HOW DID YOU SPEND YOUR SUMMER? by Scott Westerfeld

[Maureen Johnson]

Scott Westerfeld responds to my attempt to hire Barack Obama. He wants to hire Obama too! And has some more reasons to do so!


How Did You Spend Your Summer?

Cast your mind back to this summer. Maybe you weren't following the campaign very carefully, but here's what was happening:

There was Obama, freshly nominated, his cash advantage looking mighty big. And yet all we saw on the airwaves were a bunch of McCain ads with Paris Hilton.

Paris. Hilton.

Oh, yeah, and Britney Spears. Remember those ads? This was their logic: The McCain campaign found out from Google who were the biggest, most-Googled celebrities in the world that summer, and the names "Paris Hilton" and "Britney Spears" came up right after Barack Obama's.

So they were saying, "See? Being a celeb ain't no big thing!"

The McCain campaign spent millions on those ads, and the polls tightened. Some of us worried that Obama was letting his opponent "drive the news cycle."

So what was Barack Obama doing with his millions? Why wasn't he coming up with some clever response, like comparing McCain to, um, Rachael Ray or something? Well, it turned out that Obama was spending that summer opening campaign offices.

Crazy, huh? Despite his cash advantage, he was content to open hundreds of little storefront offices in strip malls. You may have seen them, the ones with the big HOPE signs in the windows. At first, they didn't seem to be doing anything.

But each of those campaign offices was a beginning of something beautiful, like the grains of sand that turn to pearls. People went in to volunteer, and began to work together. From those offices, millions of connections spread---from neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend, child to parent. People standing face to face to say, "No, silly, he's not a secret muslim" and "Look, here's his health case proposal" and "Yes, we can have change!"

The bonds created by those conversations have lasted until today, and what's more, they continue to grow.

And really, who remembers those Paris Hilton ads anymore? (I mean, besides Paris Hilton.)

Of all the things that have happened this election, that distinction were the clearest. One candidate chose slick attack ads, staying on message, and driving the news cycle. And the other chose people working together, face to face, peer to peer. What happened last summer was simple: Barack Obama chose you and me.

Tomorrow, let's return the favor.

[Alwyn]

OBAMA WON. Thank you each and every one of you.

[Nicole]

did anyone see SNL last night, the special election edition? after seeing that how could anyone vote for Mr.SuperWrinkles and his trusty sidekick Mrs.ICanSeeRussieFromMyHouse!

[Amelia]

Aww, great post! GOBAMA!!!

[Audrey]

the wisdom of the crowd... ha...

[Allie]

Let's hope the wisdom of the crowd is enough to elect Obama tomorrow. ;)

[Audrey]

I thought that the best part of those ads was that it caused the Hilton family to repeal their support for McCain and Paris Hilton's response video was pretty funny...