2008 Presidential Candidates: a website review (Blog 5)

Rudy Giuliani Rudy has a good website and he wants us to call him Rudy. I guess because of 9/11, he's in the same name recognition league as Hillary or Cher, and so he's capitalizing on that. He's the Big Crime Fighter, and people soak that up. His top story right now is demanding the cancellation of aid to Yemen for realeasing the mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. Also, his prayers to CA victim of fires and praise for the firefighters. His YouTube page is a FOX news clip "Rudy's Close Call, Saved by one mob vote" We'll go after illegals and go after them the way we went after criminals in NY. Immigration, he knows is a passionate issue for people and he's got a very sharp focus on being the crime fighter for America. Looking deeper into the site, it seems obvious that he's the favorite FOX TV candidate and that is a turnoff to me.

John McCain website focused on his WWII career and POW status. I didn't get an immediate feel for what he wants to do for the country today. I learned more about his wife than I needed to know. And her page on volunteer info was all text, no interesting graphics or photos and it sort of bothers me that his charities are mostly all her charities! But mainly, I'm not that interested. She's not running. I thought that "Cindy's Recipes" was a weird feature. It was better to call them McCain Family Recipes as they didn inside each actual receipt. But, honestly, they weren't even that special. Rosemary Chicken with Spinich Salad? What's so special about that and what does it tell us about our candidate? This website is tedious and boring.

One thing that bugged me about all 6 out of the 10 websites was to be greeted with a "sign in" screen first. In some cases, that even caused a "runtime error" on my computer, which is a hassle. It's just too aggressive, in my opinion. I know it's hard to design a website to bring about a 'call to action' but I'd prefer a better approach than to simply put that in place of a "Welcome" message.

Hillary Clinton Once I got past the "sign in screen" on Hillary's site, there were some good features. I love the simplicity of the graphics. Her photos are very friendly as well. She creates a mood of being someone you can relate to. Her primary focus is to help the middle class, health care and women's issues. These are all very important for our country, issues that need help now. he interviews with her constituants were fantastic....really set a mood of someone they respect, trust and appreciate. It was a perfect blend. It was very smart to have the video clips throughout the About Hillary section.

In contrast, the Mitt Romney site was very poorly designed. It didn't "hang together" with an overall feeling. It was more of a template, very little custom design or creativity and way more text than photos and graphics. He's to a huge Red Cross logo splashed across the top. Does he want this website to be about the Red Cross, or about Mitt Romney as President?? This speaks to his ability to build a team of people around him and whether they have the sort of talent that we need from our next adminstration. His focus is mostly about 'family values' and that to me is more of a code word rather than a real political agenda. Like the other Republicans, he seems to want the status quo of low taxes and small government.

Gettting back to Hillary's site, she obviously isn't afraid to be aggressive, which appeals to a large segment of the population. For example, on her "HillaryHub" news section features a big photo of Sen. Obama and slams him for "attacking her character." I don't know if he actually did attack her character, but once that is screamed in a headline, it barely makes a difference if it's true or not. She is obviously determined to use every single day, including her own birthday, as an opportunity to raise money and get people to commit their support. She's a fighter, that's for sure.

I really liked John Edwards website. He is sort of a hipper, younger, better looking Al Gore. By placing Global Warming as his top issue, I think he can appeal to many of the liberals who have been won over by Gore career and that maybe the Edwards campaign is trying to position him that way. The family photo was also very appealing, but frankly for me that a bit of a turn off as well. He's taking on corporations, including the drug companies, and that's gutsy. On the down side, he has young children and his wife is battling cancer and I worry about a man who has that many pressures and demands on him. I kind of like it when the kids are already older and on their own. This next period in U.S. history is going to demand a full time President. I didn't care for his blog section. There were too many comments by Joe Blow, and many of them were the same hostile, griping tone that dominates the internet discussion boards. They are a real turn off. I'd rather listen to John and form my own conclusions.

Bill Richardson has a great story to tell. I really like this man and I've followed his career. The info was all there on his website, his story and character, but I wonder if other people are going to be as drawn into it. He has a lighter touch, not to clobber you over the head, and for a lot of Americans, they seem to need clobbering! Richardson lays out his views and the issues very well, very succinctly. But he's not going to be the showman that I think is needed in this race. His strength is that he can relate to the foreign issues of the day. He has experience oversees as well as governing a state and so he really does have a lot of the skills it takes to be a good President. I hope that he will be in the government for a long time and this campaign run will at least introduce him to another big chuck of Americans. He could be a great vice president.

Barack Obama website took a long time to load. That can be hard for people who don't have a fast connection. But at least he didn't put the "sign in" screen up front! A lot of the site was videos and commercials and, frankly, I didn't want to watch commercials because they are so manipulative. Like the one that showed his position on the war in Iraq. At first, he's giving a speech, and all of a sudden we hear a dozen citizens give their opinions in a script format. He did have some attractive photos of big smiles and it's that warmth that probably will get him a lot of support.....that and his position on cutting off funding for the war in Iraq. He positions himself as an agent of change and a person of conviction and committed to public service.

Fred Thompson just seems like a TV character, not a serious political leader. His bio is extremely short and I think his lack of depth is summerized by his quote, "“Occasionally, doors have opened to me,” Senator Fred Dalton Thompson told Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday in a recent interview, “and I had sense enough to see that they were opening, and I would walk through them.” That doesn't inspire any great hopes for his leadership.

If the election were held today, I would vote for Hillary Clinton. This would be a 'prospective', expecting that she will continue to focus on the priorities that she has worked on over her entire lifetime. I think that she has some of the best connections in the world and will appoint a progressive Cabinet and will seek to work with all members of Congress to get some important legislation accomplished. She could secure a lasting legacy for her and her husband, by making good on her goals for improving the condition of the middle class and making great strides in affordable healthcare and championing the needs of women, not just in this country, but worldwide. She and Bill got beat up very badly by the conservatives and humiliated by a bogus impeachment trial. I think she can earn the respect of the country and I'd like to give her a chance to do it.