我想问奥巴马总统的竞选连任班子一个问题。它关系到今年选举的结果：如何重拾“我们”的支持？

    我们都记得很清楚，奥巴马在上次大选中如何开辟新天地，将社交媒体打造成强大的政治武器。奥巴马的竞选班子创建了一个开放的网络平台MyBarackObama.com，为支持者提供工具进行自我组织，建立社区，筹集资金，引导大众在投票之外，还积极地支持奥巴马的竞选。1,300万支持者通过互联网相互联系，形成一股前所未有的力量，为着共同的目标努力：把奥巴马送上总统宝座。

    当他们高呼“我们做得到”，那不仅仅是对未来的美好期望，更是集体力量的自信宣言。他们从不原地待命，他们积极参与，呼朋唤友，关注热点，群策群力，各尽所能。“我们”的力量令人叹为观止，“我们”不仅仅唤起大众的期望，也为传统的当地竞选活动筹集了前所未有的巨量资金。

    但这一次，奥巴马竞选班子摒弃了“我们做得到”，代之以新的策略“我们了解你”。

    民主党投巨资于所谓的“大数据”，试图了解每个支持者的日常行为。大数据允许公司以及政治运动去探查和分析关于人们的一切：朋友圈子、消费习惯、参与活动的类型和时间、关注的话题。据说他们可以利用这些信息更加精确地发送电子邮件，或者发现吸引参与活动、捐献资金的触发点。

    但是大众的力量何在？“我们”何在？2008年胜选之后“我们”就杳无音讯了。安德鲁•拉希奇是追踪技术与政治交叉领域的组织“个人民主媒体”（Personal Democracy Media）的创始人，他抱怨说：“他们建立了总统竞选历史上最大的在线社区，胜选后却对该社区不闻不问”，直到最近才想起来打电话，但目的也只是为了索取献金。

    奥巴马也曾尝试做第一个互联网总统，他发布Twitter信息，撰写博客，举行网络版的市民大会。他还发起开放政府运动，目的就是为了削减特殊利益团体的影响力，让公众在与其生活息息相关的决定中拥有更大的话语权。和全球其它政府相比，美国政府算是政务公开的标杆了。

    Here's a question for President Barack Obama's re-election team. It could influence the outcome of this year's election: How do they get the "we" back?

    We all remember how Obama broke new ground in the 2008 campaign by using social media as a powerful political tool. Obama's campaign created an expansive Internet platform, MyBarackObama.com, that gave supporters tools to organize themselves, create communities, raise money and induce people to not only to vote but to actively support the Obama campaign. What emerged was an unprecedented force, 13 million supporters connected to one another over the Internet, all driving toward one goal, the election of Obama.

    When they chanted "Yes We Can," it wasn't just a message of hope for the future; it was a confirmation statement of collective power. They weren't waiting to be told what to do; they were actively engaged, calling friends to come to events, to learn what was at stake, contribute ideas, and help out in some way. The power of "we" was awesome to behold. The "we" not only raised hope for people; it raised unprecedented sums of money for the old-fashioned campaign on the ground.

    But this time, "Yes We Can" has been replaced by a new modus operandi for the Obama campaign: "We know you."

    The Democrats are investing heavily in so-called Big Data to give them significant new insights into the everyday behavior of each one of their supporters. Big Data allows companies, or political campaigns, to probe and analyze information about you -- your friends, your shopping habits, what type of events you go to and when, what issues you care about. With this information, they can presumably be more accurate in sending messages out over email, or in identifying the trigger points that send you to events and get you to donate money.

    But whatever happened to power of the people? Whatever happened to the "we"? We haven't heard about it since the 2008 victory. "They built the largest online community in the history of the presidency," says Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Media, which tracks the intersection of technology and politics. "But then they stopped talking to them and engaging them" -- that is, until they called in recently with a pitch for money.

    Obama did make some efforts to be the first Internet president, with a Twitter feed, a blog, and the Internet version of the traditional town hall. He launched an open government initiative with the aim of cutting the influence of special interests and giving the public more influence over decisions that affect their lives. Compared with other governments around the world, the U.S. government sets the gold standard for openness.

