White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

‘Table for Three’ with President Barack Obama and HBO ‘All the Way’ Star Bryan Cranston

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President Obama with actor Bryan Cranston in the private dining room of the Oval Office in the White House. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

President Obama with actor Bryan Cranston in the private dining room of the Oval Office in the White House. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

President Barack Obama and Bryan Cranston, who reprises his Tony Award-winning role as President Lyndon B. Johnson in the upcoming HBO Films presentation of All the Way, joined The New York Times‘ Philip Galanes for a Table for Three conversation at the White House on the eve of the 2016 White House Correspondents Dinner.

The candid conversation covered topics from the impact their childhood has had on their roles as parents to the experience of being a celebrity and raising a family in the spotlight.

“It was probably our biggest worry before we came here. And it’s testimony entirely to Michelle and my mother-in-law that they’ve turned out to be such terrific grounded kids,” said Obama about raising children at the country’s most famous residence. “There was a powerful sense that I wanted to get this right. Not that I was going to be perfect, but that I was going to be there, and engage, and try to figure this out.”

Cranston agreed with the need to be present despite the challenges of balancing career and family: “My wife, Robin, was from a stable family, too. There was something so attractive about that. I thought, “This is what I want.” It’s still choppy waters raising kids, but I could never conceive of not being there.”

Galanes pointed out a scene in “All the Way” where LBJ comes out of the Oval Office and bumps into his daughter. Cranston explained that he “pitched that scene. It wasn’t in the play. I wanted you to feel the father’s love and his sense of regret that even though he’s so busy with the world’s problems.”

Obama and Cranston also discussed how the ability to tell a story is important to both of their careers. “When I set out to be an actor, I just wanted to tell stories. The fact that great fortune came and allowed me to become famous is almost a distraction from what I wanted to do,” said Cranston.

On going where people are to get the message out, Obama explained that, “when I want to sign young people up for health care, I’ve got to do ‘Between Two Ferns,’ which ended up being our biggest draw. Now, the flip side of this is the Trump phenomenon, where celebrity itself becomes a credential. If you are famous, then you have merit.”

Does playing a president qualify someone to be president? When Obama told Cranston it was too late for him this cycle, Cranston quickly replied, “It could be a brokered convention. You never know.”

Obama also gave Cranston and Galanes a tour of the White House grounds and Oval Office, a setting that is familiar to Cranston from his role as President Lyndon B. Johnson: “I’ve been in a replica of this room so much I feel like I’ve been here.” Obama noted that President Johnson’s civil rights laws are credited for “ultimately leading to the election of representatives who look like me.”

Read the full article on nytimes.com: Barack Obama and Bryan Cranston on the Roles of a Lifetime

EXCLUSIVE: WHC Insider Interviews Special Assistant to the President Ellie Schafer

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Each year the White House Easter Egg Roll extravaganza brings together visitors from around the nation to spend the day on the South Lawn of the White House with the president, first lady, musicians, celebrities, and athletes. This year the White House hosted over 35,000 people for the event which featured performances from Idina Menzel, the first-ever fun run at the White House with First Lady Michelle Obama, a friendly game of basketball between Shaquille O’Neill and President Barack Obama, story time with the cast of Black-ish, and appearances from Beyonce, Jay-Z, and their daughter, Blue Ivy. Behind the scenes of the entire operation is Ellie Schafer, Special Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Visitor’s Center.

According to Ms. Schafer who joined the Obama campaign in 2007, First Lady Michelle Obama “gave me some pretty specific instructions, the first one was, we wanna make sure that it’s very family friendly, focused on a lot of fun activities for the kids. We have sports, we have reading, we have a main stage, things that people have never seen before.”

The Obamas have made clear they wanted to turn 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into the People’s House from the beginning. “When Barack and I first got here, one of the goals that we had was to open up the White House to as many people from as many backgrounds as possible.” With the help of, the Obamas were able to accomplish that goal. To do it, they decided to use a lottery system for handing out tickets to the Egg Roll. The result? Visitors came to the White House from all 50 states, from all kinds backgrounds and cultures, making this event one of the most diverse in White House history.

Tommy McFly, radio host and MC of the Easter Egg Roll, says Schafer “has 35,000 guests, A-level stars, and the leader of the free world and his wife roaming around but she is just always cool and calm. Everybody else who is part of the crew feels that too.”

Ms. Schafer comes from a Republican family. Her father Ed Schafer was President George W. Bush’s  Secretary of Agriculture and former governor of North Dakota. She is a former aide to John Kerry’s presidential campaign and ran her own political consulting company in San Francisco before joining up with then Senator Obama.  She is married to Heather Rothenberg, a former Transportation Department highway specialist.

