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Obama's Town Hall Tackles Economy and The Not-So-Dead American Dream

September 20, 2010 By WHC Insider

President Obama’s town hall discussion took on the economy and Ted Brassfield’s loaded question.

“What I found was I simply–there weren’t jobs out there right now. I took advantage of the loans you were just speaking about, but I can’t make the interest payments on those loans today let alone think about getting a mortgage, having a family having a marriage–it’s awfully expensive,” Brassfield, the 30-year old “recent” law school graduate, said.

“Let me just say, whatever the expense, it’s worth it,” Obama said.

But the ultimate question–“Is the American Dream dead for me?”–prompted this response, via the CNBC live blog, from the President:

“The American dream is not dead. I think there’s no country in the world that would trade places with us. The single most important thing we can do is to grow our economy.”

Like that, the hour long discussion featured a suited Obama taking on questions about the economy, his stimulus plan and how the last few months have brought us to a point where we are seeing a turn-around. But he acknowledges that people will continue to be angry:

“I know how frustrated people are. I know in some cases how desperate people are,” he said, later adding, “I am confident that if we stay on a course that gets us back to old-fashioned values of hard work and responsibility and looking out for one another, that America will thrive.”

Video from the event can be found here.

Filed Under: DC, News, Washington, Washington Events Tagged With: CNBC, Economy, President Obama

Election 2010 Round-Up: 43 Days and Counting

September 20, 2010 By WHC Insider

Six weeks until the 2010 election and the Tea Party remains the big discussion point for wonks across the country. Here’s what’s been happening over the weekend:

  • The Untied Nations Summit and Clinton Global Initiative begin today in New York City. [USA Today]
  • CNBC’s John Harwood hosts a town hall event in Washington DC with President Obama today at noon. [CNBC]
  • The New York Times cites Obama aides as prepping a united front against the Tea Party by tying them to the GOP…
  • …yet Politico‘s own White House sources say the Times is “100 percent wrong.”
  • And the Washington Post cites an AP poll claiming both Republicans and Democrats are disliked by voters, which always leaves a third-party option.

Filed Under: DC, Media Strategy, News Tagged With: Clinton GLobal Initiative, Election 2010, John Harwood, President Obama, Tea Party, United Nations

Los Angeles Plays Itself Against Obama

August 17, 2010 By WHC Insider

[picappgallerysingle id=”9561808″]The people of Los Angeles found out there is a price for their idyllic weather and sprawling commute last night: $1 million.

That’s how much a private fundraiser held for President Obama garnered according to TheWrap.  Held at the home of producer John Wells, Hollywood came out to hear the president explain his upcoming legislative agenda and other remarks in the relaxed atmosphere of a walled garden.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Media Strategy, News Tagged With: Los Angeles, Media, President Obama

"Sad Birthday Obama" Not So Sad. Really.

August 4, 2010 By WHC Insider

Screencap from NY Daily News. Pete Souza/White House

For the 49th birthday of the President of the United States, you’d think it was the saddest day ever if you were the New York Daily News.

The Gotham tabloid started this piece about the President’s special day in true fashion: “It’s your party, Mr. President. You can cry if you want to.” It doesn’t hurt to run a file photo of the President staring at a plate of cupcakes like it was a handful of oil.

Back to the plate at hand: the photo (left) shares a strange similarity to when Helen Thomas celebrated her 89th birthday and received a plate of cupcakes from the President (and he’s smiling too!)

In fact, the photo is from last year while Obama “watches the flame on the candle as he walks to the Brady Briefing Room to present cupcakes to Hearst White House columnist Helen Thomas in honor of her birthday, Aug. 4, 2009.”

So if you thought the President was sad due to A-Rod’s 600th hit or his birth date still being debated, don’t fret. Even if he didn’t get to eat his cake from the AFL-CIO according to  Yahoo, we’re sure he’ll enjoy Wendy Williams’ Gift Bag and a birthday tweet (via Savannah Gutherie) from Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

Filed Under: DC, News, News Media, White House History, White House Staff Tagged With: Barack Obama, Birthday, Helen Thomas, Media, President Obama

Obama to Meet Virtually Every Football Team Ever

July 27, 2010 By WHC Insider

President Obama will meet with the winner of Super Bowl XLV as early as next month. Sounds weird, right? But it’s actually true, since a pixelized president is in the latest edition of the Madden NFL 11 video game franchise released on August 10th.

Once you complete the season and your team wins the Super Bowl, the ending of the game involves President Obama’s jerky game avatar meeting with other bits of code and holding up a jersey.

