Obama & Biden Announce Transition Team
Real Clear Politics - TIME.com — ... Patrick Gaspard – Associate Personnel Director Christine Varney - Personnel Counsel Melody Barnes – Co-Director of Agency Review Lisa Brown – Co-Director of Agency Review Phil Schiliro – Director of Congressional Relations Michael Strautmanis – Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs Katy Kale – Director of Operations Brad Kiley – Director of Operations The phone number for the transition headquarters is 202-540-3000.  The official website for the transition is www.change.gov and it will be live later today.

Blue State Building Obama Transition Site Change.gov
techPresident — ... 2. What kinds of interactive components will the transition website include? The announcement included a note saying that "the official website for the transition is www.change.gov and it will be live later today," but so far that site isn't live, at least not for me. ...

See the website
Corrente — Here.

"Change.gov"
Jonathan Martin's Blog —           The official website for President-elect Obama's transition is up with the first, spare, details about the coming administration.

Transition online, apply now
Ben Smith's Blog — Change.gov is up, complete with blog, request for user-generated content, and job application feature. How many resumes do we think he'll get?

Transition Site Echoes Campaign Pledge of Open Government, By the People
techPresident — There are just two months and a half months between now and when Barack Obama will take the oath of office as the 44th President of the United States, and without what even seemed to be a pause for a champagne toast, the Obama-Biden '08 campaign shifted into transition mode for what will be the Obama-Biden administration. Just about a half an hour ago, at 1pm ET today, the Obama-Biden Transition Project (as the organization is legally known) launched a transition website Change.gov. As far as style goes, the new site is looks much like BarackObama.com, though classed up with more ...

Ann Handley: Situation Wanted: White Woman, 40s, Seeks New Obsession Following 2008 Election
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... that Obama has launched the website change.gov, where we can find news about the transition and inauguration and information about his agenda. ...

CHANGE has come to Washington already
culturekitchen - fresh dissent served daily — And it's in the form of a website: Obama and Biden have hit the ground running. If you notice, the site is barely finished.

Change You Can Believe In
The Corner on National Review Online — [image] [image] NRO BLOG ROW | THE CORNER | ARCHIVES SEARCH E-MAIL PRINT RSS [image] [image] Thursday, November 06, 2008 [image] Change You Can Believe In [ Jonah Goldberg ] Which one will you bookmark? Change. com or Change. gov. Oddly, Change.com has a better slogan for fixing our broken souls: "You. Only Better." 11/06 05:18 PM [image] [image] [image] © National Review Online 2008. All Rights Reserved. Home | Search | NR / Digital | ...

Read These Now For A Distraction
Shakesville — The election is over. The transition begins. TEH GAYS are still second class citizens. I need a distraction. Here is an evening edition of the morning readings. The Out 100: The Men and Women Who Made 2008. Photographed by Lee Jenkins in London Props and costumes from SCI FI's Battlestar Galactica will be auctioned off on Jan. 16-18, 2009, in Pasadena, Calif., with proceeds in part going to benefit the United Way. Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century. Europa Film Treasures ...

Change you can give your personal information for
Hot Air » Top Picks — Change you can give your personal information for posted at 6:50 pm on November 6, 2008 by Ed Morrissey Send to a Friend | printer-friendly I decided to take a look at the website for the incoming Barack Obama administration, The Office of the President-Elect — and it looks an awful lot like a campaign site.  It announces that “change has come to America”, even though Obama is still more than two months from taking the oath of office.  It’s replete with campaign slogans on Iraq , the economy , and other issues.  None of this is terribly new, and it all looks like it got ...

President-Elect Obama Has Already Created A New Branch Of Government
Say Anything — He’s calling it the “Office of the President-Elect?” The office’s duties?  Using official government domains to campaign, apparently. I decided to take a look at the website for the incoming Barack Obama administration, The Office of the President-Elect — and it looks an awful lot like a campaign site.  It announces that “change has come to America”, even though Obama is still more than two months from taking the oath of office.  It’s replete with campaign slogans on Iraq, the economy, and other issues.  None of this is terribly new, and it ...

Obama's new website: change.gov
The Swamp — ... The site is kind of lean right now. When I went to the "newsroom" area today, there were no press releases, not even anything about the announcement that Rep. Rahm Emanuel was named the new White House's chief of staff. ...

President-Elect Obama's Transition Website
Seeing the Forest — [image] Tell The New Administration What To Do | Main November 6, 2008 President-Elect Obama's Transition Website Go explore and click around at Change.gov . It even has a blog . You can even go see what nominees, appointees and members of the transition team are given as resources to study. Awesome. ----> Scroll down to see comments. Posted by Dave Johnson at November 6, 2008 8:03 PM Spotlight Share this post: [image] StumbleUpon Toolbar Stumble It! del.icio.us Bookmark this on ...

Truly Radical
Talking Points Memo — As you may know the Obama's transition has now set up change.gov as the new transition website. And as TPM Reader SB points out there's already signs of the radicalism McCain and Palin warned the country about. I've clipped out this section of their organization chart of the US government, which you can find linked on this page. And as you can see, not only has the president been demoted to a position under the constitution. But the vice-president (as shown by the red arrow) has had his own fourth branch revoked and been reassigned to the executive branch ... ...

www.change.gov smells like a fund-raising front
Michelle Malkin — ... successfully on the promise of the Internet to over 200 satisfied clients, including Obama for America, Wal-Mart Watch, the Alliance for Climate Protection, and the Communications Workers of America, raising over $200 million in contributions to date and generating tens of millions of online signups and actions. Walks, talks, and smells like a fund-raising front to me. Meantime, readers have been sifting through the site. Here are screenshots of two creepy items to keep an eye on. America Serves …or else! [image] [image] The Obama Administration will call on ...

The White House Mountaineer
Kesher Talk — I'm keeping an open mind about the new administration. The website www.change.gov lays out the issues and areas of focus. Some of it makes sense, such as the discussion of ethics in government. Other parts give me pause, like this gem buried in the "Other Issues" section. It sounds downright Stalinist in tone, a celebration of the infinite abilities of the far-seeing wise man: Our nation's creativity has filled the world's libraries, museums, recital halls, movie houses, and marketplaces with works of genius. The arts embody ...

Obama Crowdsourcing the Political Agenda @Change.gov
The Moderate Voice — ... With the launch of change.gov [link], Obama appears to be staying the course. He’s not avoiding the conversation; he’s embracing it. And while there’s not much to the change.gov site currently, it’s the fragments that tell the story. And it’s a story of a ...

Amanda Carpenter: Obama Campaign Site Gets a ".Gov"
Townhall.com Blog's TownHall Blog — It appears Barack Obama's presidential campaign site got a slight makeover to become an official government website, which raises some questions about the email collection. Hot Air's Ed Morrissey noted Change.Gov, ...

TRACKING THE TRANSITION
The Page by Mark Halperin — ... The president-elect's new website Change.gov is up and running. Check it out here. Site is complete with a job application section and a place to submit user-generated content to keep his soon-to-be constituents informed and engaged through the Inauguration.       ...

Change.Gov. Obama/Biden New Gov. Website
The Jawa Report — November 07, 2008 Change.Gov. Obama/Biden New Gov. Website Hopey, changey Pres. elect, Barack Obama, waisted no time to to set up housekeeping. change.gov1.jpg Michelle Malkin thinks it smells like a ...

Four Years of Campaigning Ahead
PoliGazette — To those of us who hoped that the campaign for president would have ended, the conservative blog Hot Air brings some sad news: president-elect Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden, who will become America’s vice president in January 2009, have set up a website with a government address, change.gov, which seems to aim at continuing the campaign until the next election. The website, which is described as the “office of the president-elect,” a non-existing office in the U.S. government, allows visitors to “share” their ideas, views, hopes and “story” ...

Your Website’s Got A Little Bit Of Evil On It
pandagon.net - we are the public option — by Jesse Taylor Executive transitions are a weird creature - they begin the day after victory using work they did while they were still running for the office.  The agency is itself quasi-governmental, having power only over itself and drawing funding and resources in a way that only happens every four years. Which is why the conservative scandalmongering over Obama’s transition site is so skull-crushingly stupid. There seem to be two big “controversies” surrounding the site: the first is that it was built using Blue State Digital tools and ...

How to Apply for a Job with Obama-Biden
TalkLeft — President Elect Barack Obama has launched a new website, Change.Gov. It will provide news from his transition team. It also has information about where to apply for a job in Obama-Biden Administration. Applicants for any of these non-career positions - whether in the White House or in any Federal Department, Agency or Commission - should use this website, as applying on-line is the fastest and most accurate way to get your information to us. (If you are interested instead in a career, civil service position with the federal government, you should proceed to the Office of ...

And counting...
Upper Left — change.gov Hat tip to jnfr.

Change's-A-Commin'
Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys.. — [Personal Opinion by Castle Denizen: Boquisucio] This morning I couldn't believe my lying eyes. Is the campaign sloganeering is now an official Federal Government Website? CHANGE A quick glance at the comming administration's agenda reveals the following: 1) Number One in the hit list is: the forced redistribution of wealth, 2) The White Flag Waving for Iraq, 3) The Socialization of our Health Care, 4) The Cuddling of our enemies under "Protecting America". It's all now given to us with the official imprimatur of a Government's Website. BOQ

Change.gov and the Contradiction of the Postmodern Left Netroots
The Next Right — ... Today, the Barack Obama transition team launched its new website, www.change.gov, and I think it would be wise for all of us who are interested in building the Next Right to check it out, as well as ...

