Fast Company: Brand Obama

I suppose it is a compliment for a publication like Fast Company to do a cover story calling Democratic party presidential nominee frontrunner Barack Obama a “brand.” The article smushes the language of politics into business speak.

It’s primarily point is to underline the ways in which Obama’s “adaptive-leadership” technique has won with a millennial generation's embedded ethos of social Internet and shared knowledge committees.

The Web 2.0 homilies abound.

From the article: “Yet giving up control online, in the right way, unleashes its own power.

"The campaign's secret weapon, Chris Hughes...brought with him a mastery of the human side of social networking.”

“They've also taken advantage of messages created by others. The 'Yes We Can' mashup by the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am, starring a handful of his famous friends, cost the campaign nothing and became a viral hit.”

The article does nothing for Obama (he did not participate in the article), and it sounds like canned news for Fast Company. "Yes, we canned," I suppose…Nice cover shot though. Makes me feel sorry for poor ole Al Gore.