Mobile Apptitude

When you’re a CREDO Mobile member, it’s free to call Congress and the White House.^*

And even if you aren’t a CREDO subscriber, isn’t democracy worth a few of your anytime minutes?

Why not put the Congressional switchboard on your speed dial. Then when you’re in line at the grocery store or waiting for the bus, you can call politicians. Obama may be the president, but he’s going to need our help to push change through the Congress, given the power the conservative minority possess in the Senate.

Amy Goodman, a hero of ours, came to speak with staff and customers at CREDO Mobile a few weeks back. She told us a story about the famed labor activist and African American leader A. Philp Randolph that she also wrote about in a national newspaper column.

Harry Belafonte recalled in an interview with Tavis Smiley recently a story he was told by Eleanor Roosevelt. She related a public event when her husband, FDR, introduced Randolph and asked him, Belafonte recalled, “what he thought of the nation, what he thought of the plight of the Negro people and what did he think … where the nation was headed.” Continuing the story, Belafonte recounted what FDR replied upon hearing Randolph’s remarks: “You know, Mr. Randolph, I’ve heard everything you’ve said tonight, and I couldn’t agree with you more. I agree with everything that you’ve said, including my capacity to be able to right many of these wrongs and to use my power and the bully pulpit. … But I would ask one thing of you, Mr. Randolph, and that is go out and make me do it.”

This story was retold by Obama at a campaign fundraiser in Montclair, N.J., more than a year ago. It was in response to a person asking Obama about finding a just solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. After recounting the Randolph story, Obama said he was just one person, that he couldn’t do it alone. Obama’s final answer: “Make me do it.”

Here’s how to add the White House and Capitol switchboards to your speed dial.

1. Create separate contacts for the White House (202-456-1414) and the Congressional Switchboard (202-224-3121) and save them.
2. Highlight the contact for the White House and choose “Options”
3. Pick the option “Set Speed Dial”
4. Choose the Speed Dial number (usually “1″ is voicemail so these start at 2)
5. Press “Menu/OK”
6. Start again and do the same for Congressional Switchboard

(You can also refer directly to the user guide for your CREDO Mobile phone here, or look up your own user guide with Google if you’re not a customer).

^* CREDO Mobile customers get up to 30 minutes per month in free anytime calls to White House and Congress.