President-elect Obama and the blogsphere ... by gimleteye

It is hard to measure and difficult to assess: this was the year in which the blogsphere played an important role in shaping the course of our nation. We have our own perspective at Eyeonmiami, where we have been blogging virtually every day for the past two years. And to what end?

For one, we wanted to share views that the print media in Miami was loathe to express, for fear of alienating advertisers especially at a time of excruciating pain for media shareholders and owners. There are no barriers of entry to the blogsphere in a democracy, and we felt there was a hunger for information to help people understand the underlying forces affecting our lives; as citizens and taxpayers.

For a very long time, the conservative right has prevailed in its bullying of the traditional media; claiming that it is part of a "liberal elite". In fact, the opposite is true. But it has been a tactic that served its purposes and until the advent of the blogsphere-- where alternative points of view help to shape public opinion-- it was a tactic that helped foster fear, shock and awe.

Sometimes the blogsphere feels like an enormous river whose current is directed, not by an editorial decision in an executive office, but the aggregate interests of people. People at the margins or extreme edges all have the opportunity to run along the river bank waving their fishing poles and flags; eventually enough voices put together end up sounding a lot like a story-line, a narrative that readers can understand and relate to.

There are two clear examples how the blogsphere has influenced public perception. The first, the war in Iraq. In this case, the mainstream media was willing-- in the early years of the war-- to give the Bush doctrine a free pass on a war engaged under false pretenses. The second example is the economy and the origins of the housing market crash. Beholden to an insider ethic that does not accept dissent, homebuilders and mainstream media both failed to identify the causes of the biggest asset bubble in US economic history. The blogsphere was the only place where voters could turn to understand the scope and scale of unfolding news on the economy affecting so many people.

Among the stories I read this morning, there is one notable view in relation to the blogsphere: how the "Bradley effect" (feared, that white voters would tell pollsters they were voting for Obama but vote instead for McCain) turned into the "Buffett effect" (that white voters who might be expected to vote for McCain, voted for Obama instead because Republicans should be held accountable for the economic wreckage of the past eight years.) I believe the blogsphere played a very important role in delineating for people, a shadow economy built on false values.

Long before the mainstream media picked up the scent of economic trouble, blogs like Eyeonmiami were on the case. We knew what was happening, because we lived the experience; especially in relation to local events like decisions at the county or city commission involving corrupt zoning and the heavy-handed influence of lobbyists and a campaign finance machine that the daily newspapers were loathe to criticize.

In sum, bloggers are part of a great river that moved American voters yesterday to choose Barack Obama to be our next president; a leader who just may have the intelligence, courage, and vision to provide a way forward through months and perhaps years that will be more difficult than we have faced in a century. Last night a lobbyist who is Republican came up to me and said, "We've made so many mistakes the past eight years, you deserve to win. It's your turn." What America makes of that "turn" awaits an answer.

Two years may seem like a long time to be blogging as a contribution to civic discourse and a civil society; but in Miami, especially, today feels a little bit like redemption.