Dear Conservatives: Pick Your Fights
The Mahablog — This is to be the first of an irregular series offering advice to conservatives, explaining to them why they lost and what they need to do to win in the future. They won’t take it, but there are things that need to be said, for the record. Today’s advice: Pick Your Fights. During the Clinton years I tried giving this same advice to righties when they wondered why most Americans still liked Clinton after all the mud that was slung at him. Righties I talked to wanted big, screaming banner headlines in the newspapers every single bleeping day about whatever allegation was being ...

Christina Bellantoni: Change.gov: Transition promises inclusion
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — First published at WashingtonTimes.com CHICAGO — As the campaign winds down, the transition heats up and the inaugural ball requests flow in steadily, Team Obama has begun a new phase entirely.   President-elect Obama, holding his first press conference today after a meeting with economic advisers, launched yesterday Change.gov, which aims to include Americans in the process.     The transition even has its own YouTube page that - presumably to ...

Chris Weigant: Friday Talking Points [54] -- Republican Fossilization
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Welcome back to Friday Talking Points. Of course, the big question on everyone's mind right now is: What is going on up in Minnesota? Al Franken is tantalizingly close to taking a lead in his Senate race, but very few details are available in the media (with the exception of this report from the Huffington Post) to let us know exactly what is going on. So I went to the source, and contacted the Franken campaign for some details. Minnesota is currently in the process of verifying their ballot results. What is happening right now (and the reason why the totals keep slightly ...

Obama Launches Change.Gov
Drudge Retort — President-elect Obama's begun the transition to his administration with a new government site, Change.Gov , that gives people a chance to say what they think his priorities should be, tell their personal stories and even apply for federal jobs. Posted by ...

America Serves — but who and how?
Joanne Jacobs — The America Serves section of President-elect Obama’s new transition web site, Change.gov , suggests a large expansion in national service. Conservative and civil-liberties bloggers think he’s calling for a non-military draft for young adults: They envision the Obama Youth marching off to do The One’s bidding.“America Serves” starts with an Obama quote defining the American Dream as serving your nation, community or neighborhood.“When you choose to serve — whether it’s your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood — you are connected to that fundamental ...

Things You Can Do With The Intart00bz
Brilliant at Breakfast — People-Powered Presidency. (Which reminds me: Thank you, Howard Dean, for being the trailblazer that paved the way for the 50-state strategy to come to such perfect bloom so quickly. We owe you a debt of gratitude that I don't think we can ever repay. Scream this, bitchez.)

The Reaction in review (Nov. 7, 2008)
The Reaction — A week's Reactions that deserve a second look: Friday By Capt. Fogg: "Le mot juste" -- this fine little post captures President-elect Obama's first news conference. By Michael J.W. Stickings: "Gap narrows in Minnesota Senate race, recount looming" -- The closeness, along with the complexity of the race for Minnesota's Senate race is explained, leaving Michael with mixed feelings about Lieberman if the Senate goes to 59 Dems (see "The boot.") Thursday By Michael ...

Speculation on Obama Cabinet Begins
The Moderate Voice — With the announcement of President Elect Obama’s economic “dream team,” speculation officially begins concerning what his cabinet will look like. “Which of those heavy hitters will be Treasury Secretary” is merely the first and most obvious question. The Associated Press (yes yes I know many people are still boycotting them) has come up with an interesting collection of short lists for the various positions, with the caveat that “Obama has signaled that he will make no Cabinet-level appointments immediately, and his deliberations are tightly held by his ...

Obama's First Official Change™
Snapped Shot — Barack Hussein Obama's new Presidential-Elect website offers the first Change™ of his Presidency. More at Gateway Pundit.

Intelligence -- the next phase
The Reaction — By Carol Gee President-elect Barack Obama got his first in-depth regular intelligence briefing from DNI Mike McConnell, according to Joby Warrick at the Washington Post. Obama was asked about this at his first news conference yesterday, but he declined to discuss it in any depth. To quote the Friday article (Post's links): For nearly an hour yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama met with two of the country's top intelligence officers for an important rite of passage: his first ...

The Obama’s Campaign Internet Outreach Continued
PoliGazette —

Bookmark This
Hoffmania! — ... ...if you haven't done so already: The General Services Administration. It's the definitive users' guide to the federal government. What reminded me is Change.gov. At the bottom of every page, they've put a link to the Presidential Transition Resources - a resource for both the public and for appointees. I never knew that existed, but it's run by the GSA. So much sunlight now, I gotta wear shades. ...

Tired?
Brilliant at Breakfast — "....put your hand on the arc of history and bend it once more for a brighter day....." -President Elect Barack Obama, 11-4-2008. Barack Obama didn't just suddenly become the President of the Untied States last week. During the the past couple of weeks he has exhibited an almost unnatural calm and an air of destiny..His grasp of the situation made it seem like this day was almost just a formality, and besides the fact that those of us who watch this stuff closely have been twisted in worry that the machinations of men or technology might prevent that which seemed a ...

Barack Obama: Buffoon in Chief
Israpundit — ... He also created a Web site, Change.gov, which bears the title, “Office of the President Elect.” The site uses the Great Seal of the United States minus the cluster of stars above the eagle’s head. (It might, in fact, be illegal for him to use the entire Great Seal because he is not yet President). He has set up this government-hosted Web site as if it was his personal campaign site, complete with a litany of attacks on President Bush: the man who congratulated him on his election, and who has at least an informal duty to assist him during the transition ...

Wow, they actually played it on the radio
The Sideshow — Bra of the Week Ridiculously cute baby pygmy hippo, Billboard Liberation Front and Wachovia Bank, Photoshop user interface physicalized, and an unusual dress, at Boing Boing. The blog of the President-Elect. I have to admit that it's a relief to be able to write "President-Elect" without irony. QrazyQat recommends we learn to haggle from Gandhi - ask for everything first. Jamison Foser observes once again that the nation is divided - between the talking heads who want to claim Obama has a mandate to run a conservative administration, and ...

So what now?
Brilliant at Breakfast — ... We will support him when he deserves our support, and try to set him right when he doesn't. That Change.gov seems to be opening up precisely this kind of dialogue with the citizenry is a positive sign. That ...

Change.gov Pulls Its Agenda
techPresident — As Nancy noted on Thursday, President-elect Obama's transition website, Change.gov, "echoes [the] campaign pledge of open government." The site's "Agenda" section detailed the Obama Administration's policy promises and proposals, "from 'Civil Rights' to 'Women,' and describes their vision for an American service corps." But as of last night, the entire "Agenda" section has been removed from Change.gov, replaced by three broad sentences about what Obama hopes to do. Here's what it looks like now: If you try to go to the old links, like this one to ...

Just in Case You Think the Campaign Is Over
BlueOregon — One of my favorite scenes from a movie is in All the President’s Men, when Woodward and Bernstein find out they were actually right in their information about Nixon and his cronies. Their editor, Ben Bradlee says “Go home. Get some sleep. 15 minutes. Then get back to work.” Have you gotten your 15 minutes of sleep yet? Good. I ask because if anyone thinks that Barack Obama and Jeff Merkley can 1) end the war; 2) fix the economy; 3) heal the environment; 4) piece the Constitution back together; 5) undo pretty much every other huge mistake the George W. Bush made and 6) create a new, ...

Change.Gov: Now You See It Now You Don't
The Jawa Report — November 09, 2008 Change.Gov: Now You See It Now You Don't Re: "The Office of the President Elect" Change.gov is a changing. The site has drastically changed. Some of the links on the bottom of site (see Google cache) are no longer there. "America serves" is a dead link. Hopey, changey site maintenance. h/t Vinnie By Stable Hand at November 9, 2008 12:46 PM | | l digg this

The Obama Strategy
PoliGazette — ... Whether it was Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, or Obama’s own website, they went all out.  They wanted people to get involved creatively, so they created my.BarackObama.com, so supporters could campaign on a local level could get write diaries about their experiences.  It’s these kind of things that make people feel like the politician cares.  It seems the Obama administration might continue along the vein of my.BO with change.gov and other initatives.  See Michael van der Galien’s ...

Obama To Use Executive Orders For Immediate Environmental Impact
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own. "There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority ...

Obama Victory Opens Door To New Black Identity
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own. "There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority ...

Obama Web Site Drops Agenda Content
The Latest on Air America — President-elect Barack Obama's transition website, Change.gov, has dropped most of the details of his ambitious agenda. Sometime late Saturday, specific agenda items ranging from Iraq to urban policy disappeared from the new site and were replaced with a single paragraph promising a plan “to revive the economy, to fix our health care, education, and social security systems, to define a clear path to energy independence, to end the war in Iraq responsibly and finish our mission in Afghanistan, and to work with our allies to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, among many other domestic and ...

Monday in the Bush
The Reaction — By Carol Gee White House: On the official White House website (above) "Transition" is listed above "The Economy." That actually reflects an apparent reality. Politician to the end, our current president (OCP) intends to use a successful transition to attempt to refurbish his badly tarnished image. If, at the end of the day, our next president (ONP) does not feel like he has made a safari into the bush, it will be of benefit to the tenor of the transition. Today "Obama heads to White ...

