Netanyahu Goes Obama-style

Ron Dermer, one of Mr. Netanyahu’s top campaign advisers, is quoted in the New York Times as saying: “We’re all in the same business, so we took a close look at a guy who has been the most successful and tried to learn from him. And while we will not use the word ‘change’ in the same way in our campaign, we believe Netanyahu is the real candidate of change for Israel.”

and the story goes on:

Sani Sanilevich, who is managing Mr. Netanyahu’s Internet campaign, said the Web was one of the biggest focuses of the campaign, and with good reason.

“The main advantage of the Internet is the ability to communicate with citizens and people directly,” he said. “You can actually hear them and get them involved in this campaign. The whole idea is, together we can succeed.”

The phrase “Together we can succeed” is the campaign slogan on the Netanyahu site, and it echoes, to some extent, Mr. Obama’s “Yes we can.”

Actually, if you do go to the site you will find that Bibi's party, the Likud, is totally marginalized, minimalized and virtually (pun!) done away with.

The site exudes a very personal campaign but he did that before in 1996 to a great extent.

Of course, despite the wide use of Internet in Israel (see here and also here), the ability of a candidate, like Obama has accomplished, to motivate, involve and organize voters via a web site is virtually untested. Exactly what affects the voter is a bit unknown. The TV election spot ads, all shown within a specific time slot, are notorious for being a waste although what they do do is engender stories and debates while holding the fort for the party. Don't forget, Israel votes party lists, not candidates. There is no split vote for the Knesset.

But, at least Bibi made the New York Times which will boomerang back in Israel.

Which was probably the whole point of the article.