Friday, December 5, 2008

Dear Obama for America Team: No, I will not help retire Hillary's debt or buy your official Obama calendar or anything else you are peddling...

until I receive the official limited-edited Obama-Biden victory t-shirt you promised me (pictured at left) right after the election for making a donation to the Democratic National Committee on behalf of the Obama-Biden campaign/administration.

I realize that my reticence or outright refusal to continue to donate to your pet causes is weakening (wrecking?) my chances of getting a job in the Obama-Biden administration, but I promise that once (if?) I receive the t-shirt that I paid lavishly for (well over retail -- and this in addition to the very generous donation I made directly to the Obama campaign in September) and am offered a job within the administration (say a mid-level communications post at the White House or State Department), I will be more than happy to contribute again.

However, as a show of good will, I am reprinting your donation requests here on my blog in case others are feeling more generous of spirit.

Want to help the DNC and get "an official Obama calendar"? Here's how (courtesy of Obama for America):

This holiday season, celebrate the historic accomplishment of our movement for change. Treat yourself or a loved one to a limited edition four-year calendar featuring some of the best images from the campaign trail.
Make a donation of $35 or more right now and get an official Obama calendar to mark an amazing year:
Celebrate our historic accomplishment
Items purchased by December 15th are guaranteed to be delivered before December 25th. When you make your donation, you'll be supporting the Democratic National Committee. The resources they invested in the 50-state organizing strategy made this movement possible -- help us build for future victories together. Share this amazing moment with your friends and family. Thanks to supporters like you, we all have the opportunity to bring real change to America. Get your holiday Obama calendar today: https://donate.barackobama.com/calendar Thank you, Obama for America

Want to help Joe Biden help out a millionaire? Here's how:

President-elect Obama and I have been assembling our team, and we plan to hit the ground running next month.

We want to be ready to go, and that's why I'm asking you to help us honor an outstanding commitment we made during the election.

Our campaign pledged to help Senator Hillary Clinton -- one of the vital members of our team and our future Secretary of State -- retire her campaign debt. That's the money her campaign owes to the vendors across the country that make our political process possible.

Barack and I had the deepest respect for Hillary as an opponent on the campaign trail. Her undeniable intellect, talent, and passion strengthened Barack as a candidate and tested our movement for change.

We welcome Hillary as a partner in our administration, and I hope you will show your support by helping Barack fulfill our campaign promise.

Will you make a contribution of $100 or more now to retire Hillary's campaign debt?

I saw your generosity and commitment to this team throughout the election, and I know we can do it.

In the general election, Hillary was one of our strongest advocates. She traveled the country and did more than 70 events, raising money and bringing new supporters into our campaign.

As Secretary of State, she will be indispensable in furthering Barack's agenda for change.

Let's welcome Hillary to the team and thank her for her efforts in support of our campaign by helping to retire her debt to the hard-working individuals and small businesses that were a part of the election:

https://donate.barackobama.com/hillary

Your support and generosity got us this far, and I know I can count on it now.

Thank you,

Joe


I believe my work here is done. However you guys (I'm talking to you, David Plouffe, and you, John Podesta, and you, Joe Biden, and the rest of the Obama-Biden transition team) still owe me a t-shirt.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, I like Hillary just fine, and I don't hold her fringe weirdo supporters against her. But I think the Hillary or Mass Cult Suicide contingent should be shaken down to retire her debt before us Obama supporters are tapped. Just my humble opinion.

TommyMac71 said...

um.....J?......u don't need a t-shirt....just sleep nude like the rest of us.....

jjv said...

Put not your faith in princes...or their t-shirts.

TommyMac71 said...

Also....Can we just convince the RNC to donate Palin's outfits to Hillary? We can take them out in the ass a bit....and then work on the cankle issues....

J. said...

I like Hillary just fine, too, Betty, even better than fine after she lost her bid and started supporting Barack. And I am all for her being Secretary of State. But I think she/her campaign behaved irresponsibly, running up debt when she knew she wasn't going to get the party's nomination.

And as for you, Tommy... I still want my t-shirt, and I shall use it or wear it when and as I see fit.

J. said...

What, you don't have my glass slipper, JJV? Eloquently put, though truth be told, I gave up on fairy tales long ago.

As for donating Palin's clothes to Hillary, I think Hillary is doing just fine in the wardrobe department, Tommy (though maybe that contributed to her campaign debt).

Anonymous said...

Just make sure it is a tight t-shirt :)

Anonymous said...

many donations
so few rewards or t-shirts
you deserve yours now!