Change.gov Nearly Scrubbed Entirely Clean
JammieWearingFool — The blogosphere had a field day since President-in-Training Obama's change.gov site went active last week, but after coming under massive scrutiny and ridicule, the site has now been scrubbed almost entirely free of the Obama agenda . Hmm. I wonder why? Over the weekend President-elect Barack Obama scrubbed Change.gov, his transition Web site, deleting most of what had been a massive agenda copied directly from his campaign Web site. Gone are the promises on how an Obama administration would handle 25 different agenda items - everything from Iraq and immigration to taxes and urban policy - all ...

CHANGE Keeps Changing
Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys.. — [Personal Opinion by Castle Denizen: Boquisucio] My My. How fast Change Changes! Last week CHANGE had a thick Agenda full of detailed minutiae on how Change, was going to Change this country. Alas Change hath Changed. Instead of its dense Agenda promising us: 1) Forced Redistribution of Wealth, 2) A Quick Quitting out of Iraq, 3) A Socialization of our Health Care, 4) And Sniveling of our Foreign Policy, We find a cryptic, gruel thin, paragraph on its ambitions for our land. The plan for Reviving our Economy is still there. The Socialization of our Health Care system has jumped to number two. This ...

Maegan Carberry and Elizabeth Blackney: Elephant in the Room: When Will the GOP Join the Blogosphere?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Arianna Huffington was right when she declared the Internet is the true winner of the election last week, but in the spirit of unity and bipartisanship that's sweeping the nation after Obama's victory the next logical question is: When will the new media market evolve to become the more balanced forum of news and analysis that Americans clearly crave? Or let's be more frank: When will the Republicans stop jabbering on talk radio and join the blogosphere to diversify the talking points and conversation? Criticisms that the left-wing online media machine was leading a disheveled, revenue-challenged ...

Sarah van Gelder: Looking for a Job in the Obama Administration?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Now that the votes are counted and the post-election celebrations are winding down, are you waiting for a phone call from the hiring office of the President-elect? Wait no more. The thousands of people appointed throughout the Executive Branch set policies in everything from regulation of genetically modified plants and animals to the design of prisons, from sex education to foreign aid. You can be part of that. YES! magazine board member Dal LaMagna believes these positions are so important that he created a website, Executive Branch Online, to make the process ...

Transition Team Media Call Liveblogging
Taylor Marsh — ... and are continuing. Releasing Obama-Biden ethics rules today, especially where lobbyists are concerned. No money from federal lobbyists will be taken from transition team. "Strictest and more far reaching" in history. Anyone lobbying in past 12 months will be excluded from working in policy for the first 12 months. Gift ban will be instituted, same as was passed and championed by Obama. November 17th, some new people will be in their offices. Names will be posted on change.gov, along with bios of team members. ...

Pressure Relief or Policy Director
BlueOregon — ... Those Crazy Obama Kidz put up the new website change.gov last week. It's touted as a site where we Little People will add our voices to the top echelons of Beltway and gummint insiders. Right now, it's about as sophisticated as some of the legislative sites that we're used to, with a single form to type in your comment, hit post, and Bang.....off into the Ether, never to be heard from again. This is gummint interaction 1.5, slightly more advanced than riding horses from Georgia to Philadelphia for a Continental Congress, but not much more useful than letters to the editor or ...

I Can Not Take Four Years Of This
Balloon Juice — Seriously. I can not take four years of wankfests like this: I wanna know why that jackass Lieberman is being supported by Obama. Now Obama is starting to piss me off. Lieberman should have been booted last week. Or this: Obama Transition Team “Clarifies” Position On Torture: He May Be For It You see the proposal is to have greater oversight over the torture. Change we can believe in! Speaking for me only, it has not even been a week since he won the ...

Clearing the Cache
techPresident — The occasional sharing of assorted links and other interesting bits: Microtargeting to the end: those Obama for DNC shirts had different price tags depending on your contribution history. Change.gov boasts a straight-from-the-campaign email signup box tucked away in a corner. Question, though: who gets to keep the addies -- campaign or White House? Submissions to DC's Apps for Democracy contest and a call from Sunlight's Ellen Miller to get yours in before tomorrow's deadline. Also from Ellen -- a call for the Obama Administration to make the ...

Let the Dem expectation lowering begin…
Citizen Crain — November 11, 2008 Let the Dem expectation lowering begin… Posted by: Chris Changegov Well, that didn't take long. It's only been a week since the Democrats retook the White House and greatly enhanced their congressional majorities, and already we hear key party players telling the gays to simmer down. First there was President-Elect Barack Obama's official website, Change.gov . Under the header " Agenda ," the only gay rights items included were the Matthew Shepard hate crimes act and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. No mention of repealing those two mainstays of the Clinton ...

Obama Campaign Pulls Issue Pages From Transition Site
The Caucus — Keen observers have noticed that the issues pages of the official Obama-Biden transition Web site, change.gov , recently went missing and were replaced by a general statement of priorities. A spokesman for the Obama transition team, Nick Shapiro, who has been fielding inquiries about the disappearance, said that they are “retooling” the site, but did not elaborate further. When it went live last week, the transition Web site included a detailed agenda section with pages for “Revitalizing the Economy,” “Ending the War in Iraq” and “Providing Health Care for All,” among others. ...

Change.gov Still Scrubbed
The Jawa Report — [image] November 12, 2008 Change.gov Still Scrubbed As SH noted earlier, Obama's Change.gov website scrubbed the "Agenda" portion of its website. As of now, it's still scrubbed. Screen shots of the Agenda are still available at AOSHQ. Hope. Change. And Holy Shit They're On To Us. By Trollhammer at November 12, 2008 01:33 AM | | l digg this

White House 2.0?
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — It's no secret that Barack Obama took the White House thanks in large part to his campaign team's Internet savvy. The interactive website, text-message organizing, YouTube channel and all the rest not only spurred people to action; they made Obama seem as accessible to them as their neighbor, their teacher, or their priest. But campaigns are all about populism—the more people a candidate can connect with, the better. The president, by contrast, is usually cordoned off from the public and hardly ever released to take question; the Bush administration took this secrecy to an extreme. As he looks ...

Head East, Young Techie
The Caucus — ... Silicon Valley has a newfound interest in the inner workings of Washington, D.C. Who should get the role of C.T.O. — the geeks’ representative in Washington — has been the subject of intense debate in the tech community. On Tuesday, a few of those geeks started ObamaCTO.org , a Web site with advice for the C.T.O., whomever he or she might be. (Obama has said he plans to get ideas directly from voters , and he is already doing so at his transition Web site, Change.gov .) More in Bits …

Obama Announces Transition Leaders, Including Former Lobbyists
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... and civil liberties issues. _ Tom Wheeler, a member of the working group who lobbied for the cellular telephone industry from 1999 to 2004. Wheeler also bundled between $200,000 and $500,000 for the Obama campaign. Other top fundraisers include Gips, who bundled more than $500,000 in contributions to the campaign; and working group member Reed Hundt, who bundled between $50,000 and $100,000 for the campaign. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

Obama Announces Transition Leaders, Including Former Lobbyists
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... and civil liberties issues. _ Tom Wheeler, a member of the working group who lobbied for the cellular telephone industry from 1999 to 2004. Wheeler also bundled between $200,000 and $500,000 for the Obama campaign. Other top fundraisers include Gips, who bundled more than $500,000 in contributions to the campaign; and working group member Reed Hundt, who bundled between $50,000 and $100,000 for the campaign. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov More on Obama Transition<br style="clear: both;"/> ...

Obama’s Call for Community Service Is Not Marxism
Pajamas Media — It's not "slavery" either — and the comparison insults one's intelligence. [image] Is community service synonymous with slavery? Whether that service is mandated or suggested, could it in any way be construed as enslaving citizens? This week, an acquaintance noted the “irony” that college students would be required by a black president to do community service. She then pointed out the 13th Amendment ...

Service isn’t slavery or socialism
Joanne Jacobs — Community service isn’t slavery or socialism, writes Michele Catalano on Pajamas Media. It’s taking the “ask not what your country can do for you” attitude and transforming it into smaller clusters, where we ask what we can do for those we live with and around, instead of waiting for people to do for us. Asking people to volunteer is just fine. Offering college aid to volunteers is fine, though potentially expensive to implement.  What critics attacked was a proposal on Barack Obama’s change.gov site to require students to put in service hours. Obama heard the critics and changed the ...

Where Are the Issues?
Real Clear Politics - TIME.com — On Obama's " Transition " web site, that is. Several bloggers, including Jim Geraghty , noticed that the issues page on the web site went missing a few days ago. So, for instance, where the site had detailed proposals for health care, foreign policy, the Iraq war, etc., now the page simply reads : The Obama Administration has a comprehensive and detailed agenda to carry out its policies. The principal priorities of the Obama Administration include: a plan to revive the economy, to fix our health care, education, and social security systems, to define a clear path ...

Remainders: Change.gov
Ben Smith's Blog — Tom Watson argues that Obama should make Change.gov more like Change.org. CBS profiles the Clinton-McCain crossover voters. Napolitano doesn't rule out an Attorney General appointment. Stephen Hess lists all the reasons why leaks happen. A depressing rundown of recent racist, anti-Obama vandalism across the country. The Root empathizes with Michelle Obama's difficult school search. Ayers will be on Good Morning America tomorrow to talk about the '08 election. He'll also ...

