Election Fever: The Obama-Jon Connection

At a time of economic recession and social/cultural/religious polarization and demonization, Barack Obama's landslide victory is an eloquent signifier of peoples' longings for a more positive politics. A politics of change, reconciliation, and inspiration hoped for not just by Americans but really by citizens the world over. How can anyone resist Obama fever? Yes, we can! GOBAMA!

More than his excellent campaign strategists (credited for running a smooth, professional campaign from start to finish), I think Obama's historic win owes more to the hardcore Obama fans, who displayed levels of public participation previously unheard of. From Obama Girl's racy YouTube videos to Facebook fundraising groups to door-to-door campaign volunteers, Obama fans proved that change at the top can swell from bottom-up support.

As media scholar Sonia Livingstone has eloquently said before, fans are the most active of audiences. And Obama's win tonight should make us think through our assumptions of fans such as Trekkies or Potterphiles as mere geeks and see them also as potentially very creative and engaged citizens!

Speaking of elections... guess who got elected himself as Graduate Student Representative of the International Communication Association (ICA).

I seriously didn't think I had a chance as I was running against four other candidates. My personal statement sounded ditzy compared to the others, as I tried to be somewhat irreverent, thinking that grad students would want a "fun", "relatable" representative. Looking back, I think I patterned my campaign after Sarah Palin. And it worked!

I'm especially excited because my boss will be one of my idol media theorists, Cornel Sandvoss. Cornel is the Chair of the Popular Communication Division and the author of Fans: The Mirror of Consumption.

It also means that I get to go to Chicago for the ICA conference in May! Win! GObama! Go media studies! Go Pinas!