As the 'War on Terror' Turns
Taylor Marsh — ... by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]." - President Barack Obama ...

New Whitehouse.gov is Live
techPresident — ... Goals and features of the new site are outlined here by Macon Phillips, Director of New Media for the White House. Core themes: communication, transparency and participation. So far, the site contains largely static content similar to the former Whitehouse.gov site and what we've seen on the other sites built by the Obama team, but we look forward to the coming days and weeks where they launch new participatory initiatives. ...

Nice
Bitch. Ph.D. — Check it. Brought to my attention by L. at Faux Real.

WhiteHouse.gov Gets A Makeover
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — And a new blog.

The First Presidential Blog
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — ... The first presidential blog is part of the Obama administration's new media efforts which will center around communication, transparency and participation. ...

The New President
Seeing the Forest — ... . The first post at the blogs promises Communication, Transparency and Patricipation. For example, "One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it." It is OUR government, and a new era has begun. Click through to ...

First Whitehouse.Gov Blog Post
The Atlantic Politics Channel — It's here: Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. I'm Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House and one of the people who will be contributing to the blog. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world. Millions of Americans have powered President Obama's ...

Change at the White House Web Site
The Caucus — ... ”; and a post from one Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House, introducing himself and declaring that “ Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov .” In the years to come, the new ...

Meet the new blog
Ben Smith's Blog — Macon Phillips, late of Blue State Digital and the Transition, posted the first item on the new White House blog at 12:01 p.m. today: Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. I'm Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House and one of the people who will be contributing to the blog. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to ...

First Blog Entry At The NEW Whitehouse.gov
Crooks and Liars — The entire Whitehouse.gov website has been renovated to reflect our new President, Barack Obama. It is a thing of beauty and nearly brought tears to my eyes - again. Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pm Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. I'm Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House and one of the people who will be contributing to the blog. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration ...

The Revolution Has Ended
The Moderate Voice — ... While there are many dinners, balls and festivities to come, President Obama has been sworn into office and the White House Web page was quickly flipped over to the new administration’s needs. So many others have commented on the specifics of the new president’s speech and the surrounding activities that I will not dwell on it to excess. While Barack Obama wasn’t my first choice for president, (I was a Barr supporter) I will simply say that I thought the speech was beautifully written and masterfully delivered, hitting the right notes - particularly on foreign ...

Presidency 2.0
The Moderate Voice — ... has more LGBT bulletpoints than racial or gender, but to me the most interesting thing was the White House Blog. The first post is timestamped 12:01 PM and promises an interactive website complete with RSS feeds, searchable databases of executive orders/proclamations, and full text of all bills that are ready to be signed, in order to allow for public comment. ...

President Obama brings White House into 21st Century
Preemptive Karma — ... January 20, 2009 President Obama brings White House into 21st Century Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House, kicks off President Obama's shiny new blog . Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. I'm Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House and one of the people who will be contributing to the blog. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President ...

Change is Here: New White House Website Uploaded
The Washington Note — That was fast. There is a brand new White House website that looks a lot like the sweeping bluish blend of the Obama campaign website that has been uploaded. Check it out -- along with the first post of the "White House Blog." Off to the Google/YouTube-Leadership Conference on Civil Rights ball...and then to David Frum's and Dal LaMagna's. Exhausted -- but still a great day. -- Steve Clemons

Early Morning Swim: Special First Post-BushCo Edition
Firedoglake — ... MoJo and The Nation weigh in.  Jane's thoughts here. The Arab world's reax. Sullivan has wingnut reax to the speech. HuffPo has ball roundups. Guess he's not a strict constructionist after all. He's lucky he only got booed. Obama's first day on the job. Obama Administration to halt Gitmo trials.  The White House gets a blog.

Daily Digest: First Peeks Inside the New White House (Website)
techPresident — ... 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 journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country's future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration's efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement." Slate's Farhad Manjoo ...

Campaign by the internet, govern by the internet
BuzzMachine — ... We see the barest beginnings of his digital administration at the White House Blog. (Ah, how that link warms the heart of a blogger. Too bad that the president and vice-president of Iran beat the president of the birthplace of blogging to the platform. Oh, well, progress is progress.) ...

More on that cool new "change" website
Daily Kos — ... an international nuclear fuel bank, international nuclear fuel cycle centers, and reliable fuel supply assurances -- to meet growing demands for nuclear power without contributing to proliferation. The list goes on, and definitely merits further discussion and analysis. Click around the site. What do you like the most? What do you dislike? What speaks to you directly, and what would you add? In other words, what the site blog says: We'd also like to hear from you -- what sort of things would you find ...

Finally Revealed: Members of “No on 8″ Exec. Committee
GayPatriot — ... Given the eagerness with which gay activists supported Barack Obama’s presidential bid, let us hope they take heed of one of his first initiatives as president.  He has promised greater transparency in government, committing to making “his administration the most open and transparent in history.“ ...

