Debate demócrata en YouTube

El primer debate en el ciberespacio, pero no su primera incursión en ese mundo.

US presidential candiates questioned via YouTube

In the United States, a political debate with a difference; next year's presidential candidates will be questioned by voters via YouTube, the public access video website.

Keith Adams reports on this growing role of the internet in American politics:

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Some of the 3000 questions submitted to YouTube for Monday's debate come from unlikely sources: a melting snowman asks about global warming, a tube of toothpaste asks about traffic congestion and a guinea pig asks if politicians are treating the voters like, yes, guinea pigs. But aside from the gimmicks, the vast majority of questions are short video clips, captured on computer-mounted cameras, from ordinary Americans:

(Montage of YouTube political questions)

Do you believe that the 2nd amendment gives all Americans the right to keep and carry firearms for defence...

We have 15,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, yet they're still the leading producer of opium...

Out of the 80,000 chemicals we use in this country, only 12 have been specifically...

Everyday, thousands of jobs are lost to low-wage workers in countries like China and India. If elected, what would you do to stop this?

In 1960, when a nervous, sweating Richard Nixon faced a well-groomed, confident John F Kennedy in a televised debate, it was said the medium had arrived as the most powerful political tool. The same cannot perhaps be said yet for the internet - but it is now playing a significant role in campaigning. Candidates are posting their own blogs and video clips, and Hilary Clinton has even appeared in the virtual world, "Second Life". And how else would this cat from the West Coast get to collar the candidates directly?

"My name is Catsa and I have a question about the safety of cat food coming from China...Mioaowwww....."

Keith Adams, BBC News

 Listen to the words

submitted
enviadas (por ejemplo, preguntas enviadas a través de YouTube)

unlikely sources
(provenientes) de fuentes poco probables

snowman
muñeco de nieve

a guinea pig
conejillo de Indias o cobaya. Curiosamente, en este caso, la cobaya pregunta si los políticos tratan a los votantes como objetos de experimento o conejillos de India

gimmicks
montajes, trucos de distracción o artimañas

sweating
sudado o perspirado

campaigning
hacer campaña - en este caso indican que el internet juega un papel importante en las campañas electorales

posting
publicando (sus propios blogs)

blogs
Blogs o bitácoras digitales (estos son sitios en internet donde se recopilan cronológicamente mensajes de uno o varios autores)

to collar
'To collar' significa captar la atención de alguien, en este caso para que contesten preguntas específicas. En inglés suelen usar frases ambiguas, por eso es importante destacar que la palabra 'to collar' también significa literalmente amarrar (poner un collar). Es curioso entonces que este reportaje concluye con un montaje de un gato presentando su pregunta

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