White House Correspondents Insider

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

New White House Video Star: Plouffe

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In another sign of a new Obama era, notoriously camera shy David Plouffe, Senior Advisor to the President, is kicking off a new program the White House is calling a “direct line to senior staff.”

With Advise the Advisor, every week a member of senior staff will post a video seeking the opinions and feedback of the American people on different issues. Plouffe kicked off the program with a short video harkening back to the President’s “win the future” State of the Union message.

You can go now to whitehouse.gov/advise and send your thoughts on American innovation. Be sure to check back in to see if your idea passed muster – they promise to read through as much of the feedback as possible and post a summary a few days after the video goes up.

Obama: Media Maestro

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Dec. 7, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

It may have been Steelers vs. Packers out on the field last night but Bill O’Reilly tried his best to get President Obama to fumble during their pre-Super Bowl interview on Fox News.

As Susan Milligan points out in US News, the President deftly handled O’Reilly’s line of questioning and observes that Obama’s “behavior indicates he is unwilling to engage in petty political food fights.”

O’Reilly: “Does it disturb you that so many people hate you?”

Obama: “You know, the truth is that the people—and I’m sure previous presidents would say the same thing, whether it was Bush or Clinton or Reagan or anybody—the people who dislike you don’t know you.”

The objective of Milligan’s piece was to point out media irresponsibility. But the O’Reilly/Obama interview is also another example of what John Harris and Jim VandeHei explore today in POLITICO: how the President is “playing the press like a fiddle.”

He is doing it by exploiting some of the most long-standing traits among reporters who cover politics and government — their favoritism for politicians perceived as ideologically centrist and willing to profess devotion to Washington’s oft-honored, rarely practiced civic religion of bipartisanship.

Click here to read the entire article on POLITICO.

White House Press Complain About Access

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The infamous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil may have spotted his shadow yesterday signifying an early spring but it remains to be seen how quickly relations thaw between the press corps and the White House.

People around the world have been watching the reports of tens of thousands of Egyptians flooding the streets of Cairo calling for a regime change. The White House response to the clash between anti-government protestors and supporters of President Hosni Mubarak has been guarded, making few statements on what is being called a major foreign policy crisis.

Left without substantive updates on the situation in Egypt and shut out from the President’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the White House Correspondents Association sent a letter to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs complaining that “for two straight days the full press pool is being shut out of events that have typically been open and provided opportunities try to ask the President a question.”

The letter, written by WHCA Executive Director Julia Whitson, was sent in advance of the President’s signing of the New START Treaty, the new nuclear arms reduction pact with Russia.

“We are writing to protest in the strongest possible terms the White House’s decision to close the President’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and his signing of the START Treaty today to the full press pool.

The START treaty was held up as one of the President’s most important foreign policy priorities for almost a year dating back to the trip to Prague last spring. We are concerned that now his signing of it is open to still photographers but closed to editorial, including print and wire reporters and television cameras.” Read the full letter at mediabistro.com.

In the end, the White House stuck by its decision and allowed only a small group of photographers into the Oval Office for the signing of the treaty.

As reported in The Hill, Gibbs said the decision to keep reporters out of the signing was based on fear they would shout questions to the President about Egypt, and continued to defend the decision by stating it was “part of the coverage plans that have been in place for a bit now.”

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, March 20th is the first day of spring…

YouTube's Interview with the President

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Two days after giving his State of the Union address, President Obama took to the Internet to directly answer questions from Americans and people around the world on a wide range of subjects. Over 1.3 million people voted on almost 200,000 video and text questions submitted through Google Moderator and Twitter, picking the ones they most wanted the President to answer.

President Obama sat down for “Your Interview with the President,” hosted by YouTube’s Steve Grove, and responded to questions on subjects ranging from education reforms, healthcare, the recent unrest in Egypt, to his “pick” for the Superbowl.

Watch the entire video here:

President Obama names William Daley new Chief of Staff

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William Daley, JPMorgan Chase senior executive and Secretary of Commerce during the Clinton administration, has been named the new White House Chief of Staff.

Daley officially takes over for Rahm Emanuel who left to return to Chicago to campaign for mayor (coincidentally, Mr. Daley’s brother Richard serves as Chicago’s current Mayor). Pete Rouse, who served as interim chief of staff, will continue as a Counselor to the President.

See the full story in the New York Times.

Bill Daley, Bill Daley Jr., Tom Hynes, and Terry Dee at the CURE Epilepsy Benefit in Chicago 2010

In today’s special announcement in the East Room, President Obama said he was “proud to announce the appointment of an experienced public servant, devoted patriot, and my friend, fellow Chicagoan Bill Daley, to serve as my Chief of Staff. Few Americans can boast the breadth of experience that Bill brings to this job.”

