FACT: “Our country faces its most serious economic crisis since the great depression,” begins President-elect Barack Obama’s economic plan for recovery.
FACT: The American people elected Obama to be their 44th head of state after a contentious campaign that resulted in a landslide victory last November.
FACT: Hard-working individuals are donating oodles of cash to a Presidential Inaugural Committee for a four-day celebration that will cost the nation’s capital $50 million, let alone California taxpayers who are faced with a nearly $2 million price tag to transport L.A. police officers across the country for logistical support.
Did you hear the latest from Obama’s idea generating team?
Ten supporters will be selected between now and midnight on January 8th to join the inaugural activities. You and a guest could be flown to Washington, D.C., put up in a hotel, and be part of this once-in-a-lifetime event.
You don’t have to donate money, either! Just write an essay on What does this inauguration mean to you? to be entered into the sweepstakes.
I’ve left Obamaland and entered the Publisher’s Clearing House!
But here’s the kicker, folks. You knew there’d be a kicker, right?
Whether you donate money or skip straight to the essay competition, you are required to input your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. I care less about the phone number and mailing address part, but let’s focus on the email address.
Quoting the PIC’s privacy policy:
…we maintain e-mail lists to keep interested, eligible individuals informed about important topics, and individuals must affirmatively request to join such lists.
We configure our list server software to refuse to divulge the e-mail addresses of our list subscribers to anyone other than those whom we authorize.
However, we are not the author of this software, and are not responsible for any failures in the software to preserve subscriber anonymity.
There are so many things wrong with those three sentences, I’m beside myself. Sadly, I’m guessing not many people filling out those forms now know what I do: Give the team your email address and risk the world knowing.
Maybe other items from your form’s submission will also be, uhh, leaked due to server failure. Let’s hope not.
Good riddance for Hollywood celebrities balking at the pricetag.
Will you be there? I won’t. I’m waiting for someone to step to the plate and deploy a live satellite feed and carry the celebration to the American people, wherever they may be. I might be asking for too much, but if the PIC can afford to fly 20 people to Washington, maybe they can ask the NSA for one of their satellites for the day.
Related posts:
- How Obama Ordering a Hamburger is a Lesson and a Warning for Every Chief Executive
- 6 Business Lessons from President Obama
- Do You Care That @BarackObama Doesn’t Tweet?
Comments:
Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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{ 5 comments }
Can you be 100% certain Wordpress is keeping my email address safe when I post this comment? The Obama folks are not saying they don’t control the database, just that they cannot guarantee the list serve software is flawless. I don’t see the danger of my email address getting into any “wronger” hands than it already is…based on the hundreds of spam and junk mail messages I have filtered out every day already.
Dave Atkins´s last blog post..How I Use Social Media in my Search for Work
I’m grossed out that the inauguration is going to cost so much…and they’re poo-pooing Detroit’s big three??? Come on, people. Also, my honeymoon with Barack ended with the Rick Warren pick. I’m waiting for him to redeem himself…waiting.
Julie Roads´s last blog post..Don’t pick the G.I. Joe action figure
Don’t blame Obama for inauguration costs, let’s see how you would like it if you planned a huge event and then someone told you to cut your costs. It seems like you’re just out to flame this guy.
Melik Yuksel´s last blog post..Happy New Year’s!
As a consistent small donor and regular volunteer during the campaign, I was actually offended that I am now being asked to donate again for a lottery ticket to the inaugural. Cheesy.
Adriel Hampton´s last blog post..Three Things to Do Before Complaining about Your Government
Dave: Fair enough, though the difference is any email address submitted to the presidential inauguration committee is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Last I checked, Wordpress was not privy to that law.
Julie: NPR interviewed Melissa Etheridge this week, who as you may know is a staunch gay rights activist. Melissa supports Rick as inaugural speaker, if only because Obama was elected President. If McCain was boss, she’d be furious; but what better way to pluralize this nation that reach across borders and welcome all causes? That’s why Melissa supports Rick, and why I now do, too.
Melik: I don’t understand the purpose of an inauguration party. Plain and simple.
Adriel: You’re offended you’re asked to donate, or you’re offended you’re asked your donations helped pay for free transportation for lucky winners?
And to the anonymous commenter who wrote:
Maybe the above comments and my responses helped?
As indicated in my blog policies (link at the top of this screen), anonymous comments are only allowed if you create a fictitious name and use a real email address.
I welcome diverse opinions on this blog, contingent on the policies. Thanks!
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