in the note and put the ideas that are formally expressed into colloquial terms where the people can understand exactly what you’re trying to say. Issues can range from a new bill you’re thinking about introducing, depending on what political position you hold, all the way to talking about accusations made against you. Listen closely, this becomes extremely important. You don’t want to end up like Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky episode. He lost all credibility with his constituents, and since you’re just starting out, you need all the help you can get. Do not lose your credibility with your constituents. If you do make a mistake, admit to it, use spin to make a huge example out of yourself in a very positive way and move on. Once you make that positive example out of yourself, use Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word that you are back and better than before.
Although you hopefully won’t make a fool of yourself and have the whole hill laughing at you, one thing for certain, you will always have enemies. This is where Facebook because your Sherlock Holmes. Facebook collects info on whomever you want it to. You can increase or decrease the amount of info you receive on a person. A good idea is to increase, to the max, the status updates, tweets, etc. from your enemies. The more you know about your enemies, the better prepared you can be for any kind of situation. Facebook helps you keep your friends a click away, but your enemies… updated on your homepage.
The game of politics has progressed and modernized since Hardball was first written. Social media makes the game easier in the sense of expanding it to the worldwide scale with the click of a button; but with the new speed of technology, the speed of the game increases. The game of politics is no longer keeping up with only constituents’ needs as well as political and personal needs. Now, a politician must keep up with technology. Social media is constantly changing, from the layout of Facebook changing to the software on their computer. There was an old saying, “The only way to win is not to play”, now I think the saying is, “The only way to win is to type faster”.

Hardball: The Political Bible of the 21st Century

The most identified rule that I liked was It's Not Who You Know, It's Who You Get To Know. The lesson is learning all you can about your opponents and retaining the information to determine the connections between all of the constituents. This is very beneficial to the person because they can “get in” with the older, more established members of government. The closer one is to the more established members, the easier and more successful a person will be in their climb to the top. Networking, as this “climbing” is important in all occupations, but networking benefits politicians the most. Sarah Palin is currently holding press conferences and making statements against the new Health Reform. Her opinion, is that the new reform will have “death panels” that will decide if a person is “worthy” enough to live or not. There are rumors that Sarah Palin is thinking of running for President in 2012. If that is true, she is most likely trying to outreach into the Republican community to “get in” with her Republican constituents. This is necessary after the Republican’s failed attempt to reach majority after losing the presidency to Democrat Barak Obama. Networking, for Sarah Palin, would prove to be a smart move since there is so much controversy over her recent resignation from being Governor of Alaska. Another example is the Town Hall meetings. Democratic law makers are holding town hall meetings to “connect” and listen to the people. The crowd, at the meetings, consists of 70% random lottery. This showcases networking in the sense that the lawmakers are trying to connect with the people and inform them on the health care reform, but most of the people in the meetings feel that they aren’t getting anywhere. Learning all you can about a person is beneficial in the political world. Sarah Palin shows that making statements against the opposing political party and their views gets you attention which in return increases support and dissent. Sarah Palin takes her support and networks with people to establish relationship that she hopes will be beneficial if she decides to run for president in 2012.