In 1960 President John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon by a slim margin of 51% to 49% by using, as I said at the time during a radio analysis on his election, slick Madison Avenue techniques via a new, but fledgling communications medium, called television.

Today technology has taken us to a new and even more dynamic medium in but 48 years called the Internet, and President-elect Obama today introduced his new form of communications to the people over a Web site, delivering a message on the G20 meeting that began today in Washington DC on the global economic crisis.

His message appeared on his new Web site, http://www.change.gov and was immediately posted on YouTube and broadcast to millions, with out media intervention or interpretation.

This form of media presents a challenge for reporters covering Obama, since the new president will in many ways be able to bypass traditional media while also taking advantage of it to reinforce his online messaging.

Of course the mainstream media has a lot of this to blame on itself.  Few, are reporters anymore. A story reporting the news as it occurs, without injected opinion or bias, is virtually non-existent.

We only have Gov. Sarah Palin to cite here as an example of how the left wing media went out of its way to take apart this lady with fabrication, innuendo and very frankly poor journalism.  Interestingly, the lady survived to become an icon for the moment, receiving more media coverage than the president-elect post election.

The mainstream media is in trouble, in part because of its own brand of journalism, failure of newspapers to hold their own with poor products, despite point of view.  Now there is no doubt that the Internet has invaded their domain, but they have not been creative enough to deal with it.

When you see the effect on a grass roots level, you know it will only be a matter of time before it takes hold nationally.  For example, here in Sarasota, the Herald Tribune has drastically cut its staff, the paper is a shell of what it once was, good writers are gone and it announced today that it was selling its TV station, SNN, Ch. 6.  And this is a New York Times owned paper.

Now the president-elect transition officials call this ‘New Media’ program Obama 2.0, now that’s kind of hi-tech, but let’s hope it’s not the Microsoft Vista program with 3.0 around the corner, constantly correcting a flawed product.

Now this new Web site invites people to submit their names and e-mail addresses, with the goal of creating a new list for the president-elect to tap when he wants to communicate directly about a program he’s promoting or seeking help by urging members of Congress to support legislation he’s proposed.

Well, now isn’t this the Obama that was not going to let a lobbyist in the White House while he was President, but is now becoming a lobbyist himself — perhaps I will find a check in the mail or a free meal at Burger King?

The present Web site may be temporary, because aids say there will be a robust ‘new media’ operation out of the White House making it more interactive and user-friendly.

Obama’s team is determining how best to convert his army of online activists into a viral lobbying machine.  However, staffers do not want to discuss specifics at this time.

“Hopefully, Obama will be a president for all Americans, not just the political supporters on his e-mail list,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant.

Obama’s people say they know they’ll have to extend their reach.

As a blog I hope that’s true, for I hope they will reach out to me, after all he is my President, and as an American I support my president, and if he can convince me to get behind some of his programs and they make sense I’ll be with him.

As for the ‘New Media’, my thoughts are still open on this one.  There are some aspects that make sense, especially if the administration can get its  initial message delivered  without mainstream media intervention.  However, the White House will never be able to bypass the mainstream media, anymore than bypassing me as a blog.  His access to the media during the campaign was very controlled, and since being president-elect is worse — this does not bode well for media relations.

Obama’s 2.0 needs to be careful not to present a ‘Big Brother” communications approach to government; furthermore with a Democratic control of the Congress, why does the president-elect need to lobby the people to get bills passed?