Barack Obama to Take Fireside Chats into the 21st Century with Weekly YouTube Clips

President-Elect Barack Obama is showing his social savvy in the Digital Age. As reported in The Washington Post last week, Obama not only put his weekly Democratic address on YouTube last Saturday, but plans to regularly post online Q&A videos and interviews both at his Web site, change.gov, and on the popular video Web site, YouTube. The next step, say political observers and YouTube head of news and politics, Steve Grove, is an Internet video version of the "fireside chats" first popularized on radio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1944.

By Niki D'Andrea

November 18, 2008

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By Niki D'Andrea

Barack Obama draws more parallels to FDR with Internet "fireside chats."

President-Elect Barack Obama is showing his social savvy in the Digital Age. As reported in The Washington Post, Obama not only put his weekly Democratic address on YouTube last Saturday, but plans to regularly post online Q&A videos and interviews both at his Web site, change.gov, and on the popular video Web site, YouTube. The next step, say political observers and YouTube head of news and politics, Steve Grove, is an Internet video version of the "fireside chats" first popularized on radio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1944.

In the YouTube interview below (from November of last year), Obama says he plans to have "fireside chats" on video:

Whether Obama will follow through on his weekly Internet address plans once he takes office in January remains to be seen, but the Obama YouTube channel and change.gov have been updated with new videos every week. The latest YouTube video (below) is a message from Obama for The Global Climate Summit, which got underway today in Los Angeles:

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Niki D'Andrea has covered subjects including drug culture, women's basketball, pirate radio stations, Scottsdale staycations, and fine wine. She has worked at both New Times and Phoenix Magazine, and is now a freelancer.

Contact: Niki D'Andrea