Rubbing Two Sticks Together – A Robocall Chronicle

While Barack Obama chooses YouTube and Web 2.0 to extend his reach, the McCain campaign is using a century-old technology to contact selected voters in Western Pennsylvania: the telephone.

I vote. I'm in the phone book. They found me.

The calls began on a Wednesday, near the end of October. John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republican National Committee dispatched an unidentified male voice to let me know that “elitist Democrats say they understand us, but Barack Obama and Joe Biden say (in Biden's voice), ‘No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they're gonna build them over there …'."

On Thursday, Gov. Tom Ridge let me know that “if the Democrats win full control of government, they would want to give traditional civil rights to terrorists and talk unconditionally to dictators and state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama and his Democrat allies lack the experience and judgment to lead America."

Saturday brought Hank Williams, Jr., into my living room to warn me that “Elitist Democrats in Washington talk a lot about feeling the pain on ‘Main Street,' but it was their ties to greed and corruption on Wall Street that cost good, honest, American jobs. With values like these, we can't trust Barack Obama and his elitist liberal allies to represent us for the next 4 years." Hank virtually spit the last sentence out.

Silence for a week; then, the unidentified male was back to inform me that “there's more to Obama's record on the 2nd Amendment than he wants you to know. Barack Obama says he stands with gun owners, but his record says something different. Obama has supported a complete ban on handgun ownership, opposes concealed carry permits, and even voted to strip legal protection, freezing firearms for self-defense at home."

That Sunday, the RNC had Hillary Clinton interrupt my dinner. The recording, excised from the notorious 3:oo am phone call speech that she gave in March, 2008, went like this: “In the White House there is no time for speeches and on the job training. Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, and Senator Obama will bring a speech he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference."

Just in time for dessert, the phone rang again. “I'm calling on behalf of John McCain," a female voice announced, “to tell you that coal jobs, which are so important to our community, are in jeopardy. Listen to Barack Obama's plans to bankrupt the coal industry." An Obama clip, out of context, plays: “So, if somebody wants to build a coal -powered plant they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're (unintelligible) be charged a huge sum for all that, ah, greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

The most striking thing about all this inflammatory rhetoric, unsubstantiated assertions and out of context quotes, was the last call. Bankrupt is there twice. It's the word I remember, and associate with the campaign. That's called a takeaway. John McCain's robocalls, bankrupt.

More Change Than You Can Believe?

Veteran Democratic Party campaign strategist Joe Trippi has calculated that YouTube videos posted by the Obama campaign, which have amassed 14.5 million hours viewed, are the equivalent of $46-$47 million worth of paid advertising. Add the large volume of citizen-produced videos to that total and you can see why Trippi maintains that, regardless of the election outcome, Barack Obama marks the end of the television presidency.

Joe Trippi speculates that, if Obama wins, he might transfer the net support of my.barackobama.com to the White House. A social network numbering in the millions could be quickly mobilized to pressure special-interest allied Congress members who oppose popular legislative initiatives.

In comparison, Trippi says that the Republican Party's internet strategy is the equivalent of rubbing 2 sticks together.

Visionary ideas are often met with skepticism, but timing favors Joe Trippi. A financial crisis has Americans paying closer attention to Washington, D.C. The potential exists for a democratization of the federal government that citizens of all political parties might embrace. Key elements for such a shift would be wired access for the populace, and a newly-elected President Barack Obama's leadership ability. Will it happen? I don't know, but I do know that The Internet Changes Everything.

Joe Trippi's remarks are from a discussion today, hosted by Simon Rosenberg of NDN. It was broadcast on C-Span.