Connecting the White House
Updated on 02 June 2009
Felicity Spector asks the question that everyone wanted an answer to during that long, long election campaign.
Is it possible to maintain the massive energy of Obama's grassroots campaign from inside the White House?
Could his administration harness the almost magical power of the internet to reach out to millions who'd never been involved in politics before? Would there really be a White House 2.0?
Inevitably, in the first few months of finding their feet there was something lacking. Despite the efforts to travel outside Washington, the social networking sites and the Twitter feeds as the president attempted the difficult sell of the multi-billion dollar stimulus package, there just wasn't the spark, the connection that he achieved during the campaign.
Now there are the first signs of the new governing strategy. The White House has launched a new Office of Public Engagement run by prominent campaign staffers Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen, designed to recapture that grassroots appeal. According to Jarrett, they call it the "front door to the White House".
It's meant to provide a voice for as many Americans as possible and keep them involved. There's the inevitable blog and regular meetings inside the White House and beyond, discussing hot topics from the economy to healthcare.
On top of this, the Open Government Initiative invites anyone to submit or brainstorm ideas on how the government can be made more transparent. The next stage begins next week, focusing on the most compelling ideas. Then they'll ask people to help draft the recommendations for change.
Obama's team was always particularly tech-savvy, but now a number of prominent Google executives have joined the administration not just to run the technology office. They have also joined as citizen participation director and head of the new Office of Social Innovation, which is proposing a $50m social innovation fund to help non-profits create or expand successful programmes and seek out the models that work.
And there are also plans to use the White House website to encourage people to get involved in volunteering projects over the summer.
Not quite as exciting as a knife edge election campaign, granted. And there's considerable scepticism about just how open government can ever really be. But give it time and maybe citizen participation really could be just a click away.
