Obama campaign sets up 'Truth Team'

President Obama's re-election team is seeking help from Internet and on-the-ground backers to spread the word about Obama's record in office, and to bash his Republican critics.

The purpose of the "Truth Team" is to "promote the president's achievements, respond to attacks on his record and hold the eventual Republican nominee accountable," said the announcement from the Obama re-election team.

The overall website -- BarackObama.com/TruthTeam -- includes three specialty websites: KeepingHisWord.com (devoted to Obama's record), KeepingGOPHonest.com (attacking Republicans), and AttackWatch.com (responding to critical GOP ads).

"The sites also contain tools for sharing materials via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, 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," said the Obama announcement.

Deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter promoted the "Truth Team" in an e-mail to supporters, entitled "sit back or fight back."

Said the e-mail:

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