Leveling the Playing Field

Wow! The Presidential Cabinet is moving into the blogosphere! Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security and Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, have taken the plunge.

I think it's great. I've felt for some time that the blogosphere, in an odd sort of way, is a great humanizer. Yes, we are pretty invisible sitting at our keyboards pecking away, deluding ourselves that someone "out there" cares about what we have to say. Right. There are some 61 million of us. That's a lot of verbiage floating around cyberspace!

I have found, on the positive side, that bloggers are pretty much wysiwyg (what you see is what you get). That has been my experience on the local level anyway. When I've met fellow bloggers who's work I enjoy, I find that I also like the person. It goes the same for those who are mean spirited, or overly sarcastic or angry. Often they are the same in person. No matter which side of the spectrum, however, it's the honest portrayal of oneself as a blogger that interests me.

For years now the government has been fair game. There is not a topic you can think of that doesn't have a blog devoted to it. Especially when it comes to our government.

If my theory about how the real person comes through in their blog, it will be interesting to see the men behind the images of Michael Chertoff and Mike Leavitt. I'm looking forward to their personal take on issues for a change rather than someone else's interpretation.

A criticism is that government officials will be touting the government line. I would expect so. I would venture to say they hold their positions because they agree with that line. Not too many people leave the private sector for public service unless they are believers.

They have a right to defend those positions just as those who oppose them are free to attack them.

Some feel it is just another propaganda tool but that in itself is propaganda. At least they've joined the family. Bloggers. All 61 million of us!