"What The @#$% Has Obama Done' Seeks to Reengage Voters for Obama
Perhaps Democrats should look to new ventures, like websites, to reach nonvoters
Nov. 5, 2010— -- It is clear the 2010 midterm election, which devastated Democrats and stripped them of control of the House of Representatives, is a story of young voters and Independents not showing up to vote as they did in 2008.
Perhaps Democrats should look to ventures like the new website that asks and answers the question those nonvoters apparently had about their president: "WTF has Obama done so far?"
The new site, which we cannot spell out because it contains a word not suitable for a family news site, was developed by three friends and Obama supporters and went live the Monday before election day.
It poses the aforementioned question and give users the opportunity to see an answer, culled from a roulette wheel of boilerplate Democratic talking points.
"Tax cuts for up to 3.5 million small businesses to help pay for employee health care coverage," reads one answer, which links to a news article.
"But what has he done for me lately?" reads a second box. The viewer can click and find out.
While it went live before election day, the site touting the president's accomplishments didn't start going viral until the day after and since it has accumulated more than half a million fans on Facebook. It was launched by two social media professionals and an independent filmmaker, none of whom are officially active in politics. Read our interview with the creators of the site HERE.
There are other popular WTF roulette tumblr sites including one that wonders what the user should make for dinner and then links to recipe websites.
President Obama and Democrats used social networking and the Internet to great effect as they mobilized record numbers of young voters in 2008. But they have lost the edge online in the intervening two years. On Facebook, for instance, more Republicans are "liked" than Democrats by a wide margin. Read more about the Facebook gap .
There are lots of theories about Democrats' inability to keep up enthusiasm online.
"Online social networks have made the sharing of information much faster and easier and thus overall have contributed to the democratization of election," said Richard Socarides, a Democrat and former White House Special Assistant to President Clinton who now works as a commentator and lawyer in New York.
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