It looks as though politicians have finally discovered the use of graphics to discover relationships and elucidate truth.  The Huffington Post today hand an article commenting on the ‘Jedi Master’ of graphics, Edward Tuft and his potential affect on political discourse:

“And the Democrats STILL seem decades behind Wall Street when it comes to the importance not just of video but of data visualization. For every thousand Bloomberg charts visualizing the Crash of 08 and illustrating the absurdity of derivatives, the White House has produced only one chart of any visual resonance. The Good News here: The White House has tapped the Guru of data visualization,Edward Tufte, to serve on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel and, in that role, “to foster transparency on Recovery spending by providing the public with accurate, user-friendly information.” One hopes the White House Communications shop and Blue State Digital gurus – Hell, even Axelrod and Plouffe – take him to the White House Mess to learn a few more lessons from The Jedi Master. (The Dems 21t century Dream Team Consulting Firm: Axelrod, Plouffe, Tufte, Lakoff, Westen & Rospars/Phillips/Hughes. Now THEY would be worth any retainer…)

And, in fact, there are signs that the Obama braintrust is getting some Tuftian religion.”