We've had the same thing with politicians in Canada. It's gone from "he's an asshole" to "but he's OUR asshole".
I think congratulation politicians - whether you live them or not - when they do good things is well warranted. Keep in mind that while many couldn't give a shit about you or I, they DO like ego-stroking and attention so positive reinforcement can actually work well.
That sounds kinda cool. I'll have to check it out. It's kinda hard sometimes to push FOSS stuff in a largercorporate environment but this looks like something I could recommend/build for small-mid private SOHO clients.