This is the last Easter Egg Roll for the Obama family. Michelle Obama, speaking to the crowd said, “Today is a little bit bittersweet for us, because this is the Obama administration’s last Easter Egg Roll.” Schafer teared up as she surveyed the lawn watching families head towards the gates at the end of the final Obama Easter Egg Roll.

New Leaders of the Press Pack! Pew Says Traditional Reporters Outnumbered, New Era in Capitol Hill Journalism

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A new study from Pew Research Center found that reporters from niche outlets and digital news publishers outnumber daily newspaper reporters, marking a shift in the makeup of the press corps from previous years. Pew reports that the number of journalists on the Hill that produce local coverage fell from around 200 in the mid-90s to just under 60 by 2015. As of 2014, 32% of reporters in the Senate Press Gallery were daily newspaper publications, in contrast to the 37% of reports from digital and niche publications.

The evolution in the makeup of the Washington press corps signifies a shift in the ways Americans consume news. So called “digital-native” outlets have increased from just 2 in 2009 to over 70 in 2014. According to Pew, “Reporters for broad-interest news websites have only emerged in the Washington press corps in recent years. These are outlets such as The Huffington Post and Buzzfeed that publish on a daily basis and aim for a general audience.”

In an effort to understand the implications for local communities, Pew studied coverage of the federal government in eight local newspapers from across the United States, four of which maintain DC reports on staff and four that don’t. Their findings reveal that 71% of stories from DC reporters contained quotes directly from a member of Congress, three times more than the rate at which reporters outside the Beltway did.

Pew also found that non-DC reporters are much more likely to tie stories from the Hill to the implications they might have for citizens, while DC-based reporters were more likely to address the the impact a particular story had on the politicians involved. The study claims that the dwindling number of DC-based reporters and the increasing reliance of wire-based services makes it more difficult for local publications to deliver clear and consistent coverage of politicians on the Hill.

The results of the poll can be found here: http://www.journalism.org/2015/12/03/todays-washington-press-corps-more-digital-specialized/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=6316aa58cd-Weekly_Dec_3_201512_3_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-6316aa58cd-399587233

Jon Meacham SRO at The Jefferson Hotel

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The Jefferson Hotel, Washington Women Technology Network, an interview with Jon Meacham

The Jefferson Hotel, Washington Women Technology Network, an interview with Jon Meacham

Pulitzer prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham packed in admirers at a Washington Women Technology Network “Cocktails and Conversation” gathering on Friday, November 20th at The Jefferson Hotel in Washington, DC.

Meacham’s new biography, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, is already a New York Times Bestseller. Meachan spent 17 years writing the book with access to President Bush’s personal diaries. He interviewed the president many times over the years, his family, colleagues and political enemies. Meacham’s previous biography of President Andrew Jackson, American Lion, won him the Pulitzer Prize.

Meacham, a Washington favorite, began his writing career at The Washington Monthly and became the youngest Newsweek editor where he created legendary covers and controverises with politicians and people of all stripes. He is currently and editor at Random House.

Co-hosted by Connie Milstein, co-founder of Dog Tag Bakery, Democratic commentator Hilary Rosen,and Julie Goon from Anthem, the crowd watched Megan Murphy, Bloomberg Bureau Chief and Tammy Haddad, WHCInsider editor, interview Meacham as he discussed the decades of public service and political moments that made President Bush’s career. It was an insider’s inside conversation detailing their triumph’s and disappointments. The interview will be uploaded to WHCInsider.com next week.

The Friday afternoon crowd included politicos and media. Stephanie Cutter, Neera Tanden, Holly Page, Kelley McCormick, Jill Zuckman, Jennifer Maguire, Ceci Connelly, Emily Lenzer and David Chavern. Long time Obama White House aides Ferial Govashiri and Ellie Schafer and the State department’s Nick Schmit.

Stpehanie Cutter, Hilary Rosen, Neera Tanden

Obama White House aide Ferial Govashiri and former Laura Bush CoS Anita McBride

Obama White House aide Ferial Govashiri and former Laura Bush CoS Anita McBride

Bushies including Anita McBride, whose husband Tom McBride, was a longtime personal aide to President Bush.

Journalists seen were James Hohmann, Glenn Thrush, Hadas Gold, Ruth Marcus, Henry Schuster, Jackie Kucinich and Carl Cannon from Real Clear Politics.

Ellie Schafer cuts her own political path

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The Grand Forks Herald recently featured a story about Ellie Schafer, director of the White House Visitors Office under President Barack Obama and daughter of former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer.

