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The Obama Watch
Choking on Obamaspam
Yet one more way he’s polluting our politics.
I have no idea how Barack Obama got my email address but a few weeks ago there it was in my inbox — a message from the President. I decided to break my lifelong rule of zapping all emails from strangers and so, out of curiosity, I opened it up. I got a lot more than an email.
Under the spell of the wizard in the White House, I then clicked on “I’m in,” opening a floodgate of junk email that now seems unstoppable. A new message from the fundraising team arrives almost daily, sometimes twice a day.
After a few weeks of reading these solicitations, I have to conclude that Obamaspam is indiscriminate in its distribution and offensive in its false bonhomie, its tricky come-ons, its crackerbarrel language (“folks” and “pitch in” recur annoyingly) and its presumption of friendship.
I don’t like being addressed as “Friend’” by people I have never met. I even got one from his wife, signed simply “Michelle.” Fortunately, my wife never saw that one. It was pretty chummy.
The most frequent messages are the ones that insult my intelligence. The series began with the subject line “Sometime soon can we meet for dinner?” Click on that and you get a real downer. You are invited to be among almost a million or so people who are gambling that they will be one of the lucky four selected for his next face-to-face feed with his “Friends.” But if you want to play — another downer — you have to pay. The next click tells you to contribute money if you want to be in the draw.
A friend who knows something about direct mail says a surprising number of very sad people will choose to believe — against all logic — that they have a chance to win such games, and so they will contribute and sit by their computer and hope.
In another twist, the distribution list is now being used for non-funding objectives. Last week I was instructed to call John Boehner and demand action on the Jobs Act. The email included Boehner’s phone number and a suggested script to read into the answering machine. It would be hard to imagine a more futile activity than such nuisance calls.
Off-putting as Obamaspam seems, it cannot be blamed entirely on Obama. The copywriting obviously has nothing to do with the President, his wife, or his various minions who lend their names to such chaff. This is the work of paid professionals who know something about loosening up purse strings. The practice has multiplied since email distribution made it so cheap. No paper, no postage. Just press send.
The campaign also clashes with the President’s pose as Mr. Everyman, just workin’ hard to help folks live better. Come on, just pitch in and help out. Grassroots, that’s his secret. Well, except for Wall Street donors who incidentally are switching by the hundreds to Mitt Romney, a turnaround specialist and a friendlier face for financial industry regulation.
If he depends on grassroots too much, he may want to think again. Average donations compared to his 2008 records are down, and the number of new donors is too small to compensate. His begging letters until a few weeks ago asked for a modest minimum of $5. That wasn’t working. Now he is asking for a minimum of $3. Where is this headed, one wonders.
With a whiff of desperation, the tone has moved from chatty and folksy to hectoring.
Friday of last week I got a shortie from him saying the cutoff for contributing to his third-quarter intake of campaign funds was looming. “The deadline’s midnight, so don’t sit on this one.” Wow.
One of the most inappropriate messages I received was an unashamed invasion of my privacy. His team had used a computer snooping technique to find that Brookline Mass was the city I was writing from, although I don’t actually live there. The message was calculated to trigger a surge of guilt with a tinge of envy. Records showed that 731 people in Brookline had donated to his cause. “You aren’t one of the 731,” it said ominously. I hope he didn’t tell the 731 where I can be found. I felt guilty, envious, and also a little bit afraid.
A marketing guru in San Francisco, David Garfinkel, expresses no surprise at the dog whistles embedded in these emails. “The Seven Capital Sins are the copywriter’s best friends,” he told me — especially pride, envy, greed and sloth.
I asked Garfinkel why Obamaspam was rubbing me the wrong way. He said the writers know what they’re doing; I am just on the wrong wavelength. For a true believer, he said, “it will ring your chimes and light up your day. Endorphins and dopamines will flow from you brain to your body as your dollars flow out.”
Letter to the Editor View all comments (47) | Leave a comment
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Brian Mc| 10.3.11 @ 6:27AM
Nothing like pitching in for the gasoline to burn down your neigborhood.
Michael Tomlinson| 10.3.11 @ 7:04AM
"The most frequent messages are the ones that insult my intelligence. " Obama is an insult to all of America's intelligence.
Douglas Fletcher | 10.3.11 @ 7:04AM
I had two bouts with Obama spam. The second batch of it, I used the "unsubscribe" button, which worked after about three tries.
The first batch stopped after I sent back that I was going to report them to the FBI. I don't know if anyone actually read it, but the emails stopped.
oldfart| 10.3.11 @ 7:41AM
They use multiple e-mail address but the spam button will get rid of them.
