Is this is an indicator of another level of political discourse going forward?

Only if one assumes any of the answers will be taken seriously. This smacks of publicity stunt more than anything else.

It will be interesting to see if she picks a “best answer” and to see what the community decides will be the “best answer”.

Josh,

Great thoughts.

But as I said in my blog, who or how in the world are they going to process and make sense out of the 36,000 responses?

Brian Balfour

They’re not.

This is not an indicator of political discourse going forward. This is not an indicator that the candidate is really listening to the American people.

At best, the candidate’s staff will cherry-pick and publicize answers that support the conclusion that the candidate has already come to regarding health care. Remember, this candidate has long-standing and commonly-known beliefs when it comes to health care.

Aditionally, the premise of the question is sneaky – “what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?” – the “we” part clearly means “elected officials/government”. See how the question itself removes the issue of if government should be involved in health care and assumes that it must?

Not everyone believes that government should be involved in health care, but with the wording of the question, the candidate has managed to avoid that particular point. Again, this goes back to the candidate’s long-standing and commonly-known beliefs regarding health care.

In short, this Yahoo Answers posting is just a political stunt. Expect more to come, from both sides of the aisle.

If it is a publicity stunt, it’s a darned smart one. I’m impressed. And if it’s not, then good for her.

If it is a publicity stunt, it’s a darned smart one.

It’s no different that the so-called “town hall” meetings of previous elections. It’s a quick and easy way to make a candidate appear interested in the masses and gain publicity without actually having to state a position on anything. Simply because something is on the web does not necessarily make it something new.

@ Dissenter – Because of the forum chosen, regardless of whether her campaign ‘cherry-picks’ responses – all of the responses are accessible to everyone – which means O’Reilly could ‘cherry-pick’ too. And as for the question, “What should we do to improve health care?”, yes, it does imply governmental action, but, action does not always mean more support, money, or resources. Deciding, and actually implementing the decision, to withdraw all medicare and medicad is still an action by the goverment (I’m certainly not saying such an action would help health care, I’m just using it as an example of how wrong and biased your implication is).

@ Lance Jonn Romanoff – yep and nope – yes, it is very much like the ‘town halls’ of the past, but it is very far from being the same; first, anyone, let me repeat, anyone can participate – you don’t have to live in a particular local, you don’t have to go through processing to make sure you’re the type of audience member the candidate wants (something Baby Bush did during his town halls), and there is no limit on how many people can participate; i.e. it is vitally different than a traditional ‘town hall’.

I have no doubt that part of Senator Clinton’s use of this forum is a ‘publicity stunt’, but even if that was all she intended it to be, it is more. It is a truly democratic conversation, it is open to all, and depending on how long it is made available, it is a tremendous resource, not only for political candidates, but also as a record of our time and our experiences and our thoughts on this particular subject.

I applaud Senator Clinton and I hope that more politicians make use of such resources.

first, anyone, let me repeat, anyone can participate – you don’t have to live in a particular local, you don’t have to go through processing to make sure you’re the type of audience member the candidate wants (something Baby Bush did during his town halls), and there is no limit on how many people can participate;

These are for the most part false or distictions without a difference.

“You don’t have to live in a particular locale” – so what? You do have to have a computer and an Internet connection and be aware of Yahoo Answers. These are barriers effectively of the same nature.

“You don’t have to go through processing to make sure you’re the type of audience member the candidate wants” – as has been pointed out already, the candidate is getting the response she wants by begging the question. This has the same effect.

“There is no limit on how many people can participate” – technically false but ultimately trivial. The fact that thousands have participated ensures that this isn’t a conversation. No one at the Clinton campaign is going to sift through all the responses looking for some diamond in the rough political plan.

I give her credit for the novelty of sorts but let’s not pretend this is some great leap forward.

not just a publicity stunt, I think, or not just that anyway. it’s the first time a big political player has used this medium this way.

the internet is a new medium for communication that we are only just beginning to tap. I know, raving idealist.

This is no great leap forward. but there was a first political candidate to have a website, though I don’t know who that was. do websites by and for candidates move the discourse forward? I think they do.

this moves the discourse forward too; it brings us minutely closer to full, participitory democracy. nobody know what that’s going to look like. one thing’s for sure though: grepping 35k+ responses is going to be difficult, so we will have more need than ever for pundits, experts, and other interpreters, human and otherwise, and therein lies a whole new set of problems and challenges.

Answer: Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution.

Hillary Clinton has no authority to do anything about healthcare in the United States. It is forbidden by law.

And for her next question .. “if I’m elected President .. what should I do to get back at Bill?” – Now THAT would generate some buzz ..

nice

It’s a PR move, and a smart one at that. It’s no different than politicians posting videos to youtube, its a great promotional move and a means of demonstrating to the public that their opinion counts, though not particularly effective at hearing everyone out. I sent an email to a senator in my area that supported net neutrality, asking him to reconsider his stance. I got a canned response via email weeks later. I have little faith in what anyone is going to do with the responses on Yahoo answers, but we’re going to see more politicians going this route (still waiting for Barack or Hillary to get that Myspace page).

“Based on your own family’s experience, what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?”
This is an absurd place to ask such a question.
Should I also ask for a second opinion there before I have brain surgery?
This is a forum of posers that are mostly good at one thing, typing. This is not to say that qualified persons do not answer questions there (they rarely are picked, rather they are usually flamed), but the whole format rewards those with too much time on their hands to type out advice they are not qualified to give and get picked best answer by voters or askers. The worst feature is the top contributer feature which assures even more bad advice will get picked “best”

I agree with Delta, it’s a PR move.
Hilary’s team is doing good job.

Now I am thinking about processing this all answers (so far more than 38 000) Btw – it’s possible?

Her most recent views on creating a seven point plan to reduce healthcare costs by some $120 billion, is going to be interesting. Only time will tell if this – whether Marketing or not – strategy works for her.

Another great blog on the topic, written by Jon Barron, can be viewed at:
http://www.jonbarron.org/blog_published/2007/05/hillary_clintons_healthcare_pr.html#more
I think you’ll appreciate the perspective provided.

Hello there,

I found a NEW cool site which is similar to Google Answers and Yahoo Answers, but a lot more professional.

They are search assistants and seem to search complicated information on the web for users of this site. It

is called WeSearchIt4U.com.

If you cannot find information yourself or do not have time for it, you can post your search query on this

website, for example to find sites with certain information, specific data in articles, certain software

etc.

Within a maximum of 2 days, but most of the times the next day, you will have your reply. It costs only US$ 30

and for that amount they can spent up to 12 hours of surfing.
And the cool thing is, you do not have to pay in advance, but only if your are satisfied.
That is a lot different from the others !!

They are in a free trial, so lets try it folks !

http://www.wesearchit4u.com

Yahoo! Answers is a great place to ask any questions.
I mean why can’t Hilary Clinton? Just nothing special.. She is a human, ok.

You mean after all this time (she started her Health Plan in the 90’s) …. NOW she’s asking??