The victory of Barack Obama for the United States Presidency was deemed one of the major victories of the Democratic Party. It also was viewed as a critical loss for the Republican Party. Nine days after the US Election Day on November 4, 2008, the Republican Governors Association held a meeting in Miami, Florida. They would cite problems within the party.
GOP Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota said that the GOP could not compete in the Northeast and the West Coast. He added that they are losing the ability to battle it out in the Great Lakes states.
Frank Lutz, a communications expert, said that one of the problems with the GOP is that the party is not tech savvy. He would make references to Obama’s BlackBerry. He said that Senator John McCain of Arizona, the GOP Presidential rival, did not know how to use one.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of Senator McCain, gave her criticism of the GOP. She would write in a blog on “The Daily Beast.” Meghan said that it is no secret that the Republican Party is deficient when it comes to the Internet.
She said that the GOP needs to learn from GOP Representative Ron Paul of Texas and US President Barack Obama. Meghan compared the number of FaceBook supporters between her father and Obama. She said that Obama has over five million while her father has five-hundred thousand.
“Unless the GOP evolves as the party that can successfully utilize the Web, we’ll continue to lose influence. I think nothing confirms this fact to be more true than this recent election,” Meghan said.
In her post on The Daily Beast, Meghan may have torn the GOP a new one. She issued a warning to the GOP. She said that it needs to join the digital age and learn how to use the Internet. Meghan said if the GOP fails to do that, younger voters will join the other side.
So far, it looks like the GOP is getting on the case. There was the recent GOP Tech Summit. Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele organized the event at the Capitol Hill Club. This was to bring together ideas on how the GOP could utilize technology to its advantage.
“When we get to 2010, I want my campaigns here,” Steele said as he held up his cell phone at the event. In this respect, Steele is pushing for the GOP to embrace more technology.
So far, there are those that say that the GOP has a technology problem. However, there are Republicans that insist that technology is not the problem.