“Her journey with the Illinois senator who would become president started in 2006 when she worked on his book tour promoting “The Audacity of Hope”….Schafer, daughter of former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer, was quickly drawn to Obama, his message, his policy positions, his skills as a leader.”

Schafer’s job is one of the more powerful behind-the-scenes positions at the White House. “A total of 4.8 million people have visited the White House during her tenure, and 3.5 million of those guests were there for a function the visitors office oversaw, said Schafer, who acknowledges her job is taxing.”

As the daughter of a former governor, she “grew up around politics, and even as a kid she’d voice her opinions on the issues.”

“Ed Schafer said he and his daughter agree on the direction they want the country to head, but they differ on how to get there. Because of their close bond, he said, they can have a debate and afterward say, “I still love you.”

“It’s the way you wish politics would work,” he said.”

Read the article on grandforksherald.com: From governor’s daughter to White House official: Ellie Schafer cuts her own political path

2016 Club Meets at Milano, Alex Castellanos and Josh Ginsberg Brief

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Franco Nuschese, owner of Cafe Milano along with More’s Betsy Fischer Martin, gathered political media for an on-the-record briefing by Alex Castellanos and Zignal Labs’ Josh Ginsberg.

Both campaign veterans addressed the Trump Tsunami and assessed the opportunities for each party as the election rolls into September. Discussion focused on two main themes: “the echo effect” within social media and rebranding conservatism in America.

Media in attendance included Jonathan Martin of The New York Times, Politico’s Ken Vogel, National Journal’s Ron Fournier, CNN’s Polson Kanneth, Matt Viser of the Boston Globe, Yahoo’s Garance Franke-Ruta, Chris Isham of CBS News, Jennifer Maguire of Tribeca/Pipeline, Lisa Desjardins of PBS Newshour, WSJ’s Jeanne Cummings, Anthony Salvanto of CBS News Surveys, and John Coale.

Read more via FishbowlDC: 2016 Club Convenes at Café Milano

First Lady Michelle Obama gives White House State Dining Room a facelift

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First Lady Michelle Obama has redecorated the White House State Dining Room for the first time since the Clinton Administration. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

First Lady Michelle Obama has redecorated the White House State Dining Room for the first time since the Clinton Administration. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

The White House State Dining Room, the top destination for locals and dignitaries, has been redecorated by First Lady Michelle Obama for the first time since the Clinton administration.

The changes include new curtains, whose peacock blue and ecru stripes compliment the “Kailua” blue in the Obama state china service, both of which incorporate a Hawaiian feel from Obama’s home state. The new mahogany, custom-made chairs, however, take influence from President James Monroe’s chair selection for the East Room in 1818.

A new blue-green, custom-made rug was also acquired, which includes designs from the ceiling of the dining room in its intricately woven stitching. Installment on two new rugs, so they could be switched out for cleaning, began in 2012.

In total, the redecoration cost the privately funded White House Historical Association’s White House Endowment Trust $590,000. The Old Family Dining Room, which Michelle Obama redecorated earlier this year, cost $290,000 and now sports a more modern feel with abstract art and bold colors.

Read more about the State Dining Room’s redecoration on bigstory.ap.org.

White House lifts ban on photos and social media during public tours

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Today, Ellie Schafer, Director of the White House Visitors’ Office, announced a change in the White House visitors photo policy. The longstanding ban on photography and social media by visitors is being lifted. The announcement was made via Instagram with a video featuring Michelle Obama.

White House defends private party

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The White House is defending a private concert held over the weekend featuring Prince and Stevie Wonder, saying the Obamas paid for it themselves.

While it is estimated that 500 were in attendance, many are surprised by how little publicity and social media activity the event generated.

Attendees included Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, singer Ciara, Rev. Al Sharpton, Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, American Express CEO Ken Chenault, entrepreneur and philanthropist Connie Milstein, and former White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard.

Read more via nytimes.com: Invitations to a White House Party: Signed, Sealed, Delivered, but Private
Read more via thehill.com: White House defends private Prince party

Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

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To honor our nation’s heroes, a diverse array of World War II aircraft flew above the skies of Washington, D.C. on Friday, May 8, 2015, the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day, as part of the Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Capitol Flyover.

via ww2flyover.org: “The flyover will include dozens of World War II aircraft flying in 15 historically sequenced warbird formations overhead. The formations will represent the War’s major battles, from Pearl Harbor through the final air assault on Japan, and concluding with a missing man formation to “Taps.” Never before has such a collection of WWII aircraft been assembled at one location, to honor the large assemblage of veterans gathered at the WWII Memorial for a ceremony.”

Grasshoppers over the @WhiteHouse for the #VEDay70 celebration. #ww2flyover #VEDay

A video posted by WHC Insider (@whcinsider) on