Barack Obama Wants You To Text Him

Everything is terrible but Barack Obama wants us to text him so at least there’s that

This has been a week, right? After the loss of Supreme Court justice and feminist titan Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we could use anything resembling good news. Luck would have it that our forever president Barack Obama is asking us to text him — and honestly, we couldn’t be more into this.

“All right, let’s try something new,” reads the caption on an adorable photo of the former first couple. “If you’re in the United States, send me a text at 773-365-9687 — I want to hear how you’re doing, what’s on your mind, and how you’re planning on voting this year.”

Like, twist my arm. Democracy is literally hanging by a thread and the world is engulfed in a pandemic that will probably continue well into next year. Being able to text Barack late at night when all feels lost and we’re out of cookie dough and White Claws sounds like a plan.

And it isn’t just one way — he says, “I’ll be in touch from time to time to share what’s on my mind, too.”

Yes please. All day, every day as this dystopian hell scape we’re in somehow manages to get worse by the hour.

So of course, this isn’t Obama’s private cell number, but we can pretend, right? The actual situation is still pretty great — Obama is now part of the text-based platform Community that makes it possible for him to send tailored messages to followers. As Fast Company explains, the platform gives users “a line of communication that bypasses media and trolls, and connects them directly to fans and supporters.” Celebs such as Megan Thee Stallion, Ashton Kutcher, and The Jonas Brothers have also joined.

This week Obama also unveiled a PSA about voting — because he loves us and wants the best for us and we need to make him proud, dammit.

He also made an appeal to younger voters about making a plan to get to the polls.

In this completely unorthodox election year where politicians and their surrogates can’t gather in huge crowds to preach their message like usual (unless you’re Donald Trump who does that anyway no matter how ill-advised) it makes sense that campaigns are thinking outside the box on how to reach people. Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to the former president, tells Fast Company, “President Obama has said this is an all-hands-on-deck moment, so we are going to use every tactic we can find to mobilize voters.”

“We’ve always been driven by a strategy of finding audiences where they are at, so of course, in this particular moment, we are going to now reach people in the palms of their hands,” Schultz explains.

Barack Obama in the palms of our hands? It might be the only thing helping us cling to hope as 2020 continues roaring full speed ahead.