Just thinking: I hope bloggers make it through two presidents
Sadly, I don’t know if many bloggers will make it past multiple presidencies because I’d bet one cold beer that it will be Dubya in 2004 and a lot of bloggers will quit between now and 2008. There is a part of me that hopes Dubya doesn’t win (not for political reasons, though there are some of those too). The reason is that certain factions of the blogosphere will be called to task for their inconsistency and will have to admit that they are partisan hacks. Or, more likely, engage in some sort of but it’s different now meanderings. So, let’s assume Kerry wins.
Note a couple of things about Kerry winning: nothing will change in the economy and nothing will change in Iraq. On that, I’d bet another cold beer.
If an issue and subsequent reaction by Bush caused a blogger to be critical of Bush, then a similar issue and similar subsequent reaction by Kerry should warrant the same level of criticism. But it won’t. The stuff we bloggers have written will still be there regardless of who is in power. There’s a record of it. A change in power will cause a lot of hypocrisy in the blogosphere.
I wonder if any blog archives will disappear if Kerry wins?
And I realize it will go the other way too: People who were not critical of Bush for certain things will become critical of Kerry for those same certain things.
Update: No, I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about the other guy.
May 6th, 2004 at 4:32 pm
Well, that’s a relief. Oh wait, maybe I am the other guy…
May 6th, 2004 at 4:34 pm
It will definitely be interesting to see how the whole “blogosphere” raised on a Bush presidency will transition to a Kerry presidency.
Will there be some that will declare victory and promptly go into dittohead defense-of-Kerry mode? Probably. But there’s an equal share of bloggers that are genuine progressives that would continue to criticize, evaluate, and campaign for improvement in the Kerry administration just as they have with the Bush administration. I hope to be one of them!
May 6th, 2004 at 8:43 pm
To me, it won’t matter. Since bad policies are bad policies, I’ll be the first to call whomever is in office to task about them.
If Kerry cuts marginal tax rates, I’ll be the first to trumpet his accomplishments. If he implements a liberal agenda, I’ll be sure to note that as well.
May 6th, 2004 at 9:58 pm
I’d like to think that I won’t fall prey to that sort of hypocrisy, but who knows. I wasn’t a blogger during the Clinton days, but I certainly complained about him a lot. I’m reasonably sure I’d give Kerry the same treatment, especially since he was only my third choice out of the Democratic field.
May 7th, 2004 at 1:08 am
I agree with you and have actually been thinking the same thing, but just never blogged about it. I think that those that remain blogging will moderate their views and be less partisan due to people being able to check their archives to see what they said when Bush was in office. There will be the inevitable “this time its different” stuff, but I think that most people with a reasonable audience on the other side of the spectrum will quickly see that the argument won’t wash.
For instance, it seems to me that the right side of the blogosphere were quicker to condemn the Abu Ghraib photos than the conservative pundits and less likely to bring up the “but Saddam was evil too” argument.
May 8th, 2004 at 10:24 pm
Hey nooblers, I’ve been “blogging” since the Clinton Presidency, except then it was called “running an E/N site.” The term “blog” had not yet been invented.
So I wounder if [i]you[/i] will make it through multiple presidencies… I’ll be starting my 3rd in the next few months, possibly. 😉
May 9th, 2004 at 9:07 am
I thought it was implied that i meant it was popular. But point taken.