Dave S. said...

I'm surprised Tommymac didn't offer his "Ho-Ho-Hobama" T-shirt for you to use in the meantime.

I will be a killjoy and suggest that the efficiency of processing even huge numbers of donations electronically is superior to the efficiency of any non-retail outfit of sending out physical objects (T-shirts, calendars etc.).

That was poorly written but I hope my point comes across. If it does not, simply re-read my joke at Tommymac's expense. That is where I personally am most efficient.

Dave S. said...

I think my previous comment was unclear. My point is that they are probably looking at a huge backlog of T-shirt mailings and sending all of those out will take more time and energy than was expended on receiving and processing the donations (not to mention sending out more dontation requests).

They probably should have alluded to this in their latest shakedown email...

Anonymous said...

"But I think the Hillary or Mass Cult Suicide contingent should be shaken down to retire her debt before us Obama supporters are tapped."

But Betty, they already tried and mass failed! And they're so over Hillary these days anyway.

J. I just got a t-shirt a few weeks ago that was being pushed during the summer so give them time . . . Now what I really want is the fleece they offered the other day - it's too freaking cold for t-shirts here. But I probably wouldn't get the fleece until May or June. :)

Anonymous said...

I TOTALLY agree that we should not have to bail out Hillary. After all, she made the decision to run – while her husband was raking in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, from his various gigs. If we were in a flush economy, then maybe as an act of good will. But since so many desperately deprived people are in need of support, why privilege the priveleged?

J. said...

Thanks for the intel, Marindenver! So basically I should expect my t-shirt just in time for summer. Gr-reat.

TommyMac71 said...

God damn it...I wish I thought of Ho-Ho-Hobama....That s--t is brilliant.

Good job Dave S.

Anonymous said...

So, I really, really don't want to go downstairs and start doing laundry so I thought just a FEW more minutes on the computer and I will surely, surely do it then. So I'll check out Jon Swift's latest (which was wonderful) and there in the comments was one by J. and linking back to Lawyer Bailout so, not in a rush anyway, read through that and found link at bottom to J.'s editor's choice comment on MoDo (cool!) and thought, OMG, I so, so hope she kept her promise, let's just see. And ZOMG, the very next day . . . http://jtwoo.blogspot.com/2008/11/can-jets-outfoxborough-patriots-and.html . So I guess that's it. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, all Sarah, all the time is what we're going to get. Oh well. Don't worry J, I couldn't have kept my promise either. ;-)

J. said...

Marindever, you crack me up. : ) As someone who tries very hard to keep her promises, I immediately went back to my comment on that Maureen Dowd piece to see if I had indeed broken my promise. I was -- am -- relieved to say I have not. The deal was that if the media stopped covering Palin, I would not say a mean thing about Republicans for a week. Yet every week there has been something about Palin on TV or on the radio or online. So Marindenver (and God, if you are reading this), I have not broken my promise. But you, my dear, still need to do some laundry.

Btw, in honor of Betty: GO GATORS!

Anonymous said...

Okay J. I will concede your point. I think Sarah probably has a pact with the devil anyway which probably trumps poor god. Since it is now 6:00 here I may have to forego the rest of the laundry and kick back with a glass of chard instead. (Did get one load done though.)

To get serious for a minute, since you are a writer I would appreciate your thoughts on a post I did at Rumproast today about the impending demise of one of our daily newspapers and the future of the print media generally.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'd like my T-shirt, too. At least, I'd like a comment about it (e.g. "it will take a while", "we're out", etc.). I tried to call both obamaforamerica.com (1-866-675-2008) and the transition office (1-202-540-3000). The rep of the latter had no clue about any fund- raising merchandise and insisted that I need to talk to the campaign. The campaign (the 1-866...) has several options. I tried all during business hours, but couldn't get anywhere - the lines would eventually disconnect. Has anybody had any success contacting the campaign after the election?

Now, I see, they are "selling" the holiday T-shirt, guaranteed to arrive by the 25th. Wouldn't one expect to first get the T-shirt based on a month-old contribution?

Frankly, the T-shirt is no big deal. However, I find my inability to get any comment about it from any of Obama's organizations is a little distressing. I really *hope* for transparency and accountability of the new administration. Why not start with a T-shirt?

J. said...

THANK YOU for that comment, Anonymous (whoever you are). That is EXACTLY how I feel, though it never occurred to me to call about it. Bravo -- and how disappointing. And yes, I still have not received my t-shirt, nor expect to until at least February... or May.