Digg This Facebook President
Politics Daily — ... How seriously? Well, for starters you might take a trip over to Change.gov. Bye-bye media middle-man. Let the presidential blogging begin! ...

The YouTube Presidency
44 — The Clickocracy The YouTube Presidency By Jose Antonio Vargas The White House has gone YouTube. Today, President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video -- a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama's transition site, Change.gov , once the radio address is made public on Saturday morning. The address will be taped at the transition office in Chicago today. "This is just one of many ways that he will communicate directly with the American people and make the White ...

Obama Urges Congress To Move On Economic Plan (VIDEO)
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... The radio address was also videotaped and being posted online through a YouTube link to Obama's transition Web site, . The president-elect plans to continue to record online videos of the addresses after he takes the oath of office Jan. 20. http://www.change.gov ...

Obama Urges Congress To Move On Economic Plan (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... The radio address was also videotaped and being posted online through a YouTube link to Obama's transition Web site, . The president-elect plans to continue to record online videos of the addresses after he takes the oath of office Jan. 20. http://www.change.gov ...

Obama urges Congress to move on economic plan (radio address)
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News — ... President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday urged Congress to get moving next week on an economic rescue plan that would extend jobless benefits among other actions. "If Congress does not pass an immediate plan that gives the economy the boost it needs, I will make it my first order of business as president," Obama said in his Democratic Party's weekly radio address. The radio address was also videotaped and being posted online through a YouTube link to Obama's transition Web site, http://www.change.gov . The president-elect plans to continue to record online videos of the ...

The Democratic Weekly Address Online
Daily Kos — ... President-Elect Barack Obama brings the weekly Democratic address into the 21st century with the first ever release on web video: ...

Obama staff combines DC minds with Chicago roots
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... for Washington, "a greater man who spoke to a nation far more divided." Lincoln, Obama wrote, said of his home: "To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything." Obama wrote, "I feel the same, and like Lincoln, I ask for your support, your prayers, and for us to `confidently hope that all will yet be well.'" ___ Associated Press writer Ted Bridis contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov More on Obama Transition<br style="clear: both;"/> ...

Obama staff combines DC minds with Chicago roots
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... for Washington, "a greater man who spoke to a nation far more divided." Lincoln, Obama wrote, said of his home: "To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything." Obama wrote, "I feel the same, and like Lincoln, I ask for your support, your prayers, and for us to `confidently hope that all will yet be well.'" ___ Associated Press writer Ted Bridis contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

The First YouTube Weekly Address By Barack Obama (Video)
The Democratic Daily — Each week President-elect Obama will be recording his Saturday morning Democratic Party address for YouTube release. This is the first of many. It is the first use of YouTube by a party leader much less the President-elect. The new website for the new administration elect is Change.Gov. His first message follows and the original is here. Click here to view the embedded video. Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Party, New Administration, Obama Video, Party Address, Party Leader, President Elect, Saturday Morning, ...

Ari Herzog: Change.gov and Cluen: A Case Study in Privacy
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Surely you've heard of the Obama-Biden Transition Project and know it's a 501c(4) organization, right? Have you visited the official website at change.gov, read the blog, and shared your vision for America? If you think like I do, perhaps you agree with Josh Bernoff's three tips about how change.gov should be improved? In my last post, I quoted co-chair Valerie Jarrett saying the transition process between now and January 20 will be "transparent." I thought that would be a step in the right direction. I still hope transparency is possible in the ...

Babies
BlueOregon — As I got on the #19 bus to come home yesterday afternoon, a new mom was folding up her stroller while her mom, a new grandmother, held the baby. When I say “new,” I mean the baby could not have been more than a week or two old. The original noob. The sight of this threesome was particularly poignant to me at that moment. Only minutes earlier, I had delivered my baby to his grandmother’s care. But there were a few differences. My baby, my younger son, is 19; and, on Friday, he had completed basic training at the Coast Guard Training Center, Cape May, NJ. I flew out Thursday so I could be ...

Daily Digest: A President Who Asks for Help
techPresident — Obama Keeps Focus on Volunteerism: During the campaign, presidential hopeful Barack Obama put volunteerism front and center -- quite literally, dedicating valuable home page real estate to, for example, calls for help during Hurricane Gustav. The practice helped to define him as a compassionate "brother's keeper" candidate, and President-elect Obama seems intent on taking with him to the White House. Change.gov is today highlighting a plea for help with the fires now ravaging southern California. The call points to ...

Activism's "Little Black Book"
The Reaction — ... is not confined to merely the old campaign website. There is now a brand new website for the transition, called Change.gov which all of us have been watching closely as it is evolving. ProPublica's (investigative journalism's non-profit) Jennifer LaFleur reported yesterday that the "Change.gov 'Agenda' pages are back." To quote (her links): The agenda pages that we told you disappeared from Change.gov, President-elect Barack Obama's transition Web site, have returned in newly retooled ...

Cautiousness You Can't Believe In
The American Spectator — ... Notice that at change.gov legislation Clinton passed -- legislation that was considered outrageous at the time -- is deemed insufficiently liberal in Obama's eyes. Take Clinton's job-killing Family and Medical Leave Act. It is just not good enough for Obama: "The FMLA covers only certain people who work for employers with 50 or more employees. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will expand the FMLA to cover businesses with 25 or more employees, and to cover more purposes including allowing: leave for workers who provide elder care; 24 hours of leave each year for ...

This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House
The Latest on Air America — U.S. policy is not about one individual, and no matter how much faith people place in President-elect Barack Obama, the policies he enacts will be fruit of a tree with many roots. Among them: his personal politics and views, the disastrous realities his administration will inherit, and, of course, unpredictable future crises. But the best immediate indicator of what an Obama administration might look like can be found in the people he surrounds himself with and who he appoints to his Cabinet.And, frankly, when it comes to foreign policy, it is not looking good. Obama has a momentous opportunity to do what he ...

Résumés for Obama Administration Jobs Surpass 200,000
The Caucus — ... on the Web site Change.gov . The site invites job-seekers hoping to get hired at the White House, or in any federal department, agency or commission to submit an “expression of interest” form as a first step. From there, they are asked to complete a more extensive application, and then it’s time for the old don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you routine. And with far more applicants than available slots, it could be a long wait by the phone. Still, the Web site reassures potential employees who may be nervous about their chances that “applying on-line is the fastest and most accurate ...

Obama's 2.0: The Wired Whitehouse
The Jawa Report — ... Those tools are quickly being adapted for the transition to the Obama administration: A new Web site for the president-elect, Change.gov [we all know how changey this site has been...ed], made its debut on the day after the election, offering supporters an outlet for their suggestions and stories as well as their resumes. In the two weeks since then, the transition team says more than 200,000 job applications have flooded in[...] Here comes the good links: Governance by Web site Some foot soldiers in the Obama organizing effort are taking the "what next" question into their ...

Must Conservatives Rally Round the Messiah?
Pajamas Media — No — because the left's vision of "unity" means surrender in the war of ideas. [image] Soon Barack Obama will be inaugurated as our president. His victory was a major happening and had coattails ...

Obama Promises "Immediate Action" On The Economy
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... even worse next year. In this country's darkest hours, the American people have risen above their divisions to solve their problems, he said. "We have acted boldly, bravely, and above all, together," Obama said. "That is the chance our new beginning now offers us, and that is the challenge we must rise to in the days to come. It is time to act. As the next president of the United States, I will." ___ On the Net: Video link to Obama's address: http://www.change.gov ...

Obama Promises "Immediate Action" On The Economy
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... even worse next year. In this country's darkest hours, the American people have risen above their divisions to solve their problems, he said. "We have acted boldly, bravely, and above all, together," Obama said. "That is the chance our new beginning now offers us, and that is the challenge we must rise to in the days to come. It is time to act. As the next president of the United States, I will." ___ On the Net: Video link to Obama's address: http://www.change.gov More on President Obama<br style="clear: both;"/> ...

Change.gov Misuses Domain Intended for Government Bodies Only for Partisan Political Purposes
Ace of Spades HQ — Change.gov Misuses Domain Intended for Government Bodies Only for Partisan Political Purposes Blaster writes: So the change.gov website is hosted by bluestatedigital. From their website: "We Are Your Online Partner. We'll help you use the BSD Online Tools to rally support for your cause, build a constituency, raise money online, or get your candidate elected." This is a .gov website. The Obama pre-administration is using this site to gather information for donors. These are the same guyswho would have turned off the credit card validation rules. All a bunch of Howard Dean ...

Transitions, Foods that Kill
Notes From a Grumpy Old Man — ... In Britain, when one political party wins an election, it gets to take over the very next day. It should happen here, too. If you want to see what the Obama transition team is up to, or give them suggestions, go to www.change.gov. It's the first time something like this is being put out over the Internet, and Barack Obama is also making weekly broadcasts over You Tube. You can keep informed the same way the newspapers do, and write your own speculations on them. The transition team wants to hit the ground running and make a lot of changes, mostly to reverse ...

