President Obama says that his will be the most transparent administration in American history. Many see this action as a benevolent gesture by a magnanimous ruler. Through the eyes of a community organizer, however, this move also helps President Obama to strategically leverage great power in Washington.
Obama is using websites such as www.whitehouse.gov and www.recovery.gov as instruments to fulfill his transparency and accountability promise. He encourages visitors to leave feedback by filling out a contact card with their name and email address when they submit their comments. The sites also track every move of the Obama Administration and in the case of www.recovery.gov, you can track every tax dollar once the new economic stimulus package is passed.
The flip side of encouraging such public participation is that it gives Obama an ace in the hole with law makers on capitol hill. By collecting the names and email addresses of the people who leave feedback on his website, he will have a huge and powerful registry of active citizens who he can tap at any moment. Therefore, if stubborn law makers try to slow down legislative progress, Obama simply needs to send an email to hundreds of thousands (or possibly millions) of voters explaining the situation and asking them to harrass their local congressman or senator.
This is another example of Barack Obama bringing traditional organizing strategy to Washington in order to fashion a new politics.
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2 comments:
I totally agree, by maintaining a massive database of supporters, regardless of their party registration, the administration can leverage this tool to overcome those legislators that are more concerned about playing partisan politics than getting legislation passed which may benefit millions of Americans.
exactly, and this tool could become an innovative addition to governing once politicians see its impact throughout the Obama Administration.
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