I don’t know if most readers here would think that Wikipedia’s best-covered politician and Google’s best-listed website are all that similar, but I don’t think you can write it off entirely.
My reason for thinking so began after Mickey Kaus checked his e-mail inbox late last week, and asked:
Will Obama ever stop asking me for money? Or is it all fundraising, all the way out? … Not only is he still milking his supporters for money, he’s doing it in an obnoxious way, no? “Join us at the inauguration” turns out to mean “pay for other people to party at the inauguration you’re not going to”!
He’s got a point there. I’ve been on Obama’s list for more than a year now — my first post of 2008 was about how Obama’s campaign sent the year’s first campaign e-mail that New Years Day wee morning hours — and I’ve been getting (and half-paying attention to) them ever since. Here is my unofficial count (and anyone is welcome to do a recount) of the e-mails “Paid for by Obama for America” I have received in 2009, followed by that ubiquitous red button:
- Join us at the Inauguration, Jan. 3, Obama for America
- Our first guest, Jan. 6, Michelle Obama
- Be there for history, Jan. 7, Bill Clinton
- Deadline: Midnight, Jan. 8, Barack Obama
- Re: Midnight deadline, Jan. 8, David Plouffe
- Your call to service, Jan. 12, Michelle Obama
It’s a permanent campaign, all right.
He’s not President of the United States yet, I’ll give him that. But you would tend to think his fundraising goals have been satisfied — especially since his campaign let departing staffers have an extra month’s paycheck, plus their laptops and BlackBerrys (and a tip of the hat to Research in Motion’s PR department for getting reporters following AP style to not spell it “Blackberries”).
And you know what this reminds me of, as it might not remind most inside the Beltway? It’s not altogether unlike Wikipedia’s constant fundraising. As recently as December, Valleywag criticized the Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales-led on-site (always a banner across the top) fundraising drive mostly for being annoying and evidentiary of Wales being a poor leader of the website with the most comprehensive description of Regional variations of barbecue.
By early January, however, it turned out that Wikipedia had beaten its 2008 fundraising goals to the tune of $6.2 million. In the interests of disclosure as well as narrative, I’ll say that I donated as much to the Wikimedia Foundation this winter as I’ve donated in any one instance since Hurricane Katrina. So with that said, as I’ve been editing Wikipedia recently, I have often noticed this banner at the top of each article:
And what happens when you click on it? You come to a page with a letter of thanks from Wales. It looks like this:
Okay, so maybe Valleywag has a point about Wales as the public face of the website with the most informative biography of Portland, Oregon home furnishings salesman and television pitchman Tom Peterson.
And then, your eye drifts down the page to see this:
The permanent campaign, indeed.
P.S. I haven’t even mentioned that also this afternoon, Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC was asking $100 for this:
Don’t even get me started.
We’re being deluged by non-profits lately, begging for money. Not a day goes by where several phone calls and letters arrive from one political cause or another, or some charity that we’ve contributed to in the past few years.
All that even while being on the national and New York “Do Not Call” registry.
Non-profits are hurting, but they have to realize, so are we.
I’ve been working for non-profits for 35 years now, it seems to me its their job to inform people of their work and ask them to join in with a gift. If you believe in what they are doing and have the money, send a gift. If you don’t believe in their work or don’t have the money, hit the DEL key or drop the mail in recycling or start a fire with it so you don’t have to burn the furniture to keep warm…wah wah wah they are asking me for money…make them stop…somebody call the wahmbulance! We’ve got WAY bigger problems than this!
Mickey Kaus, really? You couldn’t have cited anyone else?
Also, I’ve noticed the same thing, but both of us opted in, and can opt out of Obama’s list at any time.
I hate commercials on TV, but that’s the price of watching.
Barack Obama is the top internet marketer of the decade, period.
It’s the “Chicago Way”…
…get elected, then get your campaign support infrastructure (”community organizers”) on the public (or foundation-funded) payroll as permanent political organizers.
Ostensibly to, uh, well, “organize communities”, but in reality as a publically-funded political pressure/agitation enterprise, not unlike public funding of ACORN.
Welcome to Chicago, America, and get used to it….furious
im eagerly anticipating to see what obama does while in office too.
great article. i am a fundraiser from germany. here we absolutely recognized Obamas fundraising sucess. Especially the online fundrasing campaign was a total breaktrough. I posted about this on my site http://www.online-fundraising.org Our politicians try to use online-fundrasing too. But it is a hard job..
Best wishes Thilo
As a moderate I don’t have anyone to donate to. But every election they count the polls and realize the moderates will decide the winner. Then they come after us. I like Barrack, but I won’t donate as I have lost two jobs in the year. I would donate to keep the New York Times running first.
Steve – http://unitedstatesvicepresident.com
I think Wikipedia’s a more worthy cause than Obama really :)
It’s one of those classic stories of the endless need for more. Our needs just keep increasing, that’s the problem aye. These days “blackberrys” seem to be the latest “need”. I’d say.
Politicians have mastered the art of asking for money without really making it seem like such a bad thing. I mean, it’s supposed to go back to you right? o.0
I think Wikipedia’s a more worthy cause than Obama really :)
Both Wikipedia and Obama have diminishing value and relevance.