An Obama New Media Alum's Reflections: One Year Later
One year ago today, I was sitting in front of my laptop at the Obama for America National Campaign Headquarters in Chicago. At the age of 44, I can now look back and say that day was the most exciting 18 hours I have experienced thus far in my life. Being a long time political junkie, it was like being on cloud nine. With the polls showing us with a decent lead, confidence was evident in every person in the office.
I was fortunate enough to join, as a full-time volunteer, the most talented group of young political staffers ever assembled in one place: the New Media Department for Obama/Biden 2008. New Media was comprised of many teams: Email, Texting, Blogging, Internal/External Social Networking, Design, Analytics, Online Ads, etc. My primary job was blogging, but I had the opportunity to work on other projects, too, and see other teams in action. These wunderkinder put in place and managed a juggernaut of online-organizing that sparked and coordinated an unprecedented network of grassroots activists. In October 2008, some of the senior managers of the New Media Team spoke at an outside event. They were asked if Obama was ahead in the polls because of the campaign’s technological superiority. The answer was no. They said that while our technology was top-notch, it was the excitement and hope that Barack Obama brought to millions of people that would decide the election. I’ll take that idea one step further and say that those of us at the HQ poured our hearts into every minute of the campaign, providing the grassroots with the tools of organization. Like the people handing water out at a marathon, the nearly 100 people in our department were constantly doing all we could to help millions of people eager for change to reach a distant finish line.
In all of the emails, phone calls, and personal conversations I had with people from the eighteen states that were my blogging area, there was never a focus on negativity or our opponents’ perceived weaknesses. The emphasis was that we all wanted to make America better, and by staying as positive as Barack was, we would succeed. And “Yes We Did.”
During the campaign, Senator Obama made several conference calls to our office. He stressed that we should all discard any notions that “this thing is over.” While we were ahead in the polls, and the smart money said we had the election wrapped up, not one person ever let up or took the race for granted. Not one.
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