Moment of Zen

Comparison of Elections: US President vs. German Federal President

Hey guys,
today the German Federal President has been reelected and I think this is a good basis for comparing the differences in election systems with regard to the use of new media devices.
One can regard the Federal President as the most powerful political figure as he represents the country in the world and can actually unseat the Federal Chancellor.
The use of new media devices was nearly imperceptible. There was not a real campaign, but the reason for this is, in my opinion, that the people may not elect the president itself. Another important factor is that the Federal Republic has been existing for exactly 60 years - it was founded in 1949. That is why there were several articles about the election always in connection with the "anniversary". But one did not stumble across a huge campaign - you have to be really interested in politics and willing to search for articles on the Internet. In contrast to this: there were several "shows" on TV which concentrated on the election - but not on the Internet!!
I found this page concerning Obama´s visit in Dresden in about a week:

http://www.dresden.de/obama/index.php


Over the last week, there were actually more articles on Internet pages discussing Obama´s visit, which sights he will visit, how the Secret Service is concerned with his security and so on and so on and so on and so on..... :)

This is the YouTube video showing the Federal President Horst Köhler being reelected (for those who are actually interested as one cannot elect him personally):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMbMfocqpP0