As you may remember from earlier posts, I’m signed up with the Obama database as living in Alexandria, VA (where I volunteered on the campaign).  On Monday, I got an email from Mitch Stewart, Director of Organizing for America, which took over the mantle of Obama for America after the election.  Here’s the text:

“Keith –

President Obama launched the most ambitious effort to stimulate the economy in our nation’s history when he signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Tuesday.

Your representatives need to hear from you when they vote for the change you mandated in November. Doing what’s right can be thankless when the culture of Washington tries to make political games out of the issues that matter to everyday Americans.

You’re part of a powerful grassroots movement that can change that dynamic. According to our records, you live in Virginia’s 8th district.

Rep. James Moran, Sen. James Webb, and Sen. Mark Warner‘s votes were crucial to passing the bill and creating and saving jobs in Virginia.

Can you pick up the phone right now to thank Rep. Moran, Sen. Webb, and Sen. Warner?

Rep. James Moran
202-225-4376

Sen. James Webb
202-224-4024

Sen. Mark Warner
202-224-2023

Report your call. (link)

Here are some suggested talking points for your call:

- I’m calling to thank [Congress member's name] for supporting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
- I’ll be watching closely online and in the news how taxpayers’ money is spent in the implementation of this Act.
- I encourage [Congress member's name] to continue working with President Obama to lift America out of this economic crisis.

After your call, please record your feedback here:

http://my.barackobama.com/stimulusthanks

We still have a long way to go, but working together we were able to take this important first step.

With the plan in place, more than 2 million people will be lifted out of poverty, 20 million at risk of losing their health care will be protected, and 3.5 million jobs will be created or saved.

There will be plenty more ways for you to contribute in the weeks and months ahead.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

This is the carrot.  Senators and Congressmen who behave themselves will get praise, and of course the opportunity to open a dialogue with their own constituents too.

As for the stick?  Wait until we get the emails telling us that the local Congressman (of whatever party) is blocking Obama’s new health policy, and that it would be helpful for his constituents to let him know their opinion…

(Aside: Senator Mark Warner, D-VA, mentioned above, is a regular Twitterer – good communications channel for those interested in knowing what their Senator is doing)

In the category of ‘Quality of Overall Infrastructure’ we rank 64th in the world.  64th!  64th out of 134 countries.  Our infrastructural quality ranks behind Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Azerbaijan, Jordan and Jamaica.  We are one of the richest countries in the world (as measured in GDP) and,yet we still trail behind Guatemala, a country 21 times poorer.
Quality of Roads: We rank 70th – behind even Georgia.  With a mean score of 3.5, we are closer to bottom ranking Mongolia (1.4) then we are to top ranking France (6.7).
Quality of Railroad Infrastructure: We move a little bit up the rankings on this one – coming in 50th.
Quality of Port Infrastructure: But then we fall back down – all the way to 64th (we own 64).  This is particularly dismal given that over 90 percent of our exports go through our ports; and we’re an exporting nation.  We even rank behind Zimbabwe and they’re landlocked! (They rank higher because they still have better access to South African ports and any inland waterways.)
Quality of Air Transport Infrastructure: We rank a little better on this one – 46th – though with Shannon and the regional airports coming under pressure it remains to be seen if we can maintain this ranking in the years ahead.
Quality of Electricity Supply: this is our best infrastructural ranking: 29th.  This measures interruptions and voltage fluctuations.  This is a considerable achievement given that the Government National Development Plans don’t provide investment into our grid.  This investment has come from the ESB, paying for it out of their own resources (and, so, having to pass it on to consumers which makes it a regressive investment levy).

The full report is here.