A 2.0 presidency?

After his victory, Barack Obama promised an "open government" and use "technological tools that can promote citizen participation in decision-making." Two recent initiatives (a chat from the White House and a grassroots campaign to support his budget proposal) illustrate this new way of governing in the digital society era.

For the first time, a U.S. President replied on 26 March, questions posed by Internet. The operation, called "Open for questions," lasted more than an hour, during which Barack Obama responded to questions about the economic situation which has registered the most votes of interest. The White House has indicated that a hundred thousand questions had been raised and more than three and a half million votes have been made.  This online Town hall had "an amazing feeling of something that had never been done before, something we should be trying to do of." Although the event was opened to the press, President Obama took no questions from reporters. The full video and transcript of the presidential chat is online on the White House website.

Another interesting initiative: the grassroots campaign launched by the Obama team to support his budget proposal. The campaign is being run by the Democratic National Committee and is using the 13 million-strong-email list accumulated during Obama's presidentiel campaign to flood members of Congress with phone calls asking for their support for the $3.55 trillion budget proposal. emails ask supporters to perform similar tasks that where asked during the presidential campaign: to organize neighborhood canvassing operations during weekends and to participate in organized efforts, using the same voter lists that were usedn to go door-to-door seeking support for the Obama agenda. [Read the article in the Washington Post]