Spring Break
Obama: gamers' president?
Fernando Dutra
Issue date: 11/11/08 Section: Focus
When President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, he will become the 44th president of the United States of America. Given the rhetoric used in his speeches, telling young adults around the nation to "turn off the television set, and put the video games away," what does an Obama presidency mean for those who play video games? The last game he played was "Pong," which was at its prime almost 30 years ago.
Though Barack Obama hasn't said that games like "Grand Theft Auto" are "a silent epidemic of media desensitization," like Hilary Clinton did, Obama did say in a campaign commercial that "you can't make history from here," referencing a Nintendo Wii-remote. If Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who has a history of being anti-consumer, has any influence over Obama, then Obama may become critical of the industry.
The fullest documentation on record is that of a questionnaire Obama answered given by Common Sense Media during the Democratic Primaries almost two years ago. When he was asked about the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and what he thought about patrolling the video game industry, Obama responded by saying he would ask the video game industry to voluntarily improve the ratings system to make it easier to understand. "If the industry fails to act, then my administration would. And even if the industry does do some responsible self-policing, there's still a role for the federal government to play."
This is the closest Obama's administration has come to explaining their potential role in the medium.
On the campaign trail, Obama has consistently said video game playing is an indolent activity, acting as an opiate of young society. In The Washington Post, Obama said, "We're going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children."
Around the time of the April launch of "Grand Theft Auto IV," Obama remarked "I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is going to break all records, make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it ... Now this isn't intended for kids, I understand - although I promise you there will be kids who are playing it. But those video games are raising our kids."
Interestingly enough, Obama's campaign has been hailed as one of the most embracing of technology. It is perhaps for this reason that Obama hasn't expressly condemned video games - he has just expressed concerns that they are getting in the way of the work that has to be done to move the United States forward. He also hasn't attacked them, as countless others have done, for their violent tendencies.
Toward the later days of the presidential campaign, Obama appeared to shift his stance on video games. He reportedly spent over $44,000 of his campaign money on in-game video game ads. Games included "Burnout Paradise," "Madden NFL '09," "NBA Live '08," and "Need For Speed: Carbon," aside from 14 other games. These games featured banners or billboards that said "Early Voting has Begun. Voteforchange.com. Paid for by Obama for Presidency." This may seem hypocritical, but this was an
Though Barack Obama hasn't said that games like "Grand Theft Auto" are "a silent epidemic of media desensitization," like Hilary Clinton did, Obama did say in a campaign commercial that "you can't make history from here," referencing a Nintendo Wii-remote. If Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who has a history of being anti-consumer, has any influence over Obama, then Obama may become critical of the industry.
The fullest documentation on record is that of a questionnaire Obama answered given by Common Sense Media during the Democratic Primaries almost two years ago. When he was asked about the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and what he thought about patrolling the video game industry, Obama responded by saying he would ask the video game industry to voluntarily improve the ratings system to make it easier to understand. "If the industry fails to act, then my administration would. And even if the industry does do some responsible self-policing, there's still a role for the federal government to play."
This is the closest Obama's administration has come to explaining their potential role in the medium.
On the campaign trail, Obama has consistently said video game playing is an indolent activity, acting as an opiate of young society. In The Washington Post, Obama said, "We're going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children."
Around the time of the April launch of "Grand Theft Auto IV," Obama remarked "I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is going to break all records, make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it ... Now this isn't intended for kids, I understand - although I promise you there will be kids who are playing it. But those video games are raising our kids."
Interestingly enough, Obama's campaign has been hailed as one of the most embracing of technology. It is perhaps for this reason that Obama hasn't expressly condemned video games - he has just expressed concerns that they are getting in the way of the work that has to be done to move the United States forward. He also hasn't attacked them, as countless others have done, for their violent tendencies.
Toward the later days of the presidential campaign, Obama appeared to shift his stance on video games. He reportedly spent over $44,000 of his campaign money on in-game video game ads. Games included "Burnout Paradise," "Madden NFL '09," "NBA Live '08," and "Need For Speed: Carbon," aside from 14 other games. These games featured banners or billboards that said "Early Voting has Begun. Voteforchange.com. Paid for by Obama for Presidency." This may seem hypocritical, but this was an
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