Game Informer notes how weird the cameo looks in context with a game for die-hard sports fans. The complete video can be found on IGN. Of course this isn’t the first off-kilter cameo for President Obama: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen presents Obama as a pacifist who eventually submits to the Decepticons referenced in an off-hand news clip and the third season premiere of The Boondocks which involved a Germany documentary filmmaker (voiced by actual filmmaker Werner Herzog) breaking down the hype of Obama’s 2008 campaign according to this Washington Post review.

It’s a shame though that an 8-bit Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush never got to do this on the Nintendo, Genesis or Playstation.

Photo via Game Informer/IGN.

Filed Under: DC, Media Strategy Tagged With: Barack Obama, Madden 11, Media, President Obama, Video Games

Tale of the Tweets: Obama v. Obama

June 23, 2010 By WHC Insider

Obama’s premiere Oval Office speech last week was the worst of social media and the best of social media.

Mashable ran “Obama Speech on BP Oil Not A Hit with Facebook and Twitter Users” after taking data provided by Crimson Hexagon from “83,000 Tweets and public Facebook comments” over a nine hour shift. But taking such things into account can provide little feedback, especially when 15 percent of the poll were annoyed they missed So You Think You Can Dance and the other five questioned why so many people would anonymously make fun of the president.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: DC, Media Strategy, News Media, White House History Tagged With: Facebook, Oval Office, President Obama, Robert Gibbs, Social Media, SocNets, Twitter

Social Networking and the 2010 Election

December 23, 2009 By WHC Insider

Socnet

Now that the dust has settled and the 2009 election results have sunk in, the pondering and pontificating by the pundit elite (and not so elite) continues on cable news and online media sites about what the results mean for the president and the nation’s political future. Much of what is discussed is, and will continue to be, partisan in nature (as is the nature of cable news) and quite frankly, without much merit or solid research beyond party talking points and Wikipedia entries.

President Obama discusses SAVE awards at White House

Discussions have been playing out on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News on whether Obama’s coattails are still strong; whether 2009 elections are a prediction of the 2010 midterms; whether the GOP can turn 2 key gubernatorial wins into a midterm Congressional movement, and so on. Most of these are unknowns, but there is one major continuous thread of the ’08 and now ’09 election cycle that is guaranteed to be part of every successful future campaign whether GOP or Dem or Conservative or Independent: the integrated use of social media and online communications (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, SMA, web 2.0, etc), combined with an authentic, engaging candidate, must be paramount within a campaign’s overall strategy in order to be successful.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: News Media Tagged With: Chris Christie, Mayor Bloomberg, President Obama, Robert McDonnell, Scott Goodstein

RTCA After-Party Talk: Thumbs Up for Comedian-in-Chief

June 20, 2009 By WHC Insider

Move it to a Friday night (for the first time), bring a celebrity bartender to the after-party, and the night is guaranteed to go long. The Radio-TV Correspondents’ dinner festivities didn’t break until several hours after midnight.

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The MSNBC-thrown after-party, attended by Obama advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, among others, had a different vibe than Fox’s fondly remembered 2004 disco affair: more cocktails and comfort-food. Contessa Brewer’s black dress, with its open back, was one of the more daring of the evening and drew admirers; her lengthy conversation with NBC News president Steve Capus had some guessing. The special drinks that Rachel Maddow was mixing up behind the bar — including her “signature cocktail” the Hearst (gin, sweet vermouth and bitters) — must have been potent: The last of the NBC junior staffers trickled out after 3 a.m.

U.S. President Obama attends the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington.

Obama as Comedian-in-Chief

As for the dinner itself, the reviews are in: President Obama was pretty funny. Then again, it’s hard to know — it could be just another manifestation of that whole being-in-bed-with-the-press phenomenon that he poked fun at in his remarks last night. “Why bother hanging out with celebrities when I can spend time with people who make me one?” Obama said, comparing the RTCA event to the Hollywood celeb-studded White House Correspondents Association dinner in May.

Unlike the WHCD, there was no one line that everyone grabbed on to, but the papers, Twitterers and bloggers found plenty to like, although they appear to be tiring of his frequent jokes about chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s colorful vocabulary. (Last night’s: “In Egypt, we had the opportunity to tour the pyramids. And by now, I’m sure you’ve all seen the pictures of Rahm on that camel. I admit, I was a little nervous about the whole situation. I said at the time, ‘This is a wild animal known to bite, kick and spit. And who knows what the camel could do.’ “) [Read more…]

Filed Under: Event Coverage, News Media, rtca dinner Tagged With: Carrie Prejean, Contessa Brewer, David Axelrod, John Hodgman, President Obama, Rachel Maddow, Rahm Emanuel, Steve Capus, Tate Donovan, Valerie Jarrett

RTCA Entertainment Hit and Miss

June 19, 2009 By WHC Insider

The night’s tone of gentle ribbing was set early, before the President’s speech, with JibJab’s much-awaited new video, “He’s Barack Obama,” which depicted the President as a superhero capable of knocking out pirates.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Celebrates 10 Years

John Hodgman quizzed Obama on nerd factor at RTCA dinner

Author, actor and occasional “Daily Show” contributor John Hodgman’s “nerd v. jock” speech following the president got raves from some, seemed to go over the heads of others, and appeared to have found its most-important mark: President Obama laughed with seemingly real appreciation, as he was quizzed about his apparent love of comic book characters and sci-fi, and egged into giving the Vulcan salute.

