Do you get a lot of spam?
In this case, we’re not talking about the canned meat that became popular during World War II but about unwanted commercial or other email that fills your inbox day after day.
Well, if you’re a Republican, you may soon be receiving more of that unsolicited email, thanks to the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama.
The campaign’s website now offers Obama supporters the “chance to have a little fun at the expense of a Republican in your life.”
It urges donors to make contributions to the Obama re-election campaign in the name of a Republican they know.
“Simply enter their name and email address below,” the website suggests. “Then we’ll send them a message letting them know they inspired you to donate.”
The website offers assurances that “we won’t hold onto any of their information.” (We wonder whether that’s true.)
And it closes its misguided plea for contributions with “Thank you for supporting this campaign, and happy holidays.”
We know that “politics ain’t beanbag,” and we know, too, that national-level candidates of whatever party must raise lots of money to win elections.
But it’s absurd that President Obama’s re-election campaign staff would encourage the circulation of even more junk email than Americans already receive on a daily basis. And it’s disturbing that the campaign is collecting the names and email addresses of unwilling Americans in the process.
Those who wish to donate to Obama are free to do so, but the president’s re-election campaign should not be urging them to do that in a spiteful way that is sure to aggravate the divisiveness that already vexes our nation.