“German politicians are drawing on the lessons of the U.S. presidential campaign by embracing the Internet and experimenting with townhall meetings, but what worked for Barack Obama seems to be backfiring here.”

“Both candidates are using chatrooms, blogs and Twitter to woo voters and have used U.S-style townhall formats in television appearances.”

But…”You can’t copy and paste Obama because that would be the wrong thing to do and it can quickly turn out to be embarrassing,”

“The trouble for the campaign managers, analysts say, is that no amount of innovative tactics can compensate for a lack of substance.”

Huh? I thought that is how Obama got elected in the first place. Whatever.

“Just last year, former SPD General Secretary Hubertus Heil was ridiculed after he tried to get party conference delegates to chant ‘Yes, we can!’ only to be met with a deafening silence.”