An Obama-ha! Moment: President as Text King
The election of Barack Obama was a shift in readily apparent ways: Americans elected a non-white person to serve as its chief executive for the first time, even giving him a significant mandate and solid majority of all votes cast. Obama was elected despite being rated the most liberal member of the Senate and let’s say that after the 2008 election “liberal” is no longer a dirty word.
A cogent argument can be made how there was no way a Democratic candidate – whoever slogged it through – could have lost after the generally abysmal leadership (cough, cough) of the past eight years. Two terms of utter disregard for the Constitution (here’s looking at you, unprecedented use of presidential signing statements) and the electorate (approval rating between 16% and 22% depending on the hour), combined with the complete failure of supply-side economics and an ill-advised, unilateral, preemptive war should have handed the White House to the anti-Bush on a platter without much effort expended.
Sure, maybe Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton was bent on winning without trying. The amazing part, though, is how our eventual candidate’s campaign never took a thing for granted. Instead, the used the newest communication gadgetry and tech in unparalleled ways to put together the largest, most sophisticated grassroots coalition recorded as it targeted people who were already “up” on their tech, bringing them for the first time into politics itself. These happy, passionate recipients are the people who gave Obama a sweeping electoral mandate, dudes. (Sidebar: On September 12, 2001, if someone told you that in only seven years Americans would elect as president a man with the middle name “Hussein,” would you have cracked up?)
The key to the movement was getting as many members into it as feasible. During the primary season, the campaign routinely sent emails to supporters asking for small donations, and to call their friends to get on the mailing list. In fact, at rallies all the way through, an Obama staffer would take the stage before the Senator came out and ask every audience member to pull out their mobile phones and call a bud ask what they could do. Viral, to say the least—the real definition of sharing. Eventually, the small Net donations piled up to an unprecedented high. This was Howard Dean’s “bat” from 2004—now on crack. Obama was pulling in the money hand-over-fist, out raising all rivals during every month of 2008.
This effort did not stop the campaign from going for growth. The Obama People figured out that texting was ubiquitous. Short, instantaneous SMS messages that require little or no effort on either end have become pervasive—nay, addictive. The Obama people figured this and when Barack himself made his choice for his running mate, it would be announced via text. All you had to do was provide your name, mobile phone number, and zip code, and you would be the first to know of his much-coveted selection!
This was innovative, damn pragmatic. The campaign harvested hundreds of thousands of hard-to-attain phone numbers and emails to for urgent fundraising and voter efforts. All by getting people to sign up for texts (”alerts”). SMS’s were also sent out to remind people to watch the all important debates, to solicit donations for the Red Cross for Gustav cleanup, and more (And to make it even more cool, texts from the campaign came from 62262–OBAMA.)
The most fascinating use of text messages, though, was the effort employed to “get out the vote” and “organize.” On September 22, the power of texts became clear when this was sent to all phones: “Help Barack Obama organize locally. REPLY to this msg with your 5-digit ZIP CODE to receive Obama news & updates for your area. Thanks, Scott at Obama HQ.” Wow. Just like that. Simple, efficient, no drama, nothing big! Texts had become a two-way medium and used for grassroots for the first time. With very little effort, anybody with a mobile device could get involved (even an old Verizon StarTec!).
Texts were used on Election Day in ways that probably shocked the opposition. So-called Voter Protection Teams (lawyers stationed at polling places in swing states) were kept in the loop regarding mechanics of the day’s events via txts. Raw vote totals were reported to the Boiler Room via texting. This was the most organized GOTV effort ever seen, and all because of the campaign’s willingness to rely on SMS.
While the text messages were very cool and effective, the crown jewel of the new media effort was the Obama iPhone app. Free from Apple’s app store, it provided the user with the news and information about the campaign you could ever want—plus a peek at the candidate’s schedule. Talk about giving access! Not only was your candidate talking to you, he was also telling you how to reach out!
Surely the most interactive part was the ability of the app to feed a user ways to help Obama. There was a function that got users to make calls to undecided voters in crucial (read battleground) states. Clicking the button led to a list of states that dynamically rearranged itself by need and/or importance. Clicking on a state led to a list of names and phone numbers. Bang. Phone banking from the comfort of your little iPhone. No need to waste desk space or minutes at the office. No need to buy more pizza or even hire staff. It was genius.
A couple of hours after the polls in California closed, officially electing President-Elect Obama, a text was shipped to everyone who had volunteered: “We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. All of this happened because of you. Thanks, Barack.”
Our new leader sends us messages. Far cry from even Bill Clinton, who according to officially documents, sent one email while in office.
Welcome to Barack Obama’s America
