Obama’s Careful — and Pitch-Perfect — Hurricane Sandy Email

This email just arrived in the e.politics bunker, where we’re currently hunkered down waiting for Hurricane Sandy, aka the Frankenstorm, to make DC very cold and very wet.

Subject: Hurricane Sandy

Colin —

This is a serious storm, but we are going to do what it takes to keep people safe and secure, and make sure the communities affected get the assistance they need. FEMA is working with state and local governments to respond effectively. We all owe a debt of thanks to the first responders who will be dealing with the immediate impact of the storm.

If you live in the storm’s path, please listen to state and local authorities about where and how to take shelter and stay safe — and encourage your friends and family to do the same. If you are asked to evacuate, please take that seriously.

For more information on how to prepare for this storm, visit Ready.gov.

And if you’d like to find out how to support relief efforts where they’re needed most, please visit the Red Cross or your local relief organization:

http://my.democrats.org/Red-Cross

Michelle and I are keeping everyone in the affected areas in our thoughts and prayers. Be safe.

Barack

Not bad, eh? Responsible, reassuring…one might even say, Presidential? Note that it arrived without campaign or party branding, nor with any fundraising links other than the one above. Which despite the my.democrats.org URL, redirects to the Red Cross site. Perfect — give people a chance to act (and to exercise their fundraising muscles) without seeming selfish, a nice counter to the endless “gimme gimme gimme” emails bombarding our inboxes these days.

Honestly, just about anything else would have been communications malpractice; the last thing he needs to do right now is to seem crass . But we’ve seen these things done wrong far too many times, so let’s give credit where it’s due.

– cpd