Obama to introduce his economic team today
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Austan Goolsbee said. "It has to be. The point is to, kind of, get people back on track and startle the thing into submission." Axelrod and Schumer appeared on ABC's "This Week"; Hoyer and Boehner appeared on "Fox News Sunday"; Goolsbee appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation"; and Reich appeared on CNN's "Late Edition." ___ Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this story from Washington. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

Obama to introduce his economic team today
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... Austan Goolsbee said. "It has to be. The point is to, kind of, get people back on track and startle the thing into submission." Axelrod and Schumer appeared on ABC's "This Week"; Hoyer and Boehner appeared on "Fox News Sunday"; Goolsbee appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation"; and Reich appeared on CNN's "Late Edition." ___ Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this story from Washington. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov More on Barack Obama<br style="clear: both;"/> <a ...

Citizenship Is More Than Volunteerism and More than Gotcha
techPresident — ... but just for an instant, as the economy kept going down, down, down and the inevitable "now what?" questions arose. Eight years of pent up frustration have come pouring forth from Deaniacs and Obamanics who poured their hearts and souls into two campaign cycles and now, at last, the kingdom is theirs. So what to do when there is no clear Election Day deadline or structure to keep us focused? Naturally, a phalanx of well meaning efforts have sprung up from Obama CTO to Change.gov. All chaotic, cacophonous, well meaning efforts that will inevitably add up to ...

Dan Froomkin: It's Time for a Wiki White House
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Barack Obama's campaign promise to use the Internet to "create a transparent and connected democracy" will be put to the test when he launches a new White House Web site on January 20. On that day, the Bush administration's stodgy, wheezing version of whitehouse.gov will be carted off to the National Archives in its entirety, leaving precisely no legacy - and no limits. Obama is already being touted as the first Internet president, but the Internet is about more than e-mail blasts and rallying the likeminded. If he and his team truly embrace the paradigms of the modern Internet - as ...

Dr. Susan Corso: Memorandum to: Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the U. S. State Department, the FBI, and President-Elect Obama
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... with a focus on education. Literacy is a serious dearth in Pakistan. And what I also know is that humans of all kinds will accept peace if we are educated about it. INSPAD is all about that. So, Uncle Sam, would you please have one of your people call me and give me a green light to serve my country, in whatever small way I can, with Pakistan? INSPAD is waiting. I am waiting. Peace is waiting for all of us. P. S. I'm sending this to POTUS-Elect Obama via www.change.gov. ...

What Can Obama Do With The Office of the President-Elect?
(Obsolete Feed) — Not much really. Obama may appear presidential (it depends on who you ask) but the Office of the President-Elect doesn’t grant him any real authority: Obama has employed over 500 staffers to assist in his transition operations — working from a nondescript office building in downtown Washington and from locations in his hometown of Chicago. His transition team has received a budget of $12 million — $5.2 million of which was allocated by Congress, and the rest from private donations of under $5,000. As president-elect, Obama is also given the same ...

Obama on Thanksgiving: 'A New and Brighter Day Is Yet To Come'
Political Punch — ... Obama on Thanksgiving: 'A New and Brighter Day Is Yet To Come' November 27, 2008 11:11 AM ABC News’ Matt Jaffe reports from Chicago: The day after President-elect Barack Obama wrapped up his third press conference on the economy in as many days, he acknowledged on Thanksgiving that "times are tough" for the country, but harkened back to the successes of President Abraham Lincoln in reassuring Americans that "a new and brighter day is yet to come." Listen to it HERE ."Times are tough. There are difficult months ahead," Obama said in the weekly ...

President-Elect Obama's Thanksgiving Address
Seeing the Forest — President-Elect Obama's Thanksgiving Address "In a preview of his weekly address, President-elect Barack Obama addressed the nation on the occasion of Thanksgiving, nearly one hundred and fifty years after President Lincoln called for the last Thursday in November to be set aside to acknowledge our blessings. For more information, visit http://change.gov ." ----> Scroll down to see comments. Posted by Dave Johnson at November 27, 2008 10:41 AM Spotlight Share this post: [image] StumbleUpon Toolbar Stumble It! del.icio.us Bookmark this on Delicious ...

The JimMarTInJeezyacris Senate ticket, and the Me-Only nature of Obama's franchise
RedState: Conservative News and Community — Check out this picture from a Boston Globe article on today's runoff election: The caption below the photo says, "Jim Martin, the Democrat vying for the US Senate seat in Georgia, posed with rappers (from left) T.I., Young Jeezy, and Ludacris during a campaign ...

Obama Apparently Drops Windfall Profits Tax Proposal
Hit & Run — ... President-elect Barack Obama has removed any reference of his promise to implement a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from the Obama-Biden Transition Team website, www.change.gov. ...

Victory For Economic Sanity: Obama Expunges Windfall Profits Tax From Change.gov Website
Say Anything — ... President-elect Barack Obama has removed any reference of his promise to implement a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from the Obama-Biden Transition Team website, http://www.change.gov. ...

Wiki Your Government
Hit & Run — All the content on change.gov, Barack Obama's transition website, is governed by a Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to copy, reuse, reproduce or otherwise rip off everything on the website, as long as they say where it comes from. This is a great step, especially in a world where the actual legal codes of some states are covered by far more restrictive copyright rules. But in the wake of some unannounced content switcheroo on the policy agenda portion of the site, Internet guru Tim O'Reilly wants more transparency. There's a primitive form of ...

To All Those Waiting for the Obama Team Phone Call
The Washington Note — ... Sometimes in these dreams they offer me a job, and sometimes they say they can't offer me a job because they can't find my resume amidst the other 300,000 on www.change.gov. I wake in a cold sweat. ...

Steve Clemons: To All Those Waiting for the Obama Team Phone Call
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Sometimes in these dreams they offer me a job, and sometimes they say they can't offer me a job because they can't find my resume amidst the other 300,000 on www.change.gov. I wake in a cold sweat. ...

Obama’s Corrosive Communitarian ‘Service’ for Students
Pajamas Media — His proposal undermines individual freedom and eats away at the ethos of truly liberal education. [image] The president-elect has backpedaled on his longstanding campaign promise to have government mandate community service by students. Seemingly more innocuously, he now plans to “call on” and “encourage” them to serve by “setting a goal” for all middle school and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students who perform 100 hours of service to receive a tax credit guaranteeing that the first $4,000 of their college education is entirely free. Some, such as ...

Larry Lessig: ‘Principles for an Open Transition’
Pundits Blog — Larry Lessig: ‘Principles for an Open Transition’ ( Craig Newmark ) Things are really changing in Washington, and Larry's one of the people leading this effort. This is a big step toward networked grassroots democracy in ways that are hard to explain unless you're in the thick of it. The "digital divide" we face here is generational. You might perceive this as directional; there are unresolved issues, like copyright. Larry has pioneered major improvements in copyright like the Creative Commons approach at change.gov . Check out open-government.us . The following is a short ...

A Children’s Treasury Of Polite, Intelligent Threaded Comments On Change.gov
Wonkette » top — We read somewhere, here, that Obama’s transition website, Change.gov, was getting pretty Internettish these days. This is Obama’s thing, he does it all the time: using standard Internet crap — stuff that other politicians somehow haven’t discovered — to help his readers connect and engage one another on the issues important to them (and possibly sometimes donate $$$$…) (and also maybe plan to fuck in a motel.) This is all to say that Change.gov suddenly looks a lot like Fark or Digg — long comment threads where you can “tell Obama” your ...

Obama Proposes Sweeping Public Works Program
Politics Daily — Filed under: Democrats, Barack Obama, Environment, Economy, 2008 President, Energy, Obama AdministrationIn his weekly YouTube address Saturday the president-elect announced a massive investment in the nation's infrastructure that he hopes will create (or save) more than two million jobs. Obama wants to improve roads and schools, make public buildings more energy efficient and increase access to the Internet. "We won't just throw money at the problem," Obama said in his weekly radio address and Internet video. "We'll measure progress by ...

Obama discusses economic plan to save, create jobs
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... part of the plan, Obama said he wants to expand Internet access in communities. Hospitals also should be connected to each other online. "Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online," he said. Obama said he would announce other details of the economic recovery plan in the coming weeks. He said he'd work with Congress to pass the initiative when lawmakers reconvene in January. ___ On the Net: http://www.change.gov More on President Obama<br style="clear: ...

Obama discusses economic plan to save, create jobs
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... part of the plan, Obama said he wants to expand Internet access in communities. Hospitals also should be connected to each other online. "Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online," he said. Obama said he would announce other details of the economic recovery plan in the coming weeks. He said he'd work with Congress to pass the initiative when lawmakers reconvene in January. ___ On the Net: http://www.change.gov ...

Tomgram: Transition Mania
TomDispatch — [Note to TomDispatch readers: Here we are nearing the end of the year. Just a reminder: If you're getting ready for a little pre-2009 giving in tough times, why not hit the "Resist Empire. Support TomDispatch" button to the right of the site's main screen and consider bulking up TD a little. Every dollar is appreciated. And while you're at it, if you're in the mood for holiday book gifts, another way to support the site and its authors is to check out the list of TomDispatch-inspired books to the left of the main screen (scroll down). They range from this year's The World According ...