Shamus| 10.3.11 @ 7:21AM
Obama must go. It's time to cleanse the bowels of our body politic.
oldfart| 10.3.11 @ 7:40AM
The American Political system needs a good physic to clean out the bowels. My formula is some homemade apple cider to which you add raisins. Pour into gallon jugs, leave the cap loose (do not tighten), place on the back porch for a week. Drink a standard 8 oz. glass of this stuff. After that works follow with what my mother called a high enema. Then perhaps we can get the American Politic working again, for the people. Translation – throw out the bums.
oldfart| 10.3.11 @ 8:29AM
P.S. I cleaned up the last word.
loulou| 10.3.11 @ 10:04AM
Obama IS a pollutant.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.3.11 @ 8:06AM
He got in to your Email Account. He can go in to your Bank Accounts. He has a Web Site for people to Report You to his Thought Police. He wants all of your Medical Records. His Car Companies (until just the other day) were Tracking You with "On Star", even after you had refused the On Star Program, or Cancelled it.
Dictatorship 101 - SECRET POLICE Surveillance.
Remember. "Just because you're Paranoid, doesn't mean nobody's out to get you."
SIEG HEIL, Herr Obama.
oldfart| 10.3.11 @ 8:27AM
Your forgot cell phone tracking and your contacts on facebook and twitter.
Dan Hirsch| 10.3.11 @ 10:01AM
Remember the Obamacare requires ALL bank accounts be directly accessible to the Federal government so they can wire transfer your funds to whomever they choose, whenever they feel so inclined. Who cares if they know where you are or what you read, you are going to be robbed, electronically.
DTOM
Gretchen| 10.5.11 @ 5:04PM
Back to hiding the money in the mattress!
David W| 10.3.11 @ 8:42AM
The only group I want to be in is the one that does a "mass mooning" when he drives through the DFW area. That way we will show him exactly how much love and respect he has generated.
Maddox| 10.3.11 @ 10:16AM
Mooning would get you arrested for indecent exposure but it would nice if everyone gave him "the finger" as his limo drives by.
Dan Hirsch| 10.3.11 @ 1:28PM
Not in San Francisco. Not if you were part of a mass protest against some fundamental value of our country...
DTOM
Louis Jenkins| 10.3.11 @ 9:38AM
I occassionally have an Obamaspasm, but after a few minutes of sitting on the john it clears up. However, I must go back every day to keep my sanity.
Tenn Slim| 10.3.11 @ 9:57AM
Obama Spam, this is a new one on me.
Direct mail techniques do work for believers, and neophytes.
Underllying the Spam is undoubtedly angst, and a level of Losing Fear.
Good article worthy of sharing.
end
Semper Fi
Tenn Slim| 10.3.11 @ 9:57AM
Obama Spam, this is a new one on me.
Direct mail techniques do work for believers, and neophytes.
Underllying the Spam is undoubtedly angst, and a level of Losing Fear.
Good article worthy of sharing.
end
Semper Fi
hardcard| 10.3.11 @ 10:07AM
I'M OUT FUBO
ole meanie| 10.3.11 @ 10:15AM
I think Obama will--perhaps a year from now--announce that he won't run for re-election because the American people are too divided for him to govern.
If a politician pays income tax on his campaign contributions, he can keep them for personal use. I think Obama is trying to build up his campaign kitty to increase his personal wealth. His presidential pension will not suffice to sustain the lifestyle he an Michelle have beome accustomed to, and as an ex-president, he will not so easily enjoy the mansions and resorts.
shipley130| 10.3.11 @ 6:11PM
Exactly, thank you.
MATT M.| 10.3.11 @ 10:15AM
I'm a proud Benefactor member of the NRA and I cannot say their methods are much different.
Debra| 10.3.11 @ 10:25AM
I have also been receiving Obamaspam. My e mail program knows to send it directly to the spam folder. The first time I got one from Jim Messina, I wondered why the 70's singing partner of Kenny Loggins was e mailing me.
Diane | 10.3.11 @ 10:31AM
To me the worst of this is that as an Internet Business owner if I use spam tactics my business can be shut down - but it's ok for the President? I think not! He touted himself early on as being Internet savvy. Once again he lied. Spam in any form is a big no-no.
Drunken Sailor| 10.3.11 @ 11:08AM
I miss the good old days of political junk mail in my mailbox. At least then I had a place to send all the other junk mail I got that day to. A few days of sending the campaign coupons for your local grocery and pizza chain usually got you removed from the list.
james wilson| 10.3.11 @ 12:18PM
You cannot click on a u-tube video without a "support the President's jobs bill" pop-up.
PattyMor| 10.3.11 @ 12:51PM
Well is anyone surprised? Take that pathetic joint session of Congress. Obama looked desparate. Then there are those videos of him with pictures of the bridges behind. Or exhorting the CBC to stop whinin' and complain' and get out of their fuzzy slippers to march for his benefit. He just looks dark and desparate, and he sees power slipping away. He has become a cartoon. The international community laughs at him.
