The Obama transition team has established www.change.gov, the first-ever Web site dedicated to providing information regarding the transition between one presidential administration and another. This effort is only the latest step to use technology to inform, involve and motivate his supporters, and is reminiscent of several ways Obama revolutionized the ground game in presidential politics. This simply is an extension of his campaign website at BarackObama.com which is now shutting down.

Visitors to the “Office of the President-Elect,” as the site is called, can share their ideas for running the country and apply for jobs with the Obama transition and administration. The site went up on Nov. 5, the day after the election, and Obama campaign staff and volunteers, many of whom have been working full-time for the campaign for the past two years, and others seeking work with the administration immediately began logging on to apply for jobs. The site advises that applying online is the fastest way to get a position. Applicants are told that if they fill out a short form with their name, location and most recent employer, they will get an email in a few days with a more lengthy online application. “If and when you are considered for a specific position, you will be asked to fill out additional forms, including financial disclosures, and be subject to other reviews which may include FBI background checks,” the site advises.

The website was designed by members of Obama’s transition team, campaign staff and General Services Administration, the government office that assists with transitions. The site’s design resembles Obama’s campaign website. The fonts are the same, although the reds and blues are more subdued. It contains blogs with news of the day, including video of Obama’s first press conference, links and photos of Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden under the heading “Your Administration,” and pages dedicated to various issues under the heading “Agenda,” as well as a list of the incoming administration’s top five priorities: Revitalizing the Economy, Ending the War in Iraq, Providing Health Care for All, Protecting America and Renewing American Global Leadership.

The site shows early signs of Obama’s campaign pledge to make government more transparent. It has a list of transition staff and biographies of the top three members of the transition team: John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett and Pete Rouse. It also promises that profiles of Cabinet officials will be posted as they’re named.

It’s unclear what will happen to all of the stories visitors to the site are invited to share about the campaign or Election Day, or what the Obama administration will do with suggestions for how to do its job. “Share your vision for what America can be, where President-Elect Obama should lead this country” is written above a form to share ideas. “Where should we start together?” The site appears to still be a work in progress. Not all the sections are complete and photos aren’t loaded properly in others, so expect more features to come. There’s just one listing in the “upcoming events” section of the site: The Inauguration on Jan. 20. (Source: The Politico.)

Now with the campaign site BarackObama.com shutting down, it appears that the www.change.gov site will be the transitional website until Obama is inaugurated on 20 Jan 2009. As Obama has said in his first press conference, there is only ONE President and he can’t use the government resources yet. Thus until then this will be his Press Secretary’s office — as his transition staff settles into the General Services Administration building set aside specifically for the transition staff in Washington, DC.

However, looking past the inauguration, this site would be ideally suited to continue to keep his supporters attuned to his campaign promises progress — to keep them involved. YES, WE CAN!!! The emphasis is on “WE” … and try to imagine how powerful an IMMEDIATE email campaign from millions of supporters to any senator/representative who opposes Obama legislation could be. The ramifications of this site are far reaching. The Daily Press Briefings at the White House will give the United States OFFICIAL policy from the US President Obama to the world — but a site like this would be a direct link from Obama to his supporters in affecting progressive change. Then in four years, Obama will have a ready-made support organization (NOT controlled by the Democratic Party) — complete with personal contact phone numbers — to place his reelection campaign into effect. Obama won the nomination through the Democratic caucuses — the grass-roots function which he worked with finesse. He knows intimately where his power base is. He won the election through a massive outpouring of support from minorities and young voters. He most certainly will not want to let them drift away in the next four years — and the simple text messaging format is the perfect tool to keep in touch.

For those that are iPhone owners, there is software “Obama ‘08″ to organize telephone contacts used to spread the word about Obama’s campaign. Similarly, Obama supporters who preferred to use a laptop or desktop PC could download software which literally turned their home computer and home telephone into a campaign phone bank. Download the software for iPhone or iPod HERE. This software was available during the election campaign and may have been the key to the Obama camp’s ability in instantaneous information dissemination — followed by forwarding nationwide via partisan blogs. Robo-calling and press-release formats to supporters may have become outdated. Now that the campaign is over, this asset is just too darn valuable to simply dispense with. It most assuredly will somehow be retained to keep Obama’s loyal following informed on the “changes” that are taking place — part of the “Yes, we can” followup.

The presidential election provided the Obama camp with the foundations required to “create change and build solidarity” with the” information and tools necessary to help deliver the change.” (Source: iPhone.) Obama organized a flawless campaign — and one element was the use of the internet and text messaging. If there is one thing about Obama that has been learned is that he will not support anything that is not cost-effective. This element is so valuable, it is a keeper — to be nutured for four years and ready to roll out in 2012.

Barack Obama, like him or not, has completely transformed the traditional approaches taken by presidential campaigns in rallying and mobilizing the vote. Four years from now, the GOP will once again have to go toe-to-toe with Barack Obama. Unless the GOP learns its lessons and moves into the 21st century, it will get clobbered again.

Of course, the text messaging doesn’t apply to those of us overseas, but for those Obama supporters back in the states this might be quite useful.  For those that might be tempted to make parallels with the Obama internet and text messaging operations to what we’ve experienced in Korea – and to what was seen most recently in the anti-US beef protests — DON’T.  Obama’s people ran a well-organized, professional operation, while the NGO protest groups of Korea were disorganized without any central control over the message content.  In Korea it was like shooting out the message with a shotgun.  Obama’s operation was like shooting out the message with sniper accuracy.  They had contact telephone numbers down to the district level — and others in the local area had their own networks.  The Obama messages were all vetted to ensure their were no “slips” in accuracy during the last stages of the campaign.  The iPhone contacts provided maps and directions if they wanted people at events.  Organization was the key for Obama’s operations — while the NGO activist groups could only field chaos.