    然而，奥巴马当选四年之后，改变并未发生，游戏规则依旧：你投票，我统治。拉希奇很失望：“很多人认为，在他的希望和改变的口号下聚集了巨大的政治支持，他却没有好好珍惜。”比如，奥巴马本可以利用1,300万支持者去游说议员，以支持其健保法案。拉希奇认为白宫、特别是奥巴马的首任幕僚长拉姆•伊曼纽尔并不相信“我们”的力量。“他们退回到‘天字第一号讲坛’（指白宫），他们重拾20世纪的交流方式。”这种态度看来已经影响了2012年的竞选。

    28岁的洛米奇•康斯特说：“这是一场完全不同的竞选。”2008年，她和一些音乐以及影视界的大牌明星组织活动，为奥巴马筹得数百万美元。“真是鼓舞人心，”她回忆道。“当有人相信你有能力做你想做的，你就有力量和潜能去实现更多的梦想。我还能鼓舞其他人。”而这一次“就是传统的自上而下的有组织竞选。”现在单单批准活动计划就需要几个月。康斯特说：“他们束缚了人们的手脚。”她曾担任面向年轻人的奥巴马竞选筹资组织Gen 44的全国联席主席，但在2011年11月愤而辞职。

    在洛杉矶，33岁的电影制作人夏朗•“布恩”• 萨利姆曾在2008年为奥巴马卖命工作，组织了多场聚会，人们观看喜剧、辩论或者电影，还可以与影视明星见面，吸引了不少年轻专业人才。他们交流看法，交结朋友，谈笑间就筹集了160万美元竞选资金。而这些并不是奥巴马团队的主意。萨利姆说：“我们自己就轻松搞定了一切。”这一次萨利姆也打算帮忙，但他能感觉到来自青年支持者的怒火。“我认识的很多人都不开心，”他说。“他们想要联系组织，参与活动，但没人搭理。”

    奥巴马的竞选班子也许认为他们无需担心年轻人的支持。哈佛大学政治研究所（Institute of Politics）的最新全国民调显示，在18-29岁的美国人中，奥巴马领先其可能的共和党对手米特•罗姆尼多达17个百分点，比去年11月扩大了6个百分点。但年轻人还会那么热心筹款，或者联系朋友们去支持总统吗？他们还会全力以赴出手投票吗？2008年大选时，有额外的200万30岁以下美国人参与了投票，其中大多数都投给了奥巴马。

    奥巴马竞选班子的高级官员告诉我，他们不能再像2008年那样依靠支持者的自发组织。首先，奥巴马的竞选活动不能在言行上有损总统的第一任期。作为现任总统，他必须更加小心，而2008年他只不过是个希望不大的候选人。

    And yet, four years after Obama was elected, nothing much has changed. The same rules apply: Give me your vote and I will rule. Rasiej is disappointed: "Lots of us believe he squandered the massive political constituency that was drawn to his message of hope and change." The 13 million supporters, for instance, could have helped Obama by lobbying their congressmen to back the health care legislation. Yet Rasiej thinks the White House, and in particular Obama's first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, didn't believe in the power of "we." "They went back to the bully pulpit of the presidency. They literally put on the armour of 20th century communications."

    That attitude seems to have influenced the 2012 campaign.

    "It's a completely different campaign," says Nomiki Konst, 28. In 2008, she helped to help to raise millions of dollars for Obama by organizing events in Los Angeles with some big names in music and movies. "It was inspiring," she said. "When someone says you have the ability to do what you want, it gave me the power and the potential to do so much more. I could relay that inspiration to others." This time, "it's a traditional top-down, managed campaign." It now takes months to approve plans for events. "They're putting handcuffs on people," said Konst, who served as national co-chair of Gen 44, the Obama campaign's fundraising arm for young people. She got so frustrated that she resigned in November 2011.

    In Los Angeles, 33-year-old film executive Haroon "Boon" Saleem worked hard for Obama in 2008 to galvanize young professionals, with comedy nights, debate watching parties, movie nights where you could meet successful movie and T.V. celebrities. They spread the word, made friends, and helped to raise $1.6 million for the campaign. The ideas didn't come from the Obama organization. "We just did it," says Saleem. This time, Saleem is planning to help out, but he can feel the resentment in the young supporters: "I know a huge number of people who are unhappy," said Saleem. "They wanted to be connected and involved but they weren't."

    The Obama campaign may think that they don't' need to worry about youth support. A new national poll of America's 18- to 29-year-olds by Harvard's Institute of Politics shows that Barack Obama now leads his likely Republican opponent Mitt Romney a 17 point margin, a gain of six percentage points since November 2011. But will young people be as keen to raise money and connect with friends to support the president? Will they go out and vote in huge numbers, as they did in 2008, when an extra 2 million Americans under 30 voted, mostly for Obama?

    A senior figure in the Obama campaign tells me that they can't depend on self-organization in the way same that they did in 2008. For one thing, the Obama campaign cannot do or say anything that compromises the president's first term. As an incumbent, he needs to be more cautious in 2008 when he was a long-shot candidate.