Intelligent Design| 10.3.11 @ 1:25PM
It's difficult to find the right words to describe Obama. There are so many that fit: sinister, impostor, treacherous, vain, arrogant, mendacious, ideological, socialist, ignorant, disgusting, inarticulate, failure, disastrous, inept, inane, insane, vile, toad ....... any others?
Drunken Sailor| 10.3.11 @ 3:04PM
vile, cunning, evil, immature, condescending, depraved, corrupt, nefarious,disaster..... Anyone else want to chime in?
Juan Jose Morales-Castillo | 10.3.11 @ 4:25PM
How about the nickname of the villain in the NARNIA book THE HORSE AND HIS BOY?: Rabadash the RIDICULOUS.
shipley130| 10.3.11 @ 6:09PM
Assassinator.
Marc Jeric| 10.3.11 @ 4:43PM
Mullah Obama's real name should be Abu Hussein al-Mombassa (or whatever Kenyan hellhole that marxist Muslim was born in).
RCV| 10.4.11 @ 12:27AM
Honolulu.
Buck Ofama| 10.3.11 @ 10:11PM
1. C0cksucker
2. Goat fvcker
3. Repeat from step 1.
Gretchen| 10.5.11 @ 5:08PM
None printable or used in polite society.
Occam's Tool| 10.3.11 @ 3:05PM
Don't forget "asshat."
Marc Jeric| 10.3.11 @ 4:41PM
Lenin invented the system of local soviets (i.e., community organizations), armed them with stolen guns, and thus obtained unlimited dictatorship. Our Mullah Obama is following his example by his system of community organizations - ACORN, SEIU, AFL-CIO, AFT, NEA, AFSCME, Steel workers, Auto workers, Postal union, Teamsters,... He also has his system of White House komissars (czars) who are in complete charge of all federal departments. His Agit-Prop Office, again following the Soviet example, consists of our entire Main Stream Media: ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, NY Times, Wash. Post, LA Times...
shipley130| 10.3.11 @ 6:08PM
Donate, or the drones will get you.
beebop2| 10.3.11 @ 6:23PM
I confess to being a recovered Democrat. I supported Mrs. Clinton and when she was driven from the primary began a long overdue reappraisal of my beliefs. I voted as a Republican for the very first time. Well. Nothing says the hatchet is buried better than making your mailing list available to he who vanquished you. I began a steady stream of abuse to each and every email I got from them and pretty soon? It ended. And? My blood pressure was better as well.
bluecollarbytes| 10.3.11 @ 8:50PM
How do you know this isn't just another internet Nigerian scam? Send money and see if you get a call asking for more in order to consummate the transaction.
Buck Ofama| 10.3.11 @ 10:09PM
I've been getting this Ovomit spam for a couple of years. I just reply with suitable suggestions, such as "EAT SH|T YOU COCKSUCKERS" etc.
jackc| 10.3.11 @ 10:55PM
The begging continues, the blaming of success continues, the quibbling continues, while he enjoys the privileges of capitalism - jet setting, vacationing, golfing - through payer donations. There is nothing more dangerous than the elevation of the undeserving such as Obama, waiting for self-pity and handouts. A proxy for laziness, poverty and illiteracy.
Tulsa Liberty | 10.4.11 @ 8:36AM
there is not much capitalistic about jet setting on donations. that is almost pure imperialism, or socialism, taking everything from the little man, offering no real tangable products or solutions. and trampling us at every turn.
My vote is going to Ron Paul this time, only man of standard we have.
Check out this video I seen on him
http://tulsachange.com/ron-paul-not-for-sale
POST American| 10.3.11 @ 11:21PM
-----Putting aside our current CFR/RIIA Globalist
USURY--TREASON and EUGENICS front OP------
"Folks, IF you want to BEAT the communists,
who are banker run (---and created) you better
go to every 'Federal' Reserve station this
Friday, Saturday and Sunday----"
-ALEX JONES
InfoWars
(now th #2 online news source
for the world)
AGAIN -----'Free Trade' ----Globalism
-----TREASON and EUGENICS
(ie 'So--Shall--ALL--ism)
are not only ALWAYS intertwined
---they are one and the same...
Tulsa Liberty | 10.4.11 @ 8:32AM
Obama is on a desparate path to control the people he has spent the last couple years trampling.
There are real professionals who make millions writing sales copy and the administration is holding nothing back.
If someone wants to get truly grassroots then there is a better candidate.
Google Ron Paul or better yet YouTube it. You might just like what you hear
PolishKnight| 10.4.11 @ 12:31PM
Obamaspam found out about you via your IP address and reverse looked up your service provider. Kind of like reverse looking up your phone number.