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to leave White House

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UPDATE (4:54 PM): In today’s White House press briefing Robert Gibbs confirmed he was leaving the White House and when asked about leaving and what his next steps were, Gibbs responded, “that is it is an honor and a privilege to stand here, to work inside this building, to serve your country, to work for a President that I admire as much as President Barack Obama. I’ve been a member of his staff for almost seven years, and it’s — again, it’s a remarkable privilege.  It is in many ways the opportunity of a lifetime, one that I will be forever thankful and grateful for. What I’m going to do next is step back a little bit, recharge some.  We’ve been going at this pace for at least four years.  I will have an opportunity I hope to give some speeches. I will continue to provide advice and counsel to this building and to this President.  And I look forward to continuing to do that.”

To view the full press briefing and Gibbs statement click here.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will be leaving the White House briefing room podium in early February according to a New York Times article from this morning.

Gibbs will continue to be an adviser to President Obama and will work on his re-election campaign as well as hit the speaking circuit.

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks with Robert Gibbs at the White House

President Obama commented on Gibbs’ departure to the New York Times in a brief phone interview, saying: “We’ve been on this ride together since I won my Senate primary in 2004… He’s had a six-year stretch now where basically he’s been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay. I think it’s natural for someone like Robert to want to step back for a second to reflect, retool and that, as a consequence, brings about both challenges and opportunities for the White House.”  The President declined to comment on who would be replacing him but said “You’ll be seeing announcements in due course.”

Seth Meyers to be Entertainer at 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner – Really

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The White House Correspondent’s “Weekend Update” is that Saturday Night Live’s own Seth Meyers will be the entertainment for 2011’s big dinner  (as reported by POLITICO) in which his audience will be made up of everyone from President Obama to every major media outlet and the celebrity guests they bring.  Like those that have preceded him, such as this year’s Jay Leno and 2009’s Wanda Sykes, Meyer’s faces a tough crowd but will expectedly use his social and political commentary that has made him popular on SNL’s Weekend Update segment as part of his routine.

This is the second headline for the 2011 dinner in recent weeks as the argument still continues as to whether the dinner should be moved due to it occurring only one day after the royal wedding (although the WHCA has stated they will not move the dinner).

Check out last Saturday’s Weekend Update featuring the Kardashian sisters:

(Kim Kardashian was a guest of Greta Van Susteren at WHCD this May)

Keep checking back to WHC Insider for more WHCD updates and news.

When Obama Met Stewart

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The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Barack Obama Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Despite explaining health care reform, the economy and even a ceremonial mug presentation, the takeaway from President Obama on The Daily Show? Dude.

[Read more…]

President Obama to Appear on Mythbusters

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It’s science fair day at the White House! President Obama will host winners from categories ranging from technology to engineering and math.  Discovery’s Mythbusters’ Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman will be in attendance as President Obama announces his participation in the December 8 episode, Archimedes Solar Ray where he will challenge the ancient myth: Did Greek scientist and polymath Archimedes set fire to an invading Roman fleet using only mirrors and the reflected rays of the sun?

Stay tuned to WHC Insider for the LIVE White House feed of the President’s remarks at 12 Noon ET.

Obama Stays on [Adjective] at Town Hall

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The ins and outs of President Obama’s televised town hall meeting are as confusing as the impatience in the crowd. Sponsored by Georgetown University and filmed at the BET Studios in Washington, DC, this Conversation with the President kept the same on-edge tone that his previous town hall last month on the economy.

The New York Times cites Obama as being on the “defensive” while essentially bullet pointing the major questions of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, the economy and immigration. The town hall began on the nature of health care and leapt from point to point as the crowd gathered seemed almost giddy with demanding impossibly fast responses to issues spanning the last decade.

Politico runs the age card with their coverage citing poll numbers:

Just 44 percent of college students approve of the job Obama is doing, while 27 percent disapprove of his job performance, according to a new Associated Press-mtvU poll – down from a 60 percent approval rating in May 2009.
This is also days after the Times Magazine’s massive “The Education of President Obama” profile. The buried lede and overarching concept? “While proud of his record, Obama has already begun thinking about what went wrong — and what he needs to do to change course for the next two years.”
If there was a real tone to the town hall, it’d be this: during a mid-term election when news outlets compare the 2008 numbers of a presidential candidate to gubernatorial, congressional and senatorial candidates as a symbol of “declining popularity” and “proof that Obama is in trouble,” it becomes a question if there’s really anything going on at all?