50 for 50. It's all about Obama

50 for 50. It sounds like a pitch for compromise. An attempt to find common ground in reaching a bipartisan deal on the debt ceiling.

If that's your guess, you're wrong.


50 for 50 is a sweepstakes pitch by the Obama 2012 campaign that asks each supporter to undertake 50 new actions to benefit the campaign before the president's 50th birthday. Here's the challenge on the sweepstakes webpage:

CHALLENGE: Bring 50 new people into this campaign in time for the President's 50th birthday. Choose one or any combination of the organizing activities below—we'll track your progress for you after you register. Once you get to 50, you'll automatically be given a chance to be one of four supporters who will join the President for a birthday celebration in Chicago next month. For a complete list of ways to enter and full details, click here.

This latest Obama campaign ploy doesn't look so much like a plan to inform voters as it does a multilevel marketing contest. But maybe there is a teachable moment here: Go to the contest rules page (linked in blue), and you'll see it comes with plenty of rules and legal disclaimers, including this one:

 All prizes are awarded "AS IS" and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose).

Candidates are like this sweepstakes. They come without warranty. They often promise one thing, while delivering another when elected. I'm especially wary of a candidate with a campaign built on a sweepstakes attitude, rather than presentation of a clear platform and honest voter education.

Obama's birthday bash (and a campaign sweepstakes built around it) seems sorely out of place as the president repeatedly calls for shared sacrifice by the rest of us. I'm more than a little cynical when it comes to a president planning his own birthday bash scheduled at the same time he warns social security checks may not go out.

updated 7/17/2011 1:10pm edt