Obama Set To Be 1st "Wired" President

Washington Post: Campaign Expected To Use Internet For Unprecedented Communications Outreach, Circumventing Mainstream Media

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Shailagh Murray and Matthew Mosk.

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Armed with millions of e-mail addresses and a political operation that harnessed the Internet like no campaign before it, Barack Obama will enter the White House with the opportunity to create the first truly "wired" presidency.

Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream media.

Just as John F. Kennedy mastered television as a medium for taking his message to the public, Obama is poised to transform the art of political communication once again, said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist who first helped integrate the Internet into campaigning four years ago.

"He's going to be the first president to be connected in this way, directly, with millions of Americans," Trippi said.

The nucleus of that effort is an e-mail database of more than 10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in the campaign, though it wound up never needing the loan, senior aides said. At least 3.1 million people on the list donated money to Obama.

Millions more made up the volunteer corps that organized his enormous rallies, registered millions of voters and held countless gatherings to plug the senator to friends and neighbors. On Election Day, they served as the backbone of Obama's get-out-the-vote operation, reaching voters by phone and at the front door, serving coffee at polling stations and babysitting so parents could stand in line at voting precincts.

After Obama declared victory, his campaign sent a text message announcing that his supporters hadn't heard the last from the president-elect. Obama conveyed a similar message to his staff in a campaignwide conference call Wednesday, signaling that his election was the beginning, and not the culmination, of a political movement.

Accordingly, the president-elect's http://www.change.gov transition Web site features a blog and a suggestion form, signaling the kinds of direct and instantaneous interaction that the Obama administration will encourage, perhaps with an eye toward turning its following into the biggest special-interest group in Washington.

Once Obama is sworn in, those backers may be summoned to push reluctant members of Congress to support legislation, to offer feedback on initiatives and to enlist in administration-supported causes in local communities. Obama would also be positioned to ask his supporters to back his favored candidates with fundraising and turnout support in the 2010 midterm elections.

"There's this network of people now," said Martha Page, a neighborhood leader in Warren County, outside Cincinnati, where Obama managed to reduce a traditionally large Republican vote margin. Page received six calls Wednesday from volunteers looking for new assignments. "It's a sea change," she said.

People in technology circles have been musing for months about how Obama would use his list, said Peter Daou, who oversaw Internet operations for the Senate campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). "Once you have people connected through a network, you can't disconnect. It's like unbreaking an egg. People all across the country have formed these groups to support Obama. They've worked together for a successful purpose," Daou said. "You don't let go of that easily."

But Daou noted that the initiative could have a downside. Obama faced an intense backlash when he broke from the left on the issue of immunity for telecommunications companies that took part in the warrantless wiretapping program. "People who have helped you reach this historic goal by self-organizing can also organize in opposition to your policies," he said.

As part of the presidential transition, Obama officials are looking to add a significant "new media" component to the White House communications operation. The campaign employed 95 people in its Internet operation, building a user-friendly Web site that served as a platform for grass-roots activities and distributed statements, policy positions and footage of Obama events. The White House Web operation will follow a similar but probably more ambitious path, transition officials said.

The process is just beginning, and many questions remain unanswered. The simplest approach might be to convert the campaign organization into an incarnation aimed at 2012 and an anticipated run for reelection, but some inside the Obama team are concerned about appearing too overtly political. Another course could be to create a nonprofit organization. Obama officials said all options would be examined over the coming weeks.

Over the course of the campaign, Obama's e-mail list gathered not only names and contact information, but also details about issues important to those supporters.
In past years, such lists were considered useful tools for political campaigns but not particularly helpful for governing. But Peter Greenberger, manager of political advertising for Google, said such information could be a boon for Obama in building public support for policy proposals.

The White House could "geo-target" ads so they appear online in congressional districts where members remain undecided. Obama could use Internet ads to solicit signatures for petitions, or he could place display and video ads contextually -- so they would appear on the screen next to news coverage of his proposals.

"If there's an article in the New York Times or The Washington Post about health-care legislation," Greenberger said, "the administration or a pro-Obama advocacy organization could run an ad right alongside it."