Don Tapscott: Obama and the Reinvention of Democracy
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — It's not just elections, but governing in America will never be the same. Consider an email I received recently, addressed to Don, from John -- that's John D. Podesta, Co-chair The Obama-Biden Transition Project. "Everyday, we meet with organizations that present ideas for the Transition and the incoming Obama-Biden Administration. In past transitions, meetings like this have been held behind closed doors. Not anymore. Today, every Obama-Biden Transition staff member received a memo outlining the 'Seat at the Table' Transparency Policy." Up until now, the game of politics was played this way: You, the ...

Tom Engelhardt: The Imperial Transition
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Reposted from TomDispatch. Did you know that the IBM Center for the Business of Government hosts a "Presidential Transition" blog; that the Council on Foreign Relations has its own "Transition Blog: The New Administration"; and that the American University School of Communication has a "Transition Tracker" website? The National Journal offers its online readers a comprehensive "Lost in Transition" site to help them "navigate the presidential handover," including a "short list," offering not only the president-elect's key recent appointments, but ...

The Imperial Transition
Antiwar.com Original — D id you know that the IBM Center for the Business of Government hosts a " Presidential Transition " blog; that the Council on Foreign Relations has its own " Transition Blog: The New Administration "; and that the American University School of Communication has a " Transition Tracker " Web site? The National Journal offers its online readers a comprehensive " Lost in Transition " site to help them "navigate the presidential handover," including a " short list ," offering not only the president-elect's key recent appointments, but also a series of not-so-short lists of those ...

ProPublica: Obama & Transparency: Walking the Talk
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — President-elect Barack Obama's transition team seems to be following through with its promise of transparency by posting documents from its meetings with industry and advocacy groups. The documents are on a special section of the transition team Web site, change.gov, called Your Seat at the Table. Already, dozens of documents are posted on the site from groups outlining policy recommendations for the new administration. There are some from industry groups, but a wide variety of interests have also come to the table. Here are a few examples: The nation's ...

Change.gov Takes Questions
The Caucus — You’ve got questions? The Obama transition team might have an answer. A new feature on President-elect Barack Obama’s transition Web site, Change.gov , which allows users to submit questions and then vote on the ones they most want answered, went live on Wednesday. The tool, “Open for Questions,” already appears to be getting traffic. As of Wednesday afternoon, users sent in roughly 1,000 questions and logged more than 70,000 votes, and those numbers were climbing higher by the minute. The Obama transition team said that some of the most popular questions would be answered “on a regular basis.” ...

Obama's Transition Website Censoring Questions About Blagojevich
NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — President-elect Barack Obama's transition website Change.gov is censoring questions offered by readers about disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Although the "Open for Questions" page was launched Wednesday stating "The Obama-Biden Transition wants to hear from you," readers have been quick to shelter the president-elect from inquiries relating to Blago.  I guess this is change you can believe in. As reported by Politico's Ben Smith: President-elect Barack Obama's Transition today launched "Open for ...

New Transition Q&A Tool Doesn't Get Too Nasty; It Gets Too Nice
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — I was pleased to see the Obama transition website, change.gov, launch a function called "Open for Questions" that allows users to submit questions for the transition team as well as vote up questions from other users they want answered and vote down questions they don't. As of this writing there have been 492,648 votes on 6,241 questions from 9,156 people. The transition hasn't made it clear how or when the most popular questions will be answered. But if senior staffers answer the top questions in good faith (including the uncomfortable ones), it will be a big step for open ...

Emily Douglas: Ready or Not: Obama Transition Team Publishes Reproductive Health Community's Agenda
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... John Podesta, chair of President-elect Obama's transition team, informs transition team staffers of a sweeping transparency policy that will make public all policy documents and recommendations from meetings staffers conduct with outside organizations. Apparently, they mean it: dozens of transition documents drafted for the transition team by advocacy groups ranging from the American Association of Airport Executives to the Women Business Owner's Platform for Growth are now up on the change.gov website. Papers on reproductive health are well-represented: visitors will find ...

Obama Team Mum On Blagojevich Investigation
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... could be held. But Blagojevich was wrong if he thought he might have that power. By law, House vacancies can be filled only by elections. The complaint does not say that a conversation with the Obama adviser took place, nor does it suggest that the Obama team took any action regarding Blagojevich's idea for a nonprofit. ___ Associated Press writer Lara Jakes Jordan contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

Obama Team Mum On Blagojevich Investigation
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... could be held. But Blagojevich was wrong if he thought he might have that power. By law, House vacancies can be filled only by elections. The complaint does not say that a conversation with the Obama adviser took place, nor does it suggest that the Obama team took any action regarding Blagojevich's idea for a nonprofit. ___ Associated Press writer Lara Jakes Jordan contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov More on Barack Obama<br clear="both" style="clear: ...

Obama Announces HUD Secretary Choice Via Radio Airwaves
Political Punch — ... is something of a homecoming for Shaun,” Obama says in his address, praising Donovan for his work on affordable housing. Donovan, a Harvard-educated architect, was appointed commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development in March 2004 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Before that, he was managing director of affordable housing investments at Prudential Mortgage Capital Company. Obama’s address –- also video taped for YouTube –- can be found here: www.change.gov . December 13, 2008 | ...

Where Change.gov Meets USA.gov
techPresident — Open government web wonks and digital politics geeks (and really, why else would be you be here?) have been fascinated with the stylish online transition "campaign" waged at Change.gov by the incoming Obama Administration in formation. But come January 20th, the real digital change action may well switch venues - keep your eye on a couple of key Federal executive branch sites for signs that Barack Obama's team really does want to change the way citizens interact with the Federal government (or not). The crucial agency is the massive General Services Administration, pretty much the ...

Will Barack Obama Legalize Marijuana?
Politics Daily — Filed under: Democrats, Barack Obama, Obama AdministrationBarack Obama's transition website, Change.gov, added a new feature recently that allows people to submit, and vote on, questions for the President-Elect and his team. After a bump in the road involving the spiking of Blagojevich-related questions, the site has put out it's first round of questions and answers. The fourth question on the list contains the aforementioned question, and its disappointing, if unsurprising, answer. From Open For Questions: Q: "Will you consider legalizing ...

Obama Stimulus Package: Urged To Spend More Than $600 Billion
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... If Salazar is confirmed as interior secretary, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, will name a replacement to serve out the final two years of Salazar's term. Before being elected to the Senate in 2004, Salazar was Colorado's attorney general. He also headed the state's Natural Resources Department from 1990-1994. ___ Associated Press writer Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

Obama Stimulus Package: Urged To Spend More Than $600 Billion
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... If Salazar is confirmed as interior secretary, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, will name a replacement to serve out the final two years of Salazar's term. Before being elected to the Senate in 2004, Salazar was Colorado's attorney general. He also headed the state's Natural Resources Department from 1990-1994. ___ Associated Press writer Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov More on Barack Obama<br clear="both" style="clear: ...

Don't Let Daschle's Transparency Talk Fool You
The Next Right — Americans are going to be busy these next two weeks. Christmas and New Year’s are traditionally a time to spend with family, do last-minute shopping and take a break from the strains of work -- and apparently fix America’s health care system. That’s right, Tom Daschle wants you to talk about health care over the holidays. President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services has given the country two weeks, including Christmas Day, to provide input on how to improve health care in America. Daschle doesn’t care if you meet at home, the ...

Mike Smith: Accountability in the Obama Administration
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... President-elect Obama rose to the challenge. Despite record-breaking donations throughout the campaign, Obama still managed to fully disclose almost 93% of his finance reports -- we know the source of virtually all his campaign dollars and what they funded in this campaign. His transition website, www.change.gov is opening the democratic process to the online community and generates an honest and open political dialogue. He even required that former president Bill Clinton reveal all ...

Bureaucrats for Change: Why Obama's Inherited Web Team Gets It
techPresident — ... , the brief transition white paper posted by the Web Content Managers Forum, the network of Federal online managers, one challenge jumped out clearly from the page: Change.gov is the easy part. ...

What happened to “so help me God”?
RedState: Conservative News and Community — Barack Obama’s transition site, change.gov gives a breakdown of Obama’s inauguration. According to the website, Obama will deliver the following oath of office: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That is, in fact, the actual oath found in the actual constitution. But every President has added “so help me ...

Another Change You Won't See From Obama
TalkLeft — From the time Sen. Barack Obama announced his candidacy, I wrote and wrote about his record on criminal justice issues, particularly with respect to our drug laws. I didn't like what I learned and said so repeatedly. While his policy positions and Hillary's were quite similar, the difference between them, I thought, was that he had spent a lot of time thinking about these issues and legislating on them as a state senator in Illinois. I felt, rightly or wrongly, that we least had a chance with Hillary to convince her on a few points since she hadn't paid a great deal of attention to ...

The Internet is TV. Twitter is the Internet.
Patrick Ruffini — ... At the same time, the Internet is specifically like reality television. Much has been made of the “transparency” of Change.gov — but it actually is to real transparency what reality TV is to reality. Submitting your story on why the health system sucks does not allow you to discuss alternatives to some sort of nationalization of the health system under Obama. It’s using Web 2.0 and the illusion of openness to support an existing policy position which is unlikely to change. The politicians are using the Internet to ...

