Obama Raises $55 Million in February. Whew!

What I Was Looking For …
The ideal message would be for an Obama operative to thank me profusely for pointing out the Clinton goof and tell me it was being immediately forwarded to the communications team for possible use. The message to me could have added, “Oh, by the way, the Obama campaign could sure use a person like you; click here to tell us what you are interested in doing for Barack.”

My ego would be stroked and, more to the point, it would be evident that the Obama team has knowledgeable people answering its e-mail, as opposed to Hillary Clinton, who let the world know that her White House emergency phone will go unanswered.

The Obamavalanche
The first response was immediate, arriving the next day — March 2.

Over the next six days I received a blizzard of correspondence — 11 e-mails, some long, others short, for a total of more than 5,000 words.

* No reference to — or thanks for — my e-mail message was made. My e-mail address was vacuumed up and instantly added to the list.

* There was no mention of what Obama’s candidacy would do for the American people, the country or me. They were all about what I would be willing to do for — and give to — Obama.

* “Short words, short sentences, short paragraphs,” said freelancer Andrew J. Byrne. This was not operative here. One sentence had 75 words, and a sentence in another e-mail was made up of 95 words. This is the sloppy prose taught in academia and practiced by eager young Turks who have not spent a lot of time in the real world creating easy-to-read communications.

* The e-mails were all over the place — some on formal letterhead, others as memos and several combining the two formats. Some were pinned to asking for money, others urged phone calls be made on behalf of the candidate, still others talked about the endorsement and involvement of various union leaders with press releases attached.