Republicans have also seen the potential value in organizing online. In recent days, a small group of prominent young Republicans launched a Web site, http://www.rebuildtheparty.com, calling on their party's next chairman to use the Internet to organize and galvanize their grass roots.

"Online organizing is by far the most efficient way to transform our party structures to be able to compete against what is likely to be a $1 billion Obama re-election campaign in 2012," the Web site says.

".. e-mail database of more than 10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in the campaign..."
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I mistakenly assumed that the buying and selling of human beings was what got this country into trouble in the first place. It is such a short distance from collateral to chattel. How ironic! A black man owning white America, to be auctioned off for money and power or not, at his will. Mr. Bond, where are you when we need you? Tomorrow must never die!

[andor3]

So Obama continues to change... everything. I am proud of America again and prouder by the day, and he has not even started yet.

[andor3]

"I have NEVER had a foreign car, Nor have I had a foreign motorcycle.. "

What is a "foreign car"? A Toyota? A Honda? A Subaru? All are made in the USA by US workers. A Ford? Some are made overseas, and many parts are imported.

There is no such thing as a foreign car these days and it does not matter what kind you buy.

[comeon11]

mcapek................you''re upsurd. the economy took eight years to crash under the republicans, it will not take a few weeks to fix it. people are not buying that nonsense. obama will be in office for eight years. stop campaigning for 2012.

[incog-nito]

I do not but foreign products when I can buy American..

If more American''''s acted like I do then our country wouldn''''t be in the condition it is currently in..

Posted by libsh8theUSA at 06:00 PM : Nov 10, 2008

America is in its current state because "American" corporations lobbyied for and got "free trade" agreements that removed tariffs on imports, so that they can make bigger profits from selling cheap imported goods instead of paying American workers their due wages. The American people have nothing to do with it. They never clamored for free trade. Of course people will look for bargains to save money, especially when the big expenses like housing and health care and education continue to skyrocket year after year while their real income stays stagnant, a major reason being the outsourcing of jobs to other countries.

[skeetchamp]

What the Obama Team should consider is that by putting their mailing list on government computers they will be making all that information government property. The campaign went to considerable expense to acquire the information they have and once they do this any senator or congressman or republican activist or 527 can obtain and use it for their own purposes.

[oteliabatts]

Wow!! If Bush and Chaney wasn''t impreached for killing americain soldiers for a war we didnt need Obama should be able to stay in office for two terms..

[solarrays247-2009]

I have NEVER had a foreign car last more that 90,000 mi.
Posted by bm6005 at 05:17 PM : Nov 10, 2008



I have. I own a Honda PC800 motorcycle With 127000 miles on it, a 94 Mazda pickup with 140000 on it and a Plymouth Voyager with 193000 on it. treat them right and they will last....

Posted by ToolMangler at 05:44 PM : Nov 10, 2008

Yepper, my daddy told us that if we did the oil changes on a regular schedule our vehicles would last and last! I had a 1983 Volvo, 5-speed, that was still running good when I traded her in 1998...she had a little over 325,000 miles on her! That car may still be running for all I know! One of the first things one Volvo owner will normally ask another Volvo owner is, "how many miles do you have on that?"

I currently own a 1990 Volkwagen Jetta, 5-speed, and it has approximately 223,000 miles on it. Still runs good! During this same time period, I have also owned a 1997 Chrysler New Yorker, 5th Ave., and it completely broke down in 2004.

Two of the best American cars that I ever owned was a 1978 Lincoln Towncar, and a 1974 Olsmobile Cutlass. But I did not keep them as long as I did the Volvo and Jetta.

It was the American car manufacturers that have screwed the American people many times. Just ask Lee Iacocca. But I really hope they can get their acts together for the sake of all the employees! There is no reason that the car manufacturers cannot build great cars in this country!

[toolmangler-2009]

Implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) began on January 1, 1994. This agreement will remove most barriers to trade and investment among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/factsheets/NAFTA.asp

[toolmangler-2009]

I have NEVER had a foreign car last more that 90,000 mi.
Posted by bm6005 at 05:17 PM : Nov 10, 2008



I have. I own a Honda PC800 motorcycle With 127000 miles on it, a 94 Mazda pickup with 140000 on it and a Plymouth Voyager with 193000 on it. treat them right and they will last....