I am fascinated by Newsweek's behind the scenes "exposé" of the campaign trail. One thing I got from it was that McCain probably would not have been very happy as President. He seems to love being a maverick, a gadfly, the warrior fighting for a noble (especially lost) cause -- and he's damn good at this role. Unfortunately, the discipline and measured analysis required of someone in the role of Leader of the Free World in our current crisis didn't seem to interest him.

Even before the release of this report, FiveThirtyEight.com had been releasing stories of the differences between the Obama and McCain camps: hundreds of Obama volunteers manning the phones in cheerful, professional offices versus a single guy on a phone in an otherwise empty room. Obama rallies in which every person was told to pull out their cell phone and call four people, right then and there. Reading the Newsweek article, I was impressed by the precision of the Obama campaign -- and both the campaign's and the candidate's own ability to learn from mistakes and improve their game.

I'm sure that there were many people who, when it was pointed out that McCain was essentially computer illiterate, thought, "So what? Who cares about that?" I, too, didn't think it was that big of a deal -- after all, that's why we have tech people and web designers and administrative assistants to take care of that sort of stuff.

I was wrong. It makes a huge difference.

Take a look at Obama's war chest. Old school politics says that it's all about the money, so campaigns tend to go for the big bucks: if you can't give at least $1000, they're not interested.

Using email and the internet, Obama raised a quarter of a billion dollars with an average donation of $86. The thing is that it's not just about how many people donated, it's about the way that every single person who gave him five bucks now has a personal investment not just in his election, but in the success of his administration.

The marketing was brilliant. Yeah, I'd get emails supposedly from David Plouffe or Michelle Obama or whomever a couple of times a week, and yes, they were pretty much always asking for more money, but they each message gave a reason why they needed more money. Whether it was a matching donation with a deadline, a new ad (which would, of course, be linked to from within the email) that needed airtime, or a response to something the Republicans did, there was always a specific reason. I have to admit that, now, I wish I'd donated when they were giving away the limited edition car magnets, because that would have been a cool souvenir.

Leveraging new technologies sounds like a business school cliche, but Obama walks the walk. His tech people created a program which track, in real-time, which people on their "get out the vote list" had already voted such that their names automatically disappeared off the call list.

At the same time, technology is just a tool. Without understanding what it can help accomplish, it means little more than a nifty toy.

I found this to be one of the more telling quotes from the Newsweek series:

(Talking about interviews and debating)
"So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f–––ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

George W. Bush called himself "The Decider." Grammatical nitpicking aside, that was part of the problem. President elect Obama realizes that, although making decisions is an integral part of his new job description, what we need now is a leader, someone who can mobilize the masses of humanity not just here in the United States, but throughout the world. Because we're in too deep an interconnected hole for one person, no matter how gifted, to do it by himself. Albert Einstein is credited with saying, "The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them."

And so now we have Change.gov.
(Many thanks to Kat for the link.)

I've been on government websites before. They've come a long way in professionalism and accessibility, but they're still government websites. This site is branded up, down and sideways with collective involvement and vision of the inevitability that, together, we can create a better future. It even has a link where you can apply online for a position in the Obama/Biden administration.

But there are even more plans for transparency and involvement once President Obama takes office. On the Ethics page (about half-way down) [EDIT: apparently they're changing the site, because the laundry list of "Agenda" items is no longer there; a cache can be seen here], he introduces "Sunlight Before Signing":

"Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days."

Damn. I mean... damn. This guy is good.

Yes. We. Can.