TechCrunch also wrote about Obama's plan to host fireside chats on YouTube, reminding me of FDR's fireside chats during another challenging time for our nation.

We live in a very historic time, and I'm trying to soak it all up to learn for the long-term.

Update 11/17: Just noticed Francois Gossieaux's post on the subject of cause marketing in the Obama campaign in his Facebook status update.  A good read.  Let's hope that Obama leverages the Millennials for civic causes, given his social momentum.  BTW, Francois does some good interviews, so it is worth following his blog.

Update 11/19: Twittermaven writes about Obama's success on Twitter being copied by the G7.

When voting moves online, as it undoubtedly will (just think about all of the tax money we would save if we did not have to set up temporary voting centers everywhere), the marriage of social media and election campaigns will be that much more profound.

To be frank, I do realize that the title of my post is too far reaching.  The reality is that Obama is a truly great man and therefore a good subject for word of mouth to flourish about.  Andy Sernovitz, the founder of WOMMA and Bazaarvoice Advisory Board member, has taught us – great subjects (products, people, services, etc.) easily generate word of mouth by just asking people to help and share.

On a personal note, I took a short vacation this weekend in Laguna Beach to recharge after my week in Amsterdam to speak at Shop.org's first Global E-Commerce Summit, then back to Austin for Halloween (I couldn't miss it with our 4-year old daughter), followed by a week in London for our own sold-out Summit (recap here).  I'm here for the Piper Jaffray Global Internet Summit kicking off on Monday night.  And vacation allowed me catch up on reading some great opinion pieces in the NY Times.  This is a truly historic period that we are living in, and I encourage you to read a few of these if you have the time – they are well worth it:

• It Still Felt Good the Morning After by Frank Rich
• Show Me the Money by The World Is Flat author Tom Friedman
• Obama and the War on Brains by Nicholas Kristof
• The Climate for Change by Al Gore

We had the pleasure of hosting Kelly Mooney, President of Resource Interactive and my peer on the Shop.org Board of Directors, as one of our keynote speakers at our Social Commerce Summit last week (note: the event was amazing, see the recap post from Sam Decker, our CMO).  Kelly was great, as always.  Her interview of Ze Frank, one of our Advisory Board members, was fantastically thought-provoking and entertaining.  Hey keynote presentation on The Open Brand, her new book (see my interview of Kelly), was also top-notch.  What I remembered most from her presentation was the "Yes We Can" shared community video produced by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.  Kelly blogs about it here (her blog is one of the few that I personally follow).  The video is an awesome expression of community participation and user-generated content (note: mouse over the mosiac as it plays).

Whether or not you support Obama, his innovative use of the online channel will be emulated for future democratic elections.  And as politics gets more "open", that will benefit us all.  Just like customer-generated reviews benefits all with better products and services (at our Summit, I learned that Wal-Mart drops any product nationwide after it gets a certain number of negative reviews online), so will politics as candidates engage in openness.

Millennials will demand this as they have grown up online, marinating in "community".  I found Wired's Founding Editor's letter to his children (Millennials themselves) in this month's issue especially uplifting given the gravity of change we need (when speaking of the global warming issue alone).  Here's the best excerpt:

Strauss and Howe's [of Generations] description of Millennials inspired us: "This generation will show more teamlike spirit and more like-mindedness in action than most Americans then alive will recall ever having seen in young people… Millennials will carry out whatever crisis mission they are assigned — as long as they can connect it with their own secular blueprint for progress. If crisis brings war, soldiers will obey orders without complaint. If it involves environmental danger or natural resource depletion, young scientists will make historic breakthroughs. If the crisis is mostly economic, the youthful labor force will be a mighty engine of renewed American prosperity. Whatever their elder-bestowed mission, these rising youths will not disappoint. Assuming the crisis turns out well, Millennials will be forever honored as a generation of civic achievers."

What's heartening to me, Orson and Zoe, is that even though you and your peers have grown up watching your parents become self-absorbed, hypocritical, and now plain crotchety and rancorous (not Jane and me, of course), and even if you stand in the rubble of the social institutions toppled by the Digital Revolution, your response is not the me-me-me of your parents' generation but us-us-us. Whether you're addressing climate change or serving in Iraq, you are simultaneously more traditionalist and future-forward, more practical and idealistic, than your parents.

The challenge is obvious, the dangers present, the need great. But be optimistic. I would say that, wouldn't I, since we were often accused during my time at Wired of being overly optimistic. But optimism is not false hope, it's a strategy for living. If you are optimistic about the future, you will step up and take responsibility and attempt to make it better for yourselves and your own children.