    但这些不应该阻止他们利用自发组织的力量。2008年的奥巴马竞选活动早已经证明，可以在不算还竞选主旨完整性的前提下，放手让群众自行创立支持社区。拉哈弗•哈福什曾为奥巴马的社交媒体竞选工作并写书记录其经历，他说，奥巴马竞选班子设定了明确的交战规则，比如禁止拿萨拉•佩林的家庭大做文章。如果支持者的言论与奥巴马的竞选主旨不合拍，竞选班子就会明确宣布这类出位言论并不代表奥巴马。这一次，他们也可以向全世界发布附加条款/免责声明，说明支持社区并不一定反映竞选活动的观点。社区本身也可以赞同或反对个人成员的言论。

    为奥巴马负责数码事务的官员也指出，由于多种社交网络工具的存在，他们无需倚重MyBarackObama.com。然而哈福什指出：“Facebook不能帮助人们组织起来，和MyBo（MyBarackObama.com）没法比。”

    如果竞选活动不能尽快回到其制胜之道，就会有继续隔绝（甚至疏远）年轻人的风险。年轻人不愿被组织，只想自发行动。他们希望参与、而不是被动接受竞选指示。他们想采取主动，而不是听命于无所不知的竞选策略专家。茶党都明白这一点，奥巴马也不是不知道。

    如果奥巴马竞选班子想要重新赢得“我们”，它该怎么做？

    1．向下放权。不要告诉人们怎么做，让他们成立自己的社区，交结朋友，建立联系，筹集资金。开始对话吧，让他们做出自己的贡献，不要高高在上，发号施令。有很多控制出位言行的方法，而社区比自上而下的层次结构要强大得多。“让组织外的人士去发布消息，给人的感觉会真诚得多，”萨利姆说。“听到某个朋友谈论奥巴马的成功，效果会更好。”

    2．重建平台。2008年，奥巴马的竞选平台MyBarackObama.com大获成功。到选举当天，全国共成立支持奥巴马的团体3.5万多个，他们组织了超过20万次活动，筹集了大量竞选资金。效果很好。何不再试试？

    3．关注热点：就这个群体关心的话题开展对话，比如避孕，萨利姆说：“这个方法很好，可以吸引没有归属感的千禧世代，奥巴马想要赢得大选就需要他们的投票。”

    Don Tapscott (@dtapscott)撰写了14本讨论新技术在商务和社会中的应用的书籍，最新书名《宏观维基经济学》（Macrowikinomics）。

    But that shouldn't stop the campaign from tapping into the power of self-organization. The Obama campaign itself showed in 2008 that you can let people create their own communities without hurting the integrity of the core message. The Obama campaign set out clear rules of engagement that prohibited, for instance, trash talking about Sarah Palin's family, said Rahaf Harfoush, who worked on Obama's social media campaign and then wrote a book about it. Whenever supporters said something that didn't jive with Obama's message, the campaign made it clear that the outlier didn't speak for Obama. This time, the Obama campaign could write a clear rider/disclosure statement to the world that the communities do not necessarily reflect the views of the campaign. The community itself could register its approval, or disapproval, of statements by members.

    Obama's digital people also point out that they don't need to rely so heavily on MyBarackObama.com because there are so many other social networking tools out there. Yet as Harfoush point out, "Facebook is not equipped to help people organize, as MyBo was."

    If the campaign doesn't return to its winning ways, and fast, it risks continuing to isolate itself (or even alienate) youth. Youth don't want to be organized; they want to take action themselves. They want to participate, not be passive recipients of campaign instructions. They want to take initiatives rather than be told what to do from all-knowing campaign strategists. The Tea Party understands this; Obama once did too.

    So if the Obama campaign wants to get back to the "we," what should it do?

    1. Let go. Instead of telling people what to do, let them create their own communities to make friends and contacts, and raise money. Start a conversation. Let them contribute in their own way, without instructions from the top. There are plenty of ways to contain the outliers, and the community will be far more powerful than any top-down hierarchy can be. "It's important for people outside the campaign to disseminate messages so it feels authentic," said Saleem. "It helps to hear one of your friends talk about the successes."

    2. Recreate the platform. In 2008, the Obama campaign's platform, MyBarackObama.com, was wildly successful. By election day, more than 35,000 groups had formed to support Mr. Obama, and they had organized more than 200,000 events and raised vast sums of money. It worked then. Why not now?

    3. Engage with them on the issues: Start a conversation with them about the issues they care about, like contraception, says Saleem: "It's a really good way to draw in disenfranchised millennials than Obama will need if he wants to win."

    Don Tapscott (@dtapscott) is the author of 14 books about new technologies in business and society, most recently Macrowikinomics.