Obama Taps Email List for Stimulus

President Barack Obama tapped his massive email list to organize support for the economic stimulus on Friday, the first attempt by Obama's aides to formally rally his campaign supporters behind the new President's legislative agenda.

"The President's plan passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday," writes Mitch Stewart, who was recently appointed director of Organizing for America, in the new email to Obama supporters. "To avoid the usual partisan games" and actually pass the bill, he argues, citizens need to get active, host "economic recovery house meetings" and show "neighbors and friends" what the plan "means for their community."

OFA's house meeting portal includes a talking points PDF -- "paid for by OFA, a project of the Democratic National Committee" -- and an interactive map projecting the economic impact of the plan on every state, based on an analysis by Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi, who has previously advised Sen. John McCain. The plan would save or create about four million jobs across the country, according to that projection, by the end of 2010.

To see the biggest impact of this effort, however, you have to read between the lines of Stewart's email. There is no direct reference to pressuring members of Congress or criticizing opponents of the plan. Operatives are signaling that "the goal is not to get these supporters to lobby their elected officials." This week, in fact, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe took to the New York Times to declare that OFA "is not a ‘call or e-mail your member of Congress' organization."

OFA is not formally lobbing or publicly bullying Congress, and for a range of political and legal reasons, that will probably be the framework through 2012. But let's be real. Obama's aides are unleashing a grassroots organizing operation, targeting citizens with localized advocacy to pass a single piece of legislation on a tight schedule. That is pressure on Congress to pass a law, sparked by the Chief Executive but executed by the people. If Obama supporters respond, it should help shore up support for the stimulus in regions that Obama dominated in November.

UPDATE: Zephyr Teachout, the former Dean Internet aide, web analyst and law professor, has an excellent piece predicting that these kind of OFA efforts will fail -- and arguing that's good for Obama supporters and citizens alike.

Commenter Mask adds that there are other online activists complimenting this effort, "putting out ads linking the House [GOP] to Limbaugh and basically saying 'They sided with Rush over revitalizing America's economy.'" It's an aggressive strategy to tie the House GOP to the pessimistic "Hard Right," notes Mask, or split it from the Limbaugh-loving base.

Comments (13)

1. If one thing stands out at this moment in particular it is the poor leadership that exists in the House of Representatives.

   If President Obama has to rely on the current crop of leaders in both legislative bodies he is gonna be in a world of hurt in my view.

   On a brighter note, it was sure fantastic to witness --replayed on Countdown w/ Olbermann-- the smackdown of Flush Dimbulb by Mark Haynes of CNBC.

   Flush: Mark, you've got to stop listening to those Liberal commentators.

   Mark: I haven't been listening to them, I've been listening to you, Rush, and what I hear is hypocrisy.

   BOOOO-YAH!!!!!

   Take that, dirigible of drivel.

   Posted by b_kool_66 at 01/30/2009 @ 12:20pm

2. I love that Obama is using his massive email network to communicate his policies and plans. This is so much better than taking airtime on the networks to address the nation like Bush did when he wanted support. And if it motivates voters to pressure their representatives, good. Finally, a working democracy may be born.

   Posted by Cannonball at 01/30/2009 @ 12:42pm

3. Don't forget Change for America, Mr Melber.

   They're pulling the other side by putting out ads linking the House Repubs to Limbaugh and basically saying "They sided with Rush over revitalizing America's economy".

   Politically, a win-win. It either ties them to the Hard Right and a figure ONLY popular with their base....or they piss off the base at some point by dissing El Rushbo.

   Posted by Mask at 01/30/2009 @ 12:49pm

4. Posted by Mask at 01/30/2009 @ 12:49pm

   Actually, your fearless leader wants to spread the blame far and wide. So when the stimulus bill fails to stimulate and your anger starts to boil over, he'll point the finger back and say "this is what YOU wanted!"

   Posted by ACook at 01/30/2009 @ 1:11pm

5. mask makes the update!

   ooh.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/30/2009 @ 1:13pm

6. Posted by ACook at 01/30/2009 @ 1:11pm

   ACOOK...why are you HOPING that America's economy continues to fail???

   Posted by Mask at 01/30/2009 @ 2:01pm

7. Posted by frosty zoom at 01/30/2009 @ 1:13pm

   No applause, no applause...just send cash.

   Posted by Mask at 01/30/2009 @ 2:02pm

8. you want ¡¡¡¿¿¿dollars???!!!

   o.k...

   "honey, where's that green ink cartridge?"

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/30/2009 @ 2:20pm

9. ACOOK...why are you HOPING that America's economy continues to fail???

   Posted by Mask at 01/30/2009 @ 2:01pm

   Those are your words, not mine.

   Posted by ACook at 01/30/2009 @ 2:35pm

10. Posted by lvliberty1 at 01/30/2009 @ 2:27pm

    Posted by ACook at 01/30/2009 @ 2:35pm

    Oh, I'm sorry....does that standard not apply anymore? The "Wanting America to fail so they can get their power back" standard...

    that went from January 20th, 2001 until January 19th, 2009???

    Posted by Mask at 01/30/2009 @ 3:37pm

11. I am neither encouraged nor surprised by this development. Once again, the call does not ask hosts to try to form a solid core group that will meet regularly, suggests a mere 60-minute meeting, and suggests neither sharing food nor socializing in order to nurture friendships.

    But perhaps most importantly, it does not ask the participants to make a decision about whether they, as a unit, support the recovery plan.

    Decentralization is essential. One form could be nurturing ongoing, small home-based teams that collectively make key decisions -- like whether they support particular legislation.

    Hopefully, OFA2 will evolve into a more substantial community-organizing effort. I suggested some possibilities in "Organizing for America: A Proposal" at http://progressiveresourcecatalog.org/index.php/Obama/ArticleQ

    Rather than the top-down, one-way education reflected in the Feb. 6 call, OFA2 could concentrate on promoting broad scale mutual education, consistent dialog with Congresspersons about how to improve the federal government, assisting people in dealing with the bureaucracy, and empoweing those teams to select representatives that could speak for them with authority.

    I suspect, however, that OFA2 has decided that it will merely be a Presidential support mechanism. They should have encouraged the formation of ongoing home-based teams during the election when the iron was hot. But they did not and lost momentum. Alas. A real opportunity wasted.

    Posted by wadehudson1 at 01/30/2009 @ 4:06pm

12. Posted by Mask at 01/30/2009 @ 3:37pm

    Again, those are your words.

    Posted by ACook at 01/30/2009 @ 4:16pm

13. Are we all going to be homeless,cold and hungrey before we get some help out here. I Is this stimulus pkg for the DC gang. If Washington was going to jump in and take control of this situation it would have happened by now. We are going down the tubes real fast.

    Posted by spiritlake1 at 01/30/2009 @ 6:24pm