Author Archives: Spencer

The Meg Whitman Presidency

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Spencer

Written with Zach Friend for the Huffington Post. It would be easy for someone to think, as they are inundated with TV and radio ads, yard signs and precinct walkers, that Meg Whitman is actually running for California’s governorship. Such … Continue reading →

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Will Democrats Lose Big in November? Only if They Choose to

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Spencer

Written with Zach Friend for the Huffington Post. No ballots have been cast for November’s election, but apparently the outcome has already been decided: it isn’t whether Democrats will lose seats, it’s how badly they will be creamed. The talking … Continue reading →

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Quran-Burning Coverage: The Hollowness of “Storytelling” as a Journalistic Value

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Spencer

Written for the Huffington Post: It’s Journalism 101: You have to have a story. Who’s the protagonist? Who or what are they up against? And most importantly, what does it mean? It’s been a foundation of reporting for so long … Continue reading →

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The “Ground Zero Mosque”: The Perfect Republican Talking Point

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Spencer

Written for the Huffington Post:In the last post Zach Friend and I wrote, we detailed the recipe for a Republican Talking Point. In the short time since then there has appeared a perfect example: the “Ground Zero mosque.” It isn’t … Continue reading →

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Have Democrats Lost The Narrative?

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Spencer

By Zach Friend & Spencer Critchley, at Huffington Post: Time after predictable time, Republicans roll out a new set of bogus talking points. And time after time, Democrats argue the facts — and lose. That’s got to change. Here’s how … Continue reading →

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Obama’s Credit Gap – Why the President’s Victories Go Unnoticed

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Spencer

By Zach Friend & Spencer Critchley, at Huffington Post: We knew this was coming. The media have finally noticed the gap between Barack Obama’s extraordinary achievements — health care reform, financial reform and preventing a depression, to name a very … Continue reading →

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Op-Ed: Local think tank forming to take on sustainability

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Spencer

By now it’s clear that the future of the economy is a sustainable one, as global investment trends attest. As the cost of cleaner technologies falls ever lower, sustainability is becoming a question not of limits, but of opportunities.

Imagine, then, the possibilities for a region that combined these assets: world-class academic and defense institutions, excellent infrastructure, a coastal California/Pacific Rim location, some of the most fertile land in the world, a culture of innovation, and a quality of life that attracts talent from all over the planet.

There is such a region: We live in it. Continue reading →

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Obama promised, and is delivering, “a more perfect union”

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Spencer

Originally posted at Personal Democracy Forum / TechPresident, in reply to a post by Micah Sifry called “The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality”, which claims that Barack Obama has never really been committed to the grassroots. A … Continue reading →

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Why TV commercials are so loud

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Spencer

With Rep. Anna Eshoo’s bill to turn down TV ads in the news (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act), here again is my explanation of why ads sound so loud when broadcasters claim they hit the same levels as … Continue reading →

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Local Government 2.0

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Spencer

Government 2.0 is a big interest of mine – just like at the national level, I think we can make local government more open, participatory and productive by using technology intelligently. Although there’s been talk about this for a while, … Continue reading →

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