The OS X Candidate?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
This Tuesday is not only Fat, but Super!
G and I were discussing the election yesterday, and I noted how Barack Obama’s oft-cited appeal to young, creative types like us — that might be flattery, but hey, we are the target demo — makes me worry that the rest of the country might actually resent him for it. His flock might be seen as too cool and hip for the average folk, and they’d hold it against him. Then I read this, and it brought that thought home in a neat geeky analogy:
I’ve taken shots at Apple before for their cooler-than-thou branding, and their fan base in some ways parallels the nature of Obama’s. But I think it would be unfair to make this comparison based on Hillary and Obama themselves, since Obama is putting forth ideas and optimism without exclusion, and some of his supporters just happen to trend toward the young and fashionable. Apple’s anti-PC thing is a deliberate marketing strategy; Obama’s audience came together on its own, and while the young part of it gets a lot of press, he has supporters of all stripes.
It’s still an interesting comparison of the two Democratic camps. And like Microsoft, Hillary is doing pretty well in financial market share herself.
To further the geek appeal (is there really such a thing?) I recently found out that Larry Lessig is on the Obama train.
http://lessig.org/blog/2008/02/20_minutes_or_so_on_why_i_am_4.html
With the whole skewing to the young and the techy the internet is a virtual rally for the cause that tugs at your heart, it seems. Clinton’s “Hillblazers” are endearingly awkward, kind of like the audio visual club with a few drama nerds thrown in for coolness. Kind of MS with all the glitches to Obama’s Apple with all the polish.
Then again, that analogy does me no good since we’ve two of each in our house.