Auto Parts for Brains

I can still remember, how not more than three years ago, an attack to the former president, George Bush was done on the internet.  This made his biographical page on the Whitehouse.gov site appear as the number 1 result for a search for the word “miserable failure”.  This was quickly resolved by Google and was identified as something called a googlebomb.   Though an obvious pun, this was not something of a laughing matter, especially since it is an attack to the person of the former president and his seat.

Now, with President Barack Obama having just assumed office, it looks like the former president gave him far more than economic problems and the troubles of war from his term.

Less than three days since the new president took over, search engines are now showing Barack Obama at the top results for “miserable failure” on Yahoo and for “failure” on Google.  This was explained by internet marketer Danny Sullivan on his blog as a result of “redirects” that were used to correct the problem before.  He actually gave a call to action for the former president’s IT team to clean up that problem before the change in administration (and website) happens.  It looks like that warning was not heeded.

Anyway as of today, here are the results.

I think Whitehouse and the search engines will solve this problem soon enough, especially now that it was brought to the public’s attention.  Looking at this problem though, I have learned a few things.

1. The previous slander was not only an attack to the former president as a person but an attack to his seat as well.  For years now, the presidential seat has been subject to the most demeaning things on and offline.  The people have lost respect not only to the former person who occupies it but to the seat as well.  This is why I think the new President spoke a lot about getting  back to our roots.  I feel that one of the things he understands he is facing is the challenge of earning back the honor and respect the title “President of the United States” carries.
2. This simple error showed me just how for the first few months of his term, President Obama will have to put out some fires the former administration have made.  This search engine mishap is a small thing compared to the economic problems and threats to security we now face.
3. Google and Yahoo are a powerful medium in communicating ideas and opinions about people and ideals.

I am personally positive about the change in the presidency.  I feel that a good change is indeed coming soon.  At present though the fact is; that President Obama has not only the problems of the future to face, but the ghosts of administration past.