I don't know U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill from Adam. She could be the sweetest, most caring person in the world. I don't know much about her, but when I look at her Twitter page, arrogance is the first thing I think of. My friend and political strategist Warren Tompkins has been writing a lot about the arrogance of the liberal elite, and I see no better example than Claire McCaskill's web strategy.
According to TweetCongress, she's the second-most followed member of Congress on Twitter, although Sen. Jim DeMint is quickly gaining on her. Despite having 36,691 followers as of the morning of March 8, McCaskill is only following one person. That screams arrogance. It’s as if she’s saying, “It's all about ME. I don’t care about you.”
Twitter is a tool for two-way communications. It's where elected officials can feel the pulse of the electorate. Yet McCaskill uses it to tell her followers about University of Missouri basketball and plans for breakfast.
As I’ve said many times, the Internet is an important tool for campaigns and elected officials to do what they want to do. From the website, to Facebook, to Twitter and email, there are endless ways to connect with voters and keep people informed. But it’s more than just letting people know what you’re doing. It’s about hearing what’s on other people’s minds too. A politico who is not following people is like that jerk at a party who has to be the center of attention, who only talks about his/her self, and who could give a damn about other people.
Yes, this is a representative democracy. People are elected to cast votes because nationwide direct democracy isn’t an effective form of government. However, because someone is elected to lead, that doesn’t mean they can stop listening to people. While McCaskill may well be browsing papers from across Missouri and brought concerns from home received by her staffers, her Twitter account is like an alarm going off.
Having a 36,000-to-one followers-to-following ratio says that she might be just a little out of touch with involved voters in the Show-Me State.
Oh, and then there's John McCain.
