CrunchPolitics

Today I came across a great parody of TechCrunch. Mix the terse judgments of Michael Arrington's writing and the everyday call of hunger and you get CrunchFood. The concept is hilarious ("The minute chicken kicked beef to the curb for dominant market share in the DAF (dead animal food) category, we knew it wouldn’t be long before the imitators would come looking for their slice of the pie.") but it also made me consider how the TechCrunch approach adapts to other subjects.

The TechCrunch concept offers timely summaries of internet products and companies. His book-report-style usually includes a summary of the offering, the team behind it, the strengths and weaknesses, and any relevant trends that are embodied by the company. Yes it's superficial, but when hundreds of web companies are popping onto the radar every week it's a useful service.

It occurred to me that this could be very useful in politics. There is loads of news coverage and plenty of outlets for candidate messages, but where can one find a summary of politicans? The recent departure of Alberto Gonzales has spurred many to write retrospective bios. We would have been better off seeing a critical profile of him before he took the job. However, since he was not directly elected this raises another point.

If we evaluated politicians in the same way that investors looked at companies we might make more informed choices. Consider the "team" behind each. For investors, management is a critical factor in deciding to back a company. I assume this is similarly important to the operation of a high-level national politician and yet I'm unaware of any politician that highlights his team. Are there specific experienced staff members that will be brought on board if elected? How will a politician lead a team of people trying to execute on his or her agenda? It might be complicated to try and sort this out but the information could lead to a better selection of politicians. If the team that Bush was planning to bring on board was an issue in the 2000 presidential race I wonder what would have turned out differently.