Survivor: U.S. Presidential Race Edition

Last night I attended a fascinating panel at NYU: "How the Internet is Changing American Politics". The panel was nominated by blogger and frequent TV news commentator, Jeff Jarvis and included many folks at the forefront of politics and technology, including an impressive Ariana Huffington. I agreed with much of what the panelists said - though Mr. Jarvis used his helm to lament his perception of the media's anti-Hillary bias - taking care to lay out thoughtful analysis of the good, bad and the ugly - and the long way we have yet to go. The most entertaining, and sadly insightful comment was proclaimed by a gentleman not on the panel, who likened the U.S. presidential race not to a horse race (most particularly in the Democratic Party), but as a reality game show, where the American citizenry ascribes personas to the candidates (McCain, the war hero, Obama, the post-racial black hope, Clinton, the woman poised to break the ultimate glass ceiling). Rather than an out and out race, we collectively throw obstacles at these candidates to see if they survive or fail, and ultimately deserve to get thrown off the aisle. A scary thought, but perhaps uncannily accurate for this day and age.