Obama: Data, Information, Leadership And The Right Side Of Issues

 

“No war is won without effective INTEL.” The Pardu

“If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”

Sun Tzu , The Art of War (Read more) 

Do you think the Obama Administration knows the value of public preferences, inclinations and likes/dislikes (e.g., public opinion)? 

Do you think President Obama and his staff are ‘dim-witted’ enough to simply wing-it on issues, or more seriously not know, or ignore,  public opinion?

Remember, this is the Administration that eliminated Osama bin Laden to close a strategy-based plan ordered,  “to his (Obama’s) desk within 90 days of his Inauguration”.  Your answer to the questions above should be a resounding, “No and No.”

Since Obama’s first inauguration, we have witnessed, almost without fail, decision making that has moved the nation forward.  And, that decision-making has been undertaken, executed and analyzed for effectiveness  despite major obstruction from Republicans and the nation’s conservatives.

During the 2013 SOTU Speech, President Obama threw the nation a curve ball unanticipated by all, but his inner staff.  

The president actually proposed a Minimum Wage of $9.00 per hour; an increase to the federally required minimum by $1.75 per hour.  Did you notice in the video above, as soon as Obama spoke of CEO pay, Boehner took that ever-present GOP ‘perfunctory’ and often fake sip of water?  We assume Boehner’s sip was H2O. The Minimum Wage speaking point, surprised the nation.  We feel that Boehner’s timely sip (?) was all he could do to provide moisture for what must have been a Richter Scale sphincter contraction and the largest of 2013. Actually, we suspect a major sphincter attack via the 291 Republicans in the 113th congress; we could only observe Boehner. Of course, you and I noticed no Republicans stood nor dared applaud at the mention of the $9.00 per hour Minimum Wage.  Sphincter attack?

“Raise the Minimum Wage?”

Do you think Obama knew the win-win of raising the Minimum wage?  Win one, polling data indicating wide support for upping the Minimum Wage.  Win two, past history of support for raising the rate and the fact raising the rate doe snot kill jobs. 

Rachel Maddow Blog (Steve Benen) Pew Research Poll

Huffington Post: Minimum Wage public opinion

Minimum Wage aside, the Obama Team is aware of public polling for contraception, for gun control, and against changes to Medicare/Social Security. Lawrence O’Donnell, The Last Word, is reporting on a new poll that (on certain issues) shows the majority of Republicans support President Obama.  The Administration is as good as its ability to seek and assimilate information and its cache of information is good.

The following is a bit detailed, but relevant in understanding the significance of a competent president who is smart enough to use data and public opinion to advance a fair and advance agenda.  Information is critical as we consider the basic serious need for a President, Commander-in-Chief, and Leader who can competently manage a vast management team including supportive and committed software engineers as well as polling professionals in the information trenches. 

Let’s go back and explore how the Obama Team uses data and public opinion for 21st Century decision-making and politicking. 

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Within weeks of the November 2012 General Elections a number of articles about campaign backroom technology, software geeks, Information/polling specialists and voting system hacking popped-up like white “high-end (aged)” Baby Boomers at early Tea Party rallies.  

As I perused many of mid-November 2012 articles, I was a bit surprised at the true extent of polling effectiveness or the opposite ineffectiveness.  As Rasmussen, NPR, Gallup Tracking, ABC/WAPO, PPP/Daily KOS & SEIU, Gallup Tracking  and few other polls completely missed the mark. The “other polls” link shows comprehensive poll data is much more representative of 2012 election results.  

Other articles explored the business of electoral college predictions.  Two noted examples included the highly effective Nate Silver (Obama 313; Romney 225) and the completely blown-out (allegedly accurate since 1980) Colorado University professors Ken Bickers from CU-Boulder and Michael Berry from CU-Denver (Romney 320; Obama 218).  Even Nate Silver blew a state! Neither public voter polling or electoral college predictor truly represented the backroom battles of what I call “deep voter” polling.

Of the articles read in Mid-November, none intrigued as much as Obama’s Narwhal Team.

Three of the 40 Narwhal Engineers.

The President hugging Harper Reed as shown on his Instagram feed.

Out of the 2008 election, very smart Obama campaign staffers realized an abundance of voter related data deserved serious attention and deeper scrutiny. (Details linked via  article Narwhal Team link above). Karl Rove (Romney’s) ORCA system was literally gored by the Obama Team’s (Narwhal).

Arstechnica.com  article Link

The Horror of a Loss! The NARWHAL Team contributed battle winning support for the Obama Campaign.  Conversely, Romney’s campaign (the ramble keystone cops) and Rove’s ORCA system failed in its mission with a specific failure (crash) the evening of November 6th, while we awaited Ohio poll results. The Hacktivist group Anonymous has taken credit for allegedly crashing the Rove ORCA.  It is impossible to verify the Anonymous claim, as all things hacking has a cover of secrecy. We do know the Rove’s ORCA crashed the evening of November, 6th. The NARWHAL system and team was vital to and effective in contributing to an Obama Campaign (Axelrod, Cutter, et al)  level of confidence that became clear as election results came-in and electoral votes declared.  The “ground game” technology system yielded a landslide victory.   We have no way of knowing if the NARWHAL Team was disbanded or still contributes to the president’s decision-making data resources.  What we do know is the Obama Administration is rarely, if ever, on the wrong-side of polling majorities.  Conversely, Mitt Romney campaigned on electing someone who has run a business.  Hell, did the man even effectively run a two year campaign  His campaign did absolutely nothing right throughout the entirety of 2007/2008. Additional resource:

Communitiesdominate  (ORCA Vs. NARWHAL direct comparison and analyst)