The Internet is TV. Twitter is the Internet.
techPresident — ... At the same time, the Internet is specifically like reality television. Much has been made of the "transparency" of Change.gov -- but it actually is to real transparency what reality TV is to reality. Submitting your story on why the health system sucks does not allow you to discuss alternatives to some sort of nationalization of the health system under Obama. It's using Web 2.0 and the illusion of openness to support an existing policy position which is unlikely to change. The politicians are using the Internet to justify what they were going to do anyway. This is very ...

Goodbye to all that
Corrente — Jeralyn: On his website, Change.gov, Obama asked readers to ask a question about the policy change most important to them. The results: the number one question among 7,000 policy topics raised was legalization of marijuana. His response: No way. To rephrase Pelosi's famous statement slightly: They are advocates.... Read more…

ChangeSameOldShit.gov
HorsesAss.Org — At the top of the Obama Transition Team’s change.gov website is the following quote from the President-elect: “Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today” The website allowed for users to submit questions through the site about the incoming administration’s agenda. After visitors to the website were able to vote for or against the submitted questions, the following question was the most popular: “Will you ...

Obama Weekly Address: Key Science Nominees Announced
Firedoglake — This morning, Barack Obama announced his nominees for some of the key science positions for the upcoming Administration. I thought folks would be interested in this, given the prior promise to restore scientific integrity to the decision-making process on ...

Surprise!... Obama's Change.gov As Shady As His Campaign Website!
Gateway Pundit — Change! Barack Obama ran the largest election donation's fraud in history. Anyone from anywhere could donate to the campaign. The Obama Campaign even accepted illegal donations that could not be tracked. Now, we find out the Obama Team is running a shady operation at Change.gov, too. The perpetual Obama campaign is using a ".gov" domain name for what appears to be a fund-raising front. We're all shocked.

Is Change.Gov a Scam?
Is This Change? — We've been invited to input our ideas to CHANGE.GOV. Does anyone have concrete evidence their advice was taken? Is it just a scam to move our email addresses? We Want Your Input If you have been a loyal Obama supporter from before Iowa, you may have felt included by the campaign during the primaries and elections. With the announcement of CHANGE.GOV, we were told that they wanted to hear our voices. My first suggestion was to create a structure that could truly handle our massive input and put it in a usable form--through Wiki White House. Dan Froomkin  ...

Alexander Heffner: A Vision for Obama's WhiteHouse.Gov
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Take a moment and visit our current Chief Executive's virtual office at WhiteHouse.Gov. Now turn to President-Elect Obama's transition Website at Change.Gov, also an official government site. Does the difference rock you like this weekend's Northeastern blizzard? The current White House site welcomes visitors to the Oval with the latest news and a series of mostly non-interactive features. Essentially, it has two interactive pages, both involving submitting screened questions to administration officials in a timed forum. There's a standard contact page with White House switchboard ...

Obama billion-dollar 'bailout' for abortion industry
Hyscience — Via Politics and Government, a pro-life group in Washington has launched a campaign to oppose what it calls president-elect Barack Obama's planned $1.5 billion "bailout" of the abortion industry ...

Obama's Night-Before-Christmas Address
The Caucus — President-elect Barack Obama, who is spending the week on vacation with his family in Hawaii , fashioned much of his holiday radio address into an appreciation of American troops serving overseas. “This holiday season, their families celebrate with a joy that is muted knowing that a loved one is absent, and sometimes in danger,” Mr. Obama said in his message. “In towns and cities across America, there is an empty seat at the dinner table; in distant bases and on ships at sea, our servicemen and women can only wonder at the look on their child’s face as they open a gift back home.” The president-elect also ...

Obama Christmas: Turkey, Ham In Hawaii
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... estate. Aides say the Obamas would have no public events during the trip, although he has received intelligence briefings and met with aides. In past years the Obamas have spent the December holidays visiting Obama's maternal grandmother, who died Nov. 2, before Obama's historic Nov. 4 victory. The Obamas had a private memorial service Tuesday for Madelyn Payne Dunham, known to friends as "Toot," who helped raise him. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov More on Barack Obama<br clear="both" style="clear: ...

Obama Christmas: Turkey, Ham In Hawaii
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... estate. Aides say the Obamas would have no public events during the trip, although he has received intelligence briefings and met with aides. In past years the Obamas have spent the December holidays visiting Obama's maternal grandmother, who died Nov. 2, before Obama's historic Nov. 4 victory. The Obamas had a private memorial service Tuesday for Madelyn Payne Dunham, known to friends as "Toot," who helped raise him. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

War on Drugs: Now the War on Christmas, Too?
Firedoglake — YouTube: Santa -- busted for cocaine while he, the elves and the reindeer are out for a binge spin. You have to wonder if Rudolph tipped off the cops after a failed intervention. Gives a whole new level of meaning to Grandma Got Run Over By A ...

Change I hope I can believe in
Citizen Crain — ... : Pass the DREAM Act: 2,219 votes Equal immigration rights for same-sex couples: 1,011 votes Citizenship route through marriage for undocumented immigrants: 850 votes It's especially heartening to see this modest proposal compete effectively outside the area of gay rights, which was a separate category on the website, which is unaffiliated with Barack Obama's official transition site, Change.gov . As I explained in ...

David Kirby: Obama Transition Website: "Recovery from autism is neither possible, nor desirable"
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — "Recovery from autism is neither possible, nor desirable" It's hard to believe that those words would appear anywhere on an official website of the United States government. But there they are, on new the autism blog of President Elect Obama's transition team at www.change.gov. They were written by the two women the Obama people hired to head up what could ostensibly be described as the "national autism blog" - Kristina Chew, who has a son with autism, and Dora Raymaker, an adult on the autism spectrum. These women believe that autism is a ...

Fred Hochberg for Commerce
Citizen Crain — January 04, 2009 Fred Hochberg for Commerce Posted by: Andoni Governor Bill Richardson has withdrawn as the nominee for Secretary of Commerce. As of yet there is no openly gay cabinet appointee by Obama. Many in our community are pissed at him for inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inaugural. This is a real opportunity. Now is the time to bombard the Obama transition team at change.gov to suggest that he nominate a member of our community for Commerce. One name that immediately comes to mind is Fred Hochberg, who was the number 2 man at the Small Business Administration under ...

Feinstein, the “maverick”?? A “miffed” Diane bucks Reid and PEBO
Flopping Aces —

CNN Confirms: Gupta Approached About Surgeon General Post
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... for its trauma cases. During the Clinton administration, Gupta was a White House fellow and special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gupta grew up in the Detroit area, the son of parents who moved from India in the 1960s to work at a Ford plant. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. CBS News is a unit of CBS Corp.; CNN is owned by Time Warner Inc. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

CNN Confirms: Gupta Approached About Surgeon General Post
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... for its trauma cases. During the Clinton administration, Gupta was a White House fellow and special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gupta grew up in the Detroit area, the son of parents who moved from India in the 1960s to work at a Ford plant. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. CBS News is a unit of CBS Corp.; CNN is owned by Time Warner Inc. ___ On the Net: Obama transition: http://www.change.gov ...

Activists find ways to stay involved
The Reaction — By Carol Gee People all over the world have protested for one side or the other in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. AlterNet reported that, "An unprecedented number of Americans question Israel's actions in Gaza.* (1/6/09). Activism, protest, organizing -- there are legitimate activist organizations as well as illegitimate ones. The following story refers to the sometimes very dark and terrible side of protest. On 1/6/09, McClatchy reported on a "Cross burned in yard of man who helped troubled youth."* ...

Obama Releases Internal Analysis Of Economic Plan
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... than 40 percent of the new jobs would go to women and that 90 percent of them would be created in the private sector. It also provides estimates of how many new jobs would be created in each different sector of the economy. "It's not too late to change course _ but only if we take immediate and dramatic action," Obama said. "Our first job is to put people back to work and get our economy working again." ___ On the Net: Links to Obama address and report: http://www.change.gov More on Barack Obama<br clear="both" style="clear: ...

Obama Releases Internal Analysis Of Economic Plan
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... than 40 percent of the new jobs would go to women and that 90 percent of them would be created in the private sector. It also provides estimates of how many new jobs would be created in each different sector of the economy. "It's not too late to change course _ but only if we take immediate and dramatic action," Obama said. "Our first job is to put people back to work and get our economy working again." ___ On the Net: Links to Obama address and report: http://www.change.gov ...

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Asked & Answered
The Moderate Voice — Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs, from “Open For Questions” posted today at change.gov: Thaddeus: Is the new administration going to get rid of the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy? Gibbs: Thaddeus, you don?t hear a politician give a one-word answer much, but it?s yes. More from Steve Benen and Kevin Drum.

Outrageous!... ABC Host Stephanopoulos Asks Obama About Prosecuting "Gravest" Bush Crimes (Video)
Gateway Pundit — When was President Bush indicted? When were the top officials of his administration indicted?... And, for what? What were their crimes?... Keeping America safe for 8 years?... Liberating 50,000,000 people in Iraq and Afghanistan?... Spreading democracy?... Fighting Islamic radicals when Democrats voted to surrender? This exchange on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos was outrageous and Barack Obama's response was equally disgusting. George asks Obama about prosecuting the "gravest" Bush crimes. As shown of FOX ...

