WEs we like - Saturday, November 8, 2008 3:02 - 1 Comment

Change.gov

“Throughout the Presidential Transition Project, this website will be your source for the latest news, events, and announcements…Just as this historic campaign was, from the beginning, about you – the transition process will offer you opportunities to participate in redefining our government.”
www.change.gov

President-elect Barack Obama gets it. The current administration has been out of touch with the people it claims to serve, and change is long overdue. For the past eight years, public opinion has been muzzled or plainly dismissed, and the country has found itself limping alongside its government, as they longed for the taste of participatory democracy.

Fully aware of this,  the progressive team behind the Obama campaign successfully harnessed the power of the Internet as part of  reaching out to voters. A strategically planned and innovative e-revolution was carried out, taking full advantage of social network platforms and SMS to get the campaign’s message out – and to reel voters in. It was Yes We Can, web 2.0 style.

The people responded in droves; empowerment coursing through their veins. The divisive line between politician and main street blurred, opening a path for an unprecedented WE movement.

Now, days after history was made,  the Obama camp has hit the ground running. Knowing they need to sustain the momentum built during the campaign, they have launched Change.gov, the new home of the Presidential Transitional Project.

Change.gov marries politics with citizen engagement. The website, while still in its infancy and rumored to be adding on to its current features, allows its visitors and subscribers to stay updated on the transitional developments, and enables people to learn more about the new administration’s proposed agenda to carry out its policies.  In a nod to the spirit of community fostered during the campaign, the site also invites submissions from those seeking to share their election stories, and offers the masses a chance to become active in the democratic process by asking them to share their visions of a new America – and, more specifically, their views on how President-elect Obama can, and should, work to attain these goals.

If this new wave of instant access to government and two-way dialogue is a sign of things to come, the next four years will, without a doubt, represent a return to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Because of its recognition to the unrelenting power of the people, and their readiness to incorporate all voices in the transition from electoral campaign to political office, Change.gov is a WE deserving of a world wide celebration. Good thing that the festivities are already under way.