transition team – Jim Eltringham

There’s a lot to like about HHS Secretary-to-be Tom Daschle’s video about the Obama team’s response to comments on their early work on health care reform (released this week on Change.gov):

Granted, Daschle’s glasses make him look like he should be answering the phone for the Ghostbusters. But the video is excellent: apparently unscripted and very conversational. Professional touches like makeup and effective cuts and edits make the footage look good, but the banter between Dr. Daschle and Policy Team Member Lauren Aronson is easy and natural – right down to mentioning that a third team member is still out of the office on Thanksgiving break. They even read from the 3,500 comments they received and mentioned commenters by name – a nice touch.

This comment process is more than just an excuse to post a YouTube video. Consider this word cloud of the 100 term most used in those 3,500 comments:

This gives team Obama an idea of what buzzwords to use when building and pushing their health care plan – in other words, what words and phrases will most resonate with those commenters and inspire them to write their Congressman and Senators to encourage passage.

My former boss, Morton Blackwell, has a saying (actually, he has a number of sayings, but one in particular is relevant for this post): “Governing is campaigning by different means.” If you want an example of what he’s talking about, check out the Obama tranisition team’s website at http://www.change.gov/.

This is an early indicator that the Obama presidency will be much like Obama’s campaign – the transition site even looks like the campaign site, and even includes a platform. As the transition continues, we’ll probably see the administration communicate its proposals directly to the people in an attempt to rally support and frame issues early.

And once January 21 rolls around, this will give the administration a powerful platform if and when Congress pushes back on any of those policy proposals. Imagine a tax plan backed up by hundreds of video testimonials and messages to each Member of Congress from their constituents. Essentially, we may see the executive branch indirectly lobbying the legislative branch by encouraging constituent contact.

It may seem like a dangerous precedent, but I don’t think so. First, the President has every right to make the case for his proposals to the American people, whether on television, YouTube, or door-to-door. Second – and more important – this concept is based on citizen action anyway. It only works if individual citizens take the time to perform some kind of action on their own.

Much like a campaign.

Tag: transition team

Dr. Daschle’s Video

The next campaign: Obama ’09