Still think you might want to run for president someday? It may already be too late.
Last Wednesday, the Austin American-Statesman ran a syndicated commentary by Maureen O'Connor and Jacob Savage of the Los Angeles Times reflecting on the role the Internet may play in future elections, especially in regard to what it may reveal about candidates' pasts.
In an extremely insightful piece, the two provoke a hypothetical scenario asking what today's presidential election might look like if the candidates had used Facebook in their teens. The two write, "It's one thing to hear that your elected representative had a wild time in college. It's entirely different to have pictorial proof." Many of us would rather our parents not see photos of last night's embarrassing escapades, much less an entire nation. But for those few of us who aspire to live in the public eye, especially the harsh scrutiny of the political world, that may someday be the case.
As much as a candidate would suffer from an embarrassing picture at a fraternity party, the bigger political fire storm could come from an angry rant on a blog or discussion group. It makes one wonder what a debate between younger versions of John McCain and Barack Obama would look like. Would one of them grow frustrated and type something regrettable? That exact scenario may be happening right now between the 2036 election candidates.
