• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 6, 2009

CBS News' Bob Schieffer offers that "the most successful politicians were the ones who mastered whatever the prominent medium of their time was."

The founders of the country in the 1770s "were great writers." FDR was able to connect with the American people in spectacular fashion through the radio and his "Fireside Chats." Next came JFK, who understood the power of television, allowing his news conferences to be broadcast live.

“He charmed America and he changed forever the way the presidency works,” Schieffer said.

After JFK, came Newt Gingrich in the early 1990s who was able to use C-Span to his advantage. Realizing that once the House adjourned for the day, representatives could take advantage of what's known as "special orders" when House members can take over the floor and comment at length and rail against the opposition with no time constraints.

And C-Span, which covers every minute of official House business, carried all the speeches live -- and GOP used the floor time to advance their cause, Schieffer said, which “led to Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives” in 1994. (To be sure, it's tough to view C-Span as a dominant medium, but Gingrich realized "special orders" offered a sort of reality TV and the speeches drew an audience.)

In 2008, Obama was “not only a good speaker who captured the mood of America … but he also came to understand where his primary competition did not the power of the Internet.”

Obama may have dabbled in it, but who will master Twitter? raising money and getting message out directly to people

“had a great deal to do with wininng”

ragean

are you better off now than you are four years ago

yes w can “best politican slogans that any polictinsa have come up with” no one know what he mant “but it was warm and fuzzy”