So here’s the situation.  You see I made several donations to the Obama and MoveOn.org groups for this election.  I’d never done that before with the exception of money donated to a friend’s U.S. Senate race in Oregon about 12 years ago.  (He lost to Gordon Smith who was just unseated.)  Now that my candidate won I’ve been hit with several more requests for money to help finance the Democratic National Committee debt and the re-counts in Minnesota. Today I got a ‘personal’ note from the Obama campaign manager asking for another dontation to help fund the transition – not sure what all is invoved here – but it seems that this has been funded in the past by special interests.

Uh…aren’t I a special interest?  I’m interested in hearing about what’s going on right now. Instead of hearing about it in the news (which I know edits things to fit into sound bites) I’d like to be receiving some emails and text messages with a progress report or status update. Instead I keep getting asked for more money.

So here’s my question.  Exactly how is this different than the previous way of doing business in Washington D.C.?  I send in money and am in the dark about what’s going on.

Dear readers, help me out here?  What am I missing? What am I not seeing?  Did I not drink enough kool-aid?

Barry –

I have a special request for you.

The Obama-Biden Transition Project is a nonpartisan entity whose purpose is to facilitate the transition to a new government and prepare for the next administration.

In the past, efforts like these have often been very secretive and funded by the D.C. lobbying and corporate community.

But, like in the campaign, we’ve decided to do things differently.

For the first time, transition efforts won’t be financed with donations from Washington lobbyists and PACs — which means we’ll need to keep asking for your help. You were extremely generous during the campaign, but building a more transparent and open government means continuing to rely on a broader group of people to do this the right way.

We only have a few weeks to assess the state of the federal agencies, prepare our agenda, and staff key positions in the new administration. Your support right now will be crucial to helping us accomplish these goals.

Will you help support the urgent mission of our transition team with a donation of $250 or more?

https://donate.barackobama.com/transition

You know that we got here by building this campaign from the ground up. We’re committed to building the White House team the same way.

Thank you,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America