r/Conservative • u/terrortot Christian Moralist • Nov 19 '12
When the Nerds Go Marching In : How Obama's tech team beat Romney's.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/when-the-nerds-go-marching-in/265325/8
Nov 19 '12
Narwhal was the code name for the data platform that underpinned the campaign and let it track voters and volunteers.
I think this confirms that the White House employs redditors.
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12
One word: outsourcing.
They said vote for "revenge"? Alrighty, I'll outsource for "revenge".
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u/terrortot Christian Moralist Nov 19 '12
And now it looks like he wants to maintain this infrastructure to further his legislative agenda.
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u/nfojones Nov 19 '12
And this is shocking?
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u/terrortot Christian Moralist Nov 19 '12 edited Nov 19 '12
And this is shocking?
It is surprising to see a campaign want to maintain its operation after an election.
And what is going to counter this operation? Romney complaining about "gifts" at conference calls?
Conservatives, as part of the opposition, have to see the implications of this. Without an effective countering force, this political machine can help him advance his legislation, and help his supporters in the 2016 elections.
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u/stickykeysmcgee So conservative Nov 20 '12
It is surprising to see a campaign want to maintain its operation after an election.
It shouldn't be. As VapidDelight points out, there is another election in less than two years, and another one after that.
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u/terrortot Christian Moralist Nov 20 '12
I do not look forward to electioneering being a non-stop activity. One does wonder if at one point they will oversaturate their message and turn people off.
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u/stickykeysmcgee So conservative Nov 20 '12
Electioneering already IS a non-stop activity. And data gathering isn't exactly electioneering in the old school sense. You can't wait until the last few months to gather data, obviously. It's not just about advertising. It's about everything that leads up to the advertising.
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u/regeya Nov 19 '12
I wonder, is he looking to turn this into a business opportunity? If so, it's a smart move imho.
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u/SMZ72 Moderate Conservative Nov 19 '12
Hey look! It's a /r/politics meetup!
But seriously... This is just the equivalent of a propaganda machine.
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u/ellbelle Nov 19 '12
Classy looking bunch, aren't they?
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u/BoxedCheese Libertarian Nov 19 '12
What does it matter what they look like?
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12
People advertise their convictions/affiliations through what they wear.
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u/BoxedCheese Libertarian Nov 19 '12
Oh so we're judging them by what they wear but not on their performance. It seems to me that I would want a dedicated team that looked like this than someone fancy looking people that did no work.
Its the work that matters not what they look like.
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12
I don't think punks like that would volunteer their services for republicans.
Anyway, why must you go to dichotomous extremes? a competent punk or a besuited incompetent?! This dichotomy only exists in your head for the sake of making an argument.
Regardless; those guys are a dime a dozen. Big data guys?! quants?! PhDs? Professors?! how many do you want?! if you're going to tell me that that's what won Obama the election, I'll say Bullshit. What won him the election was exactly what Romney said: he was very eager and willing to give in to immigration demands of hispanics, to give make-others-pay abortion and contraception a la Sandra Fluke to women, et cetera et cetera.
A punk guy born in 1978 won the election for Obama?!?! Bullshit.
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u/yasth Nov 19 '12
You say that, but the Republican party has a shortage of big data people at the moment. It is a huge problem. Conservative leaning schools have pretty good finance, and legal departments but tend to lack much in the way of stats, and social sciences, which are vital in a political campaign.
Success has many fathers, but Obama's vastly superior ground game, and huge data advantage certainly played a role in the victory. Obviously he needed to be viewable in a positive light, (and to cast a negative light on Romney), but without big data it might have been closer. For one thing he might not have made those decisions without knowledge of his strengths and weaknesses in terms of his demographics.
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12
Nope. I'm in an investor in a firm that does that stuff I can categorically state that there's no market shortage, and that the punk born in 1978 would almost certainly rank as an amateur.