Will We Get Accountability? Obama's Reply to Blogger Bob Fertik's Special Prosecutor Question
BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash — A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Meg White As Bush gives his final press conference today, lamenting the "mistakes" of his presidency, some are wondering if he and other members of his administration will get a chance to tell such tales to a special prosecutor."History will look back,'' he told reporters, most likely hoping the next administration's Justice Department will solely look forward. Judging from the most recent comments from his successor, that may very well be the case. It all started when Bob Fertik , progressive writer and co-founder of Democrats.com , posed this question ...

Obama will end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy — but not right away.
Think Progress — On Friday, President-elect Obama’s incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs answered public-submitted questions on Change.gov. One of those questions was on whether Obama would repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gays serving openly in the military. Gibbs replied, “You don’t hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But it’s ‘Yes.’” Watch it: However, CNN reports that Gibbs today expanded his answer, clarifying that the repeal won’t ...

Daily Digest: Fighting for a See-Through Stimulus
techPresident — Recovery.gov: Washington is going crazy over snappy domain names. First there was Change.gov, and now this. "Acknowledging concerns about potential government waste," reads a draft of the multi-billion-dollar stimulus package currently being hashed out on Capitol Hill, "Congress is creating a Web site -- http://www.recovery.gov -- to allow the public to track stimulus spending and file complaints." What with Office and Management and Budget nominee Peter Orszag rhapsodizing about his vision of an "OMB ...

Drug War Roundup
HorsesAss.Org — There’s been a lot going on recently in drug war related news, more than I’ve been able to write full posts about. Here’s a roundup of recent items. - The case in Kitsap County against medical marijuana patient Bruce Olson is scheduled to start on Tuesday, January 20. Bruce’s wife Pam has already been convicted for the same drug charges that Bruce is now being tried for and the couple now reside in an RV after they were forced to sell their home to pay legal expenses. The Olsons also maintain that members of the WestNET Drug Task Force poisoned their dogs ...

Citizen Crain — ... of balloting. That put it not only out of the Top 10 but about a thousand votes short of the next 25 top ideas at the site. On the other hand, marriage equality did make the final list, and equal marriage rights -- or even repealing DOMA or federal civil unions -- would effectively equalize immigration rights as well. While that's good news, it's instructive to see what finished ahead even of marriage equality. In a fairly clever move, the folks at Change.org -- no connection with Change.gov , the official Obama transition site -- listed the top 10 finishers on ...

Barack Obama: President v2.0
BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash — ... and folksonomies." Three words in that definition pop out at me as being relevant to politics and the Internet: sharing, communication and collaboration. These ideas are essential to the survival of democracy in any technological age. The new administration has been looking to the Internet for help. Sharing and Communication The Obama Administration has a variety of tools to pass information directly to the people for free (after the cost of a computer): WhiteHouse.gov, Change.gov , MyBarackObama.com and USA.gov , to name a few. These are the most basic ...

Countdown Special Comment: They're guilty of this, Mr. President-Elect. They're guilty as sin.
Crooks and Liars — Countdown Special Comment: They're guilty of this, Mr. President-Elect. They're guilty as sin. icon Download | Play icon Download | Play (h/t Heather) On the eve of his inauguration, Keith Olbermann exhorts President-elect Barack Obama to do the one thing that will tell the world that we are a country of laws, and that will enable us to look forward without fear that we could once again face the trampling of the Constitution and the slide towards totalitarianism we've seen in the last eight years. Mr. President-Elect, you are entirely correct.As you say, "what we have to focus on is ...

Change.gov morphs into WhiteHouse.gov
The Swamp — by Frank James The White House website, whitehouse.gov successfully made the transition along with President Obama. It looks a lot like the change.gov site which was used by Obama's presidential transition but is now defunct. President Bill Clinton was the first president to have an official White House website and when President George W. Bush took office in 2001, the Clinton site, like Clinton's Oval Office rug, was changed out for a ...

The New WhiteHouse.gov
Patrick Ruffini — ... As a Republican but also as a citizen, I’m eager to see more transparency and real dialogue from the White House online. Change.gov was great at allowing users to comments and vote up ideas but conveniently, the only ones highlighted by incoming Administration officials were ones that supported its existing message. In doing so, the Obama team enlisted the participatory ethos of the Web in support of rigorous message discipline. This is certainly a best practice for political management of the open Web, but it’s up to us to demand a ...

What Obamunists Want of Their God
Moonbattery — Normally it's good for politicians to listen to their constituents. But this is far from the case for Chairman O, whose supporters bubble over with idiotic ideas, as evidenced by the notions they expressed at Change.gov, a site that allowed the gibbering hordes of Obamatrons to provide their input. Comments are closed now, and the results are in regarding the top requests from Obamaland: 7. Ban private health insurance. 6. Revoke the Bush tax cuts, plunging us farther into recession. 5. Permanently close facilities to incarcerate bloodthirsty terrorists who are ...

What Obamunists Want of Their God
Stop The ACLU — Normally it’s good for politicians to listen to their constituents. But this is far from the case for Chairman O, whose supporters bubble over with idiotic ideas, as evidenced by the notions they expressed at Change.gov ...

Daily Digest: First Peeks Inside the New White House (Website)
techPresident — Exploring the New WhiteHouse.gov: While it might not have been until a few minutes after noon that Barack Obama and John Roberts got that oath of office thing sorted out, the White House New Media team was ready to go on time. By late morning yesterday, Change.gov had passed into the sweet beyond and a new WhiteHouse.gov had been born. An early post on the presidential blog from New Media Director Macon Phillips sets the tone: "Millions of Americans have powered President Obama's ...

Campaign by the internet, govern by the internet
BuzzMachine — The Guardian’s Comment is Free asked me to write a post about the new White House blog. I’m about to get on a plane so I’m crossposting it here before that link goes up….. Two years ago, when I interviewed the then-head of David Cameron’s Webcameron, I asked whether—when and if he assumed office as Prime Minister—he would continue making his videos. “If it suddenly stopped,” the aide replied, “that would be seen as a very cynical move . . . You can’t stop communicating.” Campaign by the internet, govern by the internet. ...

I Pledge…
damnum absque injuria — ... Obama Irrational Exuberance Syndrome (OIES), or any other syndrome that blurs the line between any U.S. President, past present or future, and any Messiah figure, the Antichrist, or anything other than a (usually) elected politician. No matter who becomes President in 2013, 2017, 2021 or any other year in my lifetime, I absolutely pledge never to succumb to anything like this: Should I violate this pledge, you are hereby authorized and directed to have my committed to the nearest institution for individuals deemed a danger to others or themselves.‘Hat tip: ...

New Director of Citizen Participation Brings Google-ology to 1600 Penn
techPresident — Spend some time on the new WhiteHouse.gov and the realization hits you: this is no Change.gov. Launched barely over a week ago, the Obama Administration's online home is missing much of the interactivity that made Change.gov such a breakthrough in how an American elected official mixes it up with the people he or she represents. Change.gov projects like Open for Questions, Seat at the Table, and Join the Discussion fueled hopes that we were in for new kind of presidency: one eager to engage in a constant and vibrant two-way conversation with the country. (To be fair, ...

Obama Ujana - The Plan For Compulsive Service Under The Guise Of Government Run “Volunteer Service” - [Reader Post]
Flopping Aces — ... Back on November 7, 2008, when President Obama was still President Elect Obama, the official website of his presidential transition was www.change.gov. When the site was first posted, on the page labeled “America Serves,” Obama outlined his plan that would require that students perform a certain number of hours of community service. ...

Arianna Huffington: A Disturbing D.C. Whodunit
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Go to change.gov and demand... well, change. Change from the fetid status quo; change from the tired, old, and destructive hidden-behind-the-curtains way of conducting the people's business. ...

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Ask the President
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — Of his many promises during the 2008 Presidential campaign, one of the most appealing was Barack Obama's pledge to make his administration "the most open and transparent in history." The democratizing tools mastered at MyBarackObama.com and the inspiring grassroots enthusiasm for the Obama campaign opened the door to a presidency that -- in stark contrast to the eight years before it -- could be an honest conversation with the American people. This week we are launching a new project to continue that effort; more on that in a moment. Like many of the issues that Barack Obama now ...

It’s Time For An Ass-Whippin’: House Passes “Uniformed Mandatory Volunteer Corps”
Pat Dollard | Young Americans — WND: House adopts plan for ‘volunteer’ corps Also requires new evaluation of ‘mandatory’ service for all By Bob Unruh The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a plan to set up a new “volunteer corps” and consider whether “a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people” should be developed. The legislation also refers to “uniforms” that would be worn by the “volunteers” and the “need” for a “public ...

Your laugh of the day: the Citizens Briefing Book
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... is about the only coherent part of the publication.  This comes from the feedback received at Change.gov , the website set up by the Obama administration as a means of giving feedback directly to the President.  If anything, this book shows why a President needs a filtering organization to fend off the hoi polloi , as did his March virtual town hall, which used the same device and got the same data. The introduction explains: 125,000 users submitted over 44,000 ideas and cast over 1.4 million votes, with the most popular ideas accumulating tens of thousands of votes each. ...

White House 2.0: It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Becomes President
techPresident — It starts with the fact that what was a 170-person new media team at the height of the Obama campaign has been condensed down to fewer than a dozen or so government staffers. But the complicating differences between the campaign trail and the White House don't end there, writes Peter Swire, law professor at Ohio State University and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. During the Obama-Biden transition, Swire served in the role as the attorney responsible for shepherding both Change.gov and the new ...