Harassed by Obama?

Like Jon Stewart, the star comedian of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, I’ve been buried under an avalanche of emails from the Obama campaign since mid-March — and I know why. Flooded by “Hey!” with the president’s signature, Michelle O.’s invitations to participate in a contest whose three winners will dine with 44th and requests for money, I am one of the “email victims” of the re-election campaign. Politico echoes Jon Stewart’s had-it-up-to-here sentiment — and he’s not really opposed to the president — which mocks this ‘harassment.’

The Democratic campaign’s ambition and will to recapture the grassroots spirit of 2008 amounts to harassment, which [Jon Stewart] denounces with irony, while making fun of the messages’ phony sentiments. Is Obama’s campaign going to let itself be influenced by Jon Stewart’s mockery to the extent that it will change its method? Or, at the very least, its style?

Why have I received these emails? On March 13, I wanted to watch, before anyone else, the 17-minute film that would kick off Obama’s campaign. I clicked on the campaign website address and my “martyrdom” began. During the last week of March, I was pestered by the president, the first lady, Joe Biden, Jim Messina, friends of Joe Biden… When it was the president, I had the right to “Hey Veronique!” or “Hey!” subject lines. And it has hardly calmed down in April. So when I read in Politico that Jon Stewart had truly had it, I unveiled my own feelings…

What do these emails contain? Important ‘reminders’: For example, “today is the second anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — the health care reform law signed in 2010″* — and a request for money. Or “today is the first anniversary of the installation of campaign headquarters in Chicago and that cost us dearly”* and a request for money. Donation amounts are listed and you check one. Three dollars? Ten dollars? Fifty dollars? It’s a good idea if you receive one from time to time. But the Obama campaign sent dozens of them in the last week of March, bearing the signatures of Obama, Michelle, Jim Messina (the campaign manager) and X, friend of Vice-President Joe Biden. …Jon Stewart lost it.

Why this pressure? Since Obama launched his candidacy, people talked about the billion dollar campaign fund that he was going to raise, thus establishing an all-time record for fundraising. The fundraising statistics are published at the end of each trimester, and the emails became oppressive before March 31 in order to raise the temperature and reach the jackpot by that date. Mission accomplished: March 31 saw 118,000 contributions, a figure never before seen in a 24-hour period in this campaign. For the billion, it might not be quite as simple.

Why such a phony tone? Jon Stewart finds the “Hey!” subject lines needlessly casual and artificial. Obama is the president of the United States and “Hey!” is inappropriate because it is falsely familiar. No one expects the president to address them as such. The comedian is also up in arms about this disproportionate money chase: “Ease up on the money thing, fella!” This will be the most difficult — American presidential election campaigns are never very laid back when it comes to money.

*Editor’s Note: These quotes, while correctly translated, could not be verified.