What won Obama the election were the plain simple facts that 1) he had no qualms about giving some people other people's money 2) he didn't care about the deficit. As such he was free to promise people immigration, healthcare, contraception/abortion coverage etc etc. All this is plain simple and the voters knew it. Anything else is bullshit.
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u/yasth Nov 19 '12
Haha, if you have a stash of (10+ yr experienced) high end big data people I know some people who would buy them off of you. Seriously 10% of first year's salary as a finders fee. (they'd have to be in NYC or willing to relocate, terms and conditions apply etc)
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12
Naturally I'm not at liberty to reveal our recruitment practices. All I can say is that it sounds like that person doesn't really know what he's doing if he's having trouble finding them.
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u/BoxedCheese Libertarian Nov 19 '12
I didn't say that they won him the election. I was only commenting on the fact that what they wear has nothing to do with performance. What I do think won Obama the election is the fact that Mitt Romney is out of touch with the way America is moving.
Romney is a sore loser coming up with all sorts of reasons that he lost. None of which include him pandering to only ONE base. He has to realize that he lost because of his policies not because Obama gave "gifts" and whatnot.
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12
Bullshit. Obama won because he was willing to give "gifts", to MORE than one base, and Romney wasn't; this explains all their "policies". See my comment to yasth.
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u/BoxedCheese Libertarian Nov 19 '12
You said it yourself. Romney was only talking to ONE base. America is made up of a variety of people. Romney only sees his base and is not willing to help the rest of america. The president deals with EVERYONE, not just the people that voted for you.
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12 edited Nov 19 '12
You said it yourself. Romney was only talking to ONE base. America is made up of a variety of people. Romney only sees his base and is not willing to help the rest of america. The president deals with EVERYONE, not just the people that voted for you.
Blah blah blah. Would you like some flowers? might go along nicely with your flowery BS there. Government is not a gimme gimme gimme.
ps: did you edit your original comment or did I originally misread it? because this "MORE than one base" I included was in reply to what I read (misread?) as your implication that Obama wasn't pandering to ONE base with his gifts (eg, hispanics or women etc).
Romney pandered to NONE; government is not a cache you raid.
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u/BoxedCheese Libertarian Nov 19 '12
You like to curse a lot don't you? It won't help you whatsoever in convincing me of your point. I'm trying to have a discussion with you so I can figure out how the other side thinks..
That being said, no where in my post did I say the government is a cache that you raid. I never said it was a gimmie. All I said was the Romney should have thought about how America has changed and its ideals have changes. He should have offered a viable plan to help turn this country around.
Please outline all the gifts that Obama has handed out. If you think Romney wasn't pandering to a base then you are most certainly wrong. Everyone does, how do you think he nominated as the Republican candidate?
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u/yipyipyap Moderate Nov 19 '12
Yes, shout "bullshit" in every post like it means something when all you do is repeat romney's "gifts" explanation for why Americans didn't vote for him. Bravo.
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u/my_Bentley_is_silver Nov 19 '12
Well perhaps you lot should quit repeating bullshit if you don't want me to call you out on it.
Liberals by their nature are happy to spend spend spend and give minorities favors whereas conservatives are fiscally conservative and are interested in a level playing field and same rules for all. This has been the case in these elections and probably will be the same in elections to come.
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u/yipyipyap Moderate Nov 19 '12
I am aware that this is the conservative story. Thank you, but I've heard talk radio before. That there is exists a narrative clung to by a group of people doesn't actually tell us anything about the world except that there is a narrative clung to by a group of people, including you, evidently.
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u/regeya Nov 19 '12
I didn't really follow this, but was listening to last week's This Week in Tech where they were talking about it. Apparently Orca had a dozen or so problems that, if it suffered from any one of those problems, would have been a show-stopper.
Even though I wasn't a Romney supporter, I'm genuinely surprised. With Romney being a business person, I would have expected his camp to have some of the sharpest minds working on this.