Cornyn’s Concerns About Hillary Clinton
GayPatriot — ... I’m concerned that his foundation plans to disclose the donors annually rather than upon receipt, which would better serve President Obama’s commitment to transparency.  We would be alerted right away to any foreign governments or interests who might be trying to influence US foreign policy (through our Secretary of State).  Actually, I believe it would be in this nation’s interest if the husband of the Secretary of State refused to seek or except any contributions from foreign sources as long as his wife is in office. ...

"Wide-Eyed Staffers"
techPresident — ... . The first, a welcome note from New Media Director Macon Phillips, was friendly, informative, and reasonably bloggish. But the remainder have either been recycled press releases or may as well have been. Last week I suggested in the Daily Digest that Phillips and his team nip criticisms of the site in the bud by posting a "Hey, we're still trying to find the bathrooms, people. So settle down people and try to maintain some reasonable expectations" note to the blog. It looks like that's what they've done. ...

Obama’s Broken Promise
Flopping Aces — ... Obama’s campaign website he posted the following promise: Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days On January 20th Obama’s White House site posted the following: Citizen participation will be a priority for the ...

The Goverati
The Moderate Voice — ... on this very topic. The memo, which affects all Executive Branch employees, has three main pillars: government should be more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. Social software will be part of an overall strategy to make this happen, spearheaded by the CTO, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the General Services Administration (GSA). The naming of a “New Media” czar, Macon Phillips, will no doubt push the process along and keep branches well informed. ...

Tracking the Stimulus
techPresident — ... On that front, though, the White House has had a mixed record on living up to its promise of a five-day period of review for "non-emergency" legislation. As I mentioned yesterday, ...

BARF: Pushing President Obama On Transparency
Open Left - Front Page — President Obama has repeatedly promised to have the most transparent and open administration in history. For example, from the first White House blog post, dated 12:01 p.m., January 20, 2009: ...

If Citizens Critique a Done Bill, Can a President Hear It?
techPresident — ... For those of you counting along at home, let's do some open-government math. The White House has, as we've repeated here again and again, committed itself to posting non-emergency legislation online for public comment for a period of five days. As the most significant piece of legislation thus far to come out of the Obama Administration, the stimulus package offers up some hard numbers. As near as I can tell, the conference committee's negotiated version of the stimulus package ...

Ari Herzog: Impolite or Not, Congress Twittered While Obama Spoke
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Moments after Obama was sworn into office on Inauguration Day, the first White House blog post highlighted the importance of communication, transparency, and participation, indicating that "change has come to the White House." ...

"The Most Open and Transparent Administration In History"
Open Left - Front Page — The White House website brags that "President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history." That's a fantastic commitment - but only if it is backed up by actions, and not ...

"The Most Open and Transparent Administration In History"
Open Left - Front Page — The White House website brags that "President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history." That's a fantastic commitment - but only if it is backed up by actions, and not ...

Three Months and Eleven Bills In, Obama Falls Short of His Five-Day Transparency Pledge
techPresident — ... keeping a chart of which bills fulfill the letter of Obama's pledge on legislative transparency. During the campaign, Obama repeatedly pledged that, as president, he would "not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days." Obama called the commitment, "Sunlight Before Signing." Upon taking office, the five-day transparency pledge was reiterated in the very first blog post on WhiteHouse.gov. Some of the legislation signed into law by ...

Ari Herzog: Twitter Tells White House: No More Transparency
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Moments after Barack Obama was inaugurated the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009, the White House blog was born with a call to action written by new media director Macon Phillips that the administration's "online programs will put citizens first" through the tenets of communication, transparency, and participation. ...

Obama's Support for the New Graham-Lieberman Secrecy Law
Commondreams.org Views — ... ; it doesn't even hide the fact that its only objective is to empower the President to conceal evidence of war crimes. That this exact scenario is now happening in the U.S. is all the more remarkable given that the President who is demanding these new suppression powers is the same one who repeatedly vowed "to make his administration the most open and transparent in history."  After noting the ...

Transparency: Obama Giveth Promises, Obama Taketh Away
Right Soup — ... Transparency, one of Obama’s cornerstone of his “Change” platform during the election. A direct excerpt from Obama’s whitehouse.gov post on his promises: ...

The Obama-Pharma Deal
Patterico's Pontifications — [Guest post by DRJ] From the Huffington Post: “A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week.” So this is what the most open and transparent Administration in history looks like. – DRJ

PhARMA In Bed With Obama Because They Want To STOP A Single-Payer System
Flopping Aces — ... no idea….no friggin idea….that they are signing their industry away. Once you get in bed with big government you can expect the takeover to happen immediately. Rich Lowry: …even if the deal holds, PhRMA will be at the mercy of a government system that will tend to squeeze out even those private players who have obligingly assisted in creating the predicate for their own destruction. But hey…..this is the new White House…. and it’s called Socialism. ...