2016 – The Year When eMails Changed the World

When Barack Obama won the presidential election 8 years ago and became the 44th president of the US, he did it with the help of social media and the ability to spark the young generation of Americans. He appeared on talk shows, spoke with engagement on political change, and he even convinced the ‘Land of Liberty’ that increased taxes wasn’t probably that bad.

He had a vision of a better America, and he became a pioneer in reaching out with his message using various online sites along with social media sites such as YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook.

His success could much be attributed to how he managed to mobilize activists, donations, and voters through the Internet. He appealed to the grassroots worker around the country and he set fundraising records by engaging small donors.

With days to go until the 2016 Presidential election, no one knows (or cares?) about the political agenda of the democratic or republican representatives. Trump wants to “Make America Great Again”, a phrase that everyone knows but no-one knows what it means. At the other side we have Hillary, with the only ambition to dislike Trump and explain what emails she did or didn’t write.

When searching for “Hillary” on Google, the 3rd suggestion is “Hillary email”

So what’s the controversy about? In a nutshell, when serving as Secretary of State, Hillary used her family’s private email server for work purpose, which violated State Department protocols and federal laws and regulations governing recordkeeping. She basically used an insecure server to send top secret material, which resulted in several unsuccessful and successful hacking attempts. Hillary first assured that she did not send any classified material, but later it was revealed that she indeed did.

However, the really big blow for Hillary occurred with only 8 days to go to the election when FBI investigators found emails on Anthony Weiner’s computer when searching his computer for evidence of sending sexually explicit texts to a fifteen year old girl. What they found instead was “potentially relevant” emails to the Clinton server investigation. No one knows if those emails contain anything harmful for Hillary, but FBI decided to release the information despite its potential effect on the pending presidential election. This to prevent the possibility that it would be leaked in another way and then get back on FBI.

And now we’re in a situation where no one knows what’s in the mails (probably not even Clinton), and the uncertainty is hurting Hillary’s campaign massively. The result is that we have a presidential election debate solely about emails, which suits Trump perfectly since he can smear Hillary instead of explaining how he will make America great again (if it ever was).

Never have emails played such an important role in deciding who will become the most powerful person on earth.

It’s evident that the outcome of the presidential election 2016 doesn’t depend on political change or ambition. When Americans go to vote, it will come down to 1) can we trust Hillary and 2) can we live with the alternative.

The answer is probably NO to both, but on Tuesday the 8^th of November there needs to be a Yes to one of them. If the latter alternative becomes a reality, Australia and Canada can expect a storm of Americans migrants to knock on the door.

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Anders Hampf
Senior Online Marketing Manager