Obama Truth Team

For Immediate Release                                                                 CONTACT: Obama for America Press Office

February 13, 2012                     

OBAMA FOR AMERICA LAUNCHES THE TRUTH TEAM TO PROMOTE THE PRESIDENT'S ACHIEVEMENTS AND HOLD REPUBLICANS ACCOUNTABLE

Chicago, IL – Today, Obama for America announced the launch of the Truth Team, a new national effort by President Obama supporters online and on the ground to promote the President's achievements, respond to attacks on his record and hold the eventual Republican nominee accountable.  More than a million people took action as part of the Fight the Smears initiative during the 2008 campaign; the goal of the Truth Team is to double that number, reaching two million grassroots supporters who will communicate the President's record and fight back against attacks before the Democratic National Convention this fall.

Beginning today with events across the country and continuing through the election, the Truth Team will engage grassroots supporters to spread the truth about the President's record and respond to Republican attacks.  The program will be housed at BarackObama.com/TruthTeam, with individual websites - KeepingHisWord.com, KeepingGOPHonest.com, and AttackWatch.com - serving as quick, comprehensive resources to help set the record straight.  Designed to put responsibility for spreading the truth in the hands of the President's supporters, the websites contain videos and information on the President's record, and fact checks on Republican claims about the President and themselves.  The sites also contain tools for sharing materials via Facebook, Twitter and email, and empowers supporters to take further action by volunteering, writing letters to the editor, sending postcards to undecided voters with information about the President's record, and more.  The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama's record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives.

Republican Super PACs have committed to spend a half billion dollars on negative ads to defeat the President.  But from the start, the Obama for America campaign has relied on grassroots supporters to spread the truth, and today's announcement builds on and expands that effort.

Truth Teams will be announced today in many states including Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Wisconsin with events being held in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.  National supporters including the National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and the United Steelworkers Union (USW) will be participating in this effort.

To find out more about the Truth Team, please visit: Barackobama.com/TruthTeam

Below is an email from Stephanie Cutter to our supporters:

Subject: Sit back or fight back

SUPPORTER -

If we've learned anything from the Republican primaries, it's that this is no ordinary election.

The GOP candidates are spending a huge amount of time attacking President Obama -- no surprise. But instead of basing their attacks on our differences of opinion, they've chosen to run on claims about his record that just aren't true.

Mitt Romney says that, despite 23 consecutive months of job growth under the President's watch, he's made the recession "worse." Rick Santorum says that the Affordable Care Act, which was based in part on Republican proposals and provides millions of Americans with access to affordable, private health insurance, is a government takeover of health care. They're not acting alone: With the newfound power of outside groups, these lies can be instantly amplified with millions of dollars in special-interest ad spending.

If the other guys are going to run a campaign based on misrepresenting the President's record -- and their own -- we have two options: sit back and let these lies go unchallenged, or fight back with the truth.

We're fighting back. Today we're introducing a new resource for grassroots supporters who want to make sure that when voters go to the polls in November, they know the truth -- and you should be a part of it.

Will you sign up to be a member of the Truth Team? [Links to: http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team]

The website has three sections to reflect the team's goals: Keeping his word, where we'll communicate about President Obama's record and promises kept; Attack Watch, to fight back against false attacks on the President; and Keeping GOP Honest, where we'll debunk the Republicans' false claims about their own records.

In short, it's the grassroots communications team of the Obama 2012 campaign. We'll provide resources for you to learn everything you need to know and tools to help you share it with undecided voters in your life.

Communicating about the President's record -- and that of our opponents -- is what I do full-time. But people don't just want to hear from campaign statements or ads -- they want to hear from the family and friends they trust.

The President needs folks on board to roll up their sleeves, stand with him, and get the truth out all over the country.

So the next time you hear Mitt Romney accusing the President of "crony capitalism" or someone asking, "What has President Obama really accomplished?" you'll know what to do.

If you're ready to fight lies with the truth, sign up now:

http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team

Thanks,

Stephanie

Stephanie Cutter

Deputy Campaign Manager

Obama for America