Yesterday I went to the White House and got a nice award from them. They have an award called “Champions of Change” that they give out to a few people every week. The White House describes it as “a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.” My group might be best summarized as open government technologists, although that’s rather too narrow for some of the interesting things that some of these folks are up to.
It’s great to see Waldo recognized for the great work he does. Now, if we could just persuade the “blogfather” of Virginia progressive politics to increase his blogging activities, in addition to Richmond Sunlight and whatever other projects Waldo’s working on at the intersection of politics, communications and technology, I’d be thrilled. Along those lines, I was just talking to an important Virginia Democratic politico yesterday about how Waldo kicked butt – nobody’s better at “framing” and developing a strong narrative than Waldo – in 2005 against Jerry Kilgore, and how he played an important role in helping to elect Tim Kaine governor. I don’t know how busy Waldo is this cycle, but it would be great to see him back in the Virginia blogging arena as much as possible in 2012 and 2013!
On a personal note, Waldo was pretty much the first blogger I encountered, other than perhaps Brian Patton (I can’t remember, but I think Waldo was first), after I started Raising Kaine in January 2005. Waldo was helpful, welcoming, and encouraging, and I’ll always remember that with gratitude. Anyway, congratulations to Waldo on his well-deserved award (I’d say “keep up the great work,” but I’m sure he doesn’t need any encouragement)!
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