Before the speeches, an Onion News Network “special report” poking mild fun at TV anchors who talked too much fell flat on TV, but got laughs in the room, according to some. President Obama watched attentively as Sweet Honey in the Rock performed.

A short video paid tribute to three journalists who passed away in the last year: CNN’s Bill Headline, NBC’s Tim Russert and Tony Snow, the Fox News anchor-turned-White House spokesman.

The Joan Barone Award went to Mike Viqueira, NBC News’ Capitol Hill producer, while the three daughters of David J. Bloom caused some to tear up as they presented the award named in memory of their father to Orla Guerin, the Africa correspondent for the BBC. It was accepted in her name by BBC America’s Rome Hartman.

Filed Under: News Media, rtca dinner, Washington Events Tagged With: Bill Headline, David Bloom, JibJab, John Hodgman, Mike Viqueira, Orla Guerin, President Obama, Tim Russert, Tony Snow

Is Washington Suffering from Journalist Dinner Overload?

June 19, 2009 By WHC Insider

U.S. President Obama attends the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington.

President Obama at 2009 RTCA Dinner

President Obama in his speech to the RTCA got right to the heart of Washington’s journalist dinner rivalry, saying he was on hand to “Tell jokes that weren’t funny enough for me to use when we did this five weeks ago,” at the White House Correspondents’ dinner (known as the Senior Prom to the RTCA’s Junior Prom.) Then again, he said, twisting the knife deeper: “The jokes may not be as good but neither is the guest list.”

And later: “I think your programming is more relevant than ever before — at least that’s the impression that I get when I read the blogs.”

In his appearance before the Radio and TV correspondents at the Washington D.C. Convention Center, the President was unaccompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama on the orange and yellow rose-rimmed dais and he left at 9:20, before dinner was served. His short stay prompted some last-minute frantic juggling of the entertainment lineup, according to insiders. VP Biden wasn’t there, either, despite apparently erroneous earlier reports that he would attend. A spokeswoman said that he had a scheduling conflict.

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, right after the speech, noted the President’s “sharp elbowed humor;” a few tweets from the dinner suggested that his humor was “underappreciated” by the audience. He cracked himself up several times, however.

The biggest laughs of the night came when he joked about embattled California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger competing on “I’m a Celebrity….Get Me Out of Here,” then added: “That’s how I feel about tonight.” The dinner, he said, was causing him to miss “date night” with Michelle, and his plans to go for Thai food-pause-“in Bangkok.”

A joke about being in bed with NBC’s Brian Williams, whom he called a terrible house guest, was followed by a list of new TV programs that the success of “Inside the White House” had inspired, the funniest of which was TLC’s “Jon & Kate plus Peter Orszag.”

5th Annual Moves Power Women Awards

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski

There was also a mild jab at NBC White House Correspondent Chuck Todd for having the style of a TV correspondent and “the facial hair of a radio correspondent.” To MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, he said: “We both have partners named Joe who used to be in Congress and don’t know when to stop talking.” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, he noted, was “the only other man in America with his own situation room,” and it was cooler than the President’s, which he said, was unable “to generate the bandwidth to turn Larry Summers into a hologram.”

Random jokes poked fun at his own Administration, including Richard Holbrooke, whom he alleged sprayed WD-40 that caused Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s elbow-breaking fall. He announced a “new” plan to rescue the auto business, telling dinner guests to look under their seat, a la Oprah, because everyone was getting a car company. Fox, he said, would get AIG.

Looking relieved that his speech was over, the President ended his remarks with a serious tribute to the work of the press, noting “I am here tonight because I appreciate the role you do.” He got the traditional standing ovation at the beginning and end.

Filed Under: rtca dinner, Washington Events Tagged With: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brian WIlliams, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Larry Summers, Michelle Obama, Mika Brzezinski, Oprah, President Obama, Rachel Maddow, Richard Holbrooke, Wolf Blitzer

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About White House Correspondents Insider

Exploring “behind the scenes” of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

We track the White House Correspondents’ weekend and all the activities around it, from journalists and media companies to the White House and politicos.

Tammy Haddad is Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of WHC Insider and CEO of Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents Insider is not affiliated with or approved by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which is a registered trademark of the WHCA.

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