Last night, President Obama told the country in no uncertain terms that "death panels," originally the invention of New York's former Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey, are in fact the imaginary product of a twisted mind.

He finally debunked the much-propagated myth of these panels arising from his healthcare reform plan as "a lie, plain and simple."

Although Obama might have been wise to say something during August, when the concept was blazing across the country, his team has actually been battling the War of Public Opinion on the Internet for some time now.

In fact, he and his allies have been purchasing huge volumes of Google ads, also known as AdWords, for search terms like "death panels," "health care reform bill," "euthanasia," and the always-popular "Obamageddon" for several weeks.  The L.A. Times reported that no public policy debate in history has produced the kind of Web ad buying frenzy happening now, including the Iraq war.

What we are seeing is that the Web-heavy campaigns run by Obama and McCain last year have permanently altered the way political discourse happens in America. In other words, as Americans live more and more of their lives on the Web, they will make their decisions in large part on what they see on and via Google.  

Cable news blather is not going anywhere. But when a concerned organization wants to get into the debate, it is often now done so by purchasing Internet advertising. What separates Google's AdWords from the display advertising you see on Web sites is that AdWords is tied to what people are searching for.  That means these ads are displayed next to information people are specifically looking for.  

As such, our Keyword Culture is perfect for search engine advertising. We can trace the political discourse of this decade through its catch words and phrases. Hanging chad. Osama. Swiftboating. Joe the Plumber. And the list goes on.

For those savvy enough to keep up on the Web's zeitgeist and buy into it, prime position in the public debate may be the reward.