Stop Swag
November 9th, 2011 | Uncategorized White House | Posted by Blair Tomlinson
In opening my emails every morning I’m accustomed to a plethora of press releases. Today the release that caught my eye was the announcement of President Obama signing an executive order to cut federal agency travel, printing and IT costs.
However it wasn’t the “news” in the release that has me blogging. It’s the use of the word swag. Sports reporters have been using the word for months now. There is no doubt that you will hear swag used if you tune into ESPN’s SportsCenter. But I didn’t expect the White House to jump on the bandwagon.
screen shot from WH press release
Is it just me or does the word swag bother anyone else? And the fact that the White House used it in an official press release.
Tags: cuts, executive order, Obama, swag, White House
White House press secretary Carney is major rock nerd
July 20th, 2011 | White House | Posted by Stephen Losey
One of these men is the Senate Minority Leader. The other played drums on "Voodoo Child" and "All Along The Watchtower." See if you can guess which is which. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The never-ending debt ceiling debate appears to be making White House Press Secretary Jay Carney punchy. Here’s how he began this afternoon’s press conference:
CARNEY: Last night, the President called Senate Majority Leader Reid, Speaker Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mitchell, and House Minority Leader Pelosi to discuss progress we are making — Mitch McConnell, sorry — Mitch Mitchell, in addition to being a great drummer for Jimi Hendrix, is also a guitarist in Guided by Voices — (laughter) — a different Mitch Mitchell. (Laughter.)
Q: Whoa!
CARNEY: It just — let’s motor on here.
Q: I didn’t know the President was a fan of Guided by Voices.
CARNEY: I’m working on him.
This exchange comes two weeks after Carney ended a semantic debate over “cutting” vs. “slashing” entitlements by citing Guns ‘N Roses guitarist Slash. Which proves just how big of a rock geek Jay Carney is (although I should probably not throw stones in that particular glass house).
In honor of Carney’s hipsterish flub — and to help him expose the President to the joys of late-90s indie rock — here is Guided By Voices’ “Teenage FBI.” (Yes, I know this song was recorded after Mitch Mitchell left GBV. I’m posting it anyway because it’s got FBI in its name, which gives it a federal angle.)
Tags: fun, Mitch McConnell, music, seriously?, White House
Welcome to the semantic jungle
July 7th, 2011 | White House | Posted by Stephen Losey
Slash really is everywhere. (Ed Jones, AFP/Getty Images)
A reporter sparred with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today over possible reductions to Social Security — which might also lead to lower COLAs for federal retirees — and kicked off this surreal semantic debate:
CARNEY: The President is interested in strengthening Social Security for the long term in ways that preserve the promise of the program and don’t slash benefits. [...]
Q: So the inflation adjustment measure is off the table because it would slash benefits, right?
CARNEY: I’m not going to talk about individual items about the President’s policy that he enunciated back in January. [...]
Q: What does “slash” mean?
CARNEY: Haven’t you got, like, a dictionary app on your iPhone?
Q: Well, it’s a word that you use instead of “cut.”
CARNEY: “Slash” is, I think, quite clear. It’s slash. It’s like that. (Laughter.) It’s a significant whack. (Laughter.) … I’m not going to put a numerical figure on it.
Q: So it means a significant cut.
CARNEY: I think slashing is a pretty sharp, direct –
Q: It’s not the same thing as cutting — the point is, it’s not the same thing as “cut.”
MR. CARNEY: It’s slash. (Laughter.) And I don’t mean the guitarist. (Laughter.)
Oh, OK. Thanks for clearing that up, Jay.
Tags: Friday Fun, music, seriously?, Social Security, White House
White House bends over backwards to apologize to Sherrod
July 21st, 2010 | Agriculture | Posted by Stephen Losey
How many times can Robert Gibbs use the word 'apologize' in one press conference?
What a difference a day makes in the Shirley Sherrod fiasco. According to three sources who spoke to Politico’s Ben Smith, White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina praised the speed at which the administration acted, and reportedly said Tuesday morning:
We could have waited all day — we could have had a media circus — but we took decisive action, and it’s a good example of how to respond in this atmosphere.
And here is White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, just a few minutes ago:
Without a doubt, Ms. Sherrod is owed an apology. I will do so on behalf of the administration. … A disservice was done for which we apologize. … The secretary [Tom Vilsack] is trying to reach her. I hope that the secretary reaches her soon and they have the opportunity to talk. The secretary will apologize for the actions that have taken place over the past 24-36 hours, and on behalf of the administration, I offer our apologies.
I certainly hope Gibbs stretched properly before backpedaling so furiously. You can hurt yourself doing that.
Tags: racial discrimination, Robert Gibbs, Shirley Sherrod, White House
Kal Penn leaving White House for Harold & Kumar 3
April 5th, 2010 | White House | Posted by Stephen Losey
One of the Obama administration’s more … um … unusual appointments is rumored to be leaving the White House this summer. Kalpen Modi, AKA Kal Penn, AKA the perpetually high Kumar from the Harold and Kumar movies, will reportedly quit his job soon to start shooting the third in his series of stoner comedies: A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas.
The White House and Penn are not confirming these rumors, but his co-star John Cho said the movie is pretty much a done deal.
Kumar is currently the associate director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement. He’s kept a low profile since he appeared at Obama’s inauguration concert last year, but he’s been acting as the White House’s liaison to the Asian-American, youth, and arts communities.
It’s unclear who will take Kumar’s place when he’s gone. But if Obama knows what’s good for him, he’ll start recruiting Neil Patrick Harris right away.
Tags: fun, Kal Penn, Kumar, Neil Patrick Harris, White House
WH talks government modernization
March 30th, 2010 | Information Technology White House | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The White House held a modernizing government forum earlier this year, inviting more than 50 private-sector chief executive officers to share best business practices with government officials. The White House recently released a report of its findings from the forum — to view the full report, click here.
The results reported aren’t too surprising. The best practices shared by the CEOs were pretty clear — be more transparent, plan your IT projects better, and don’t let IT projects drag on for five years. Do things quickly and implement IT projects in stages to test whether they’ll work, the CEOs said.
Here are a few key points OMB says it will adopt:
- Manage IT projects in a transparent form using tools such as the IT Dashboard.
- Re-evaluate comprehensive IT review processes to make sure leaders know the status of major IT projects.
- Create customer satisfaction surveys to gauge customers’ experiences with the government
Tags: IT, White House
“Making government cool” is the Obama administration’s Poochie
March 15th, 2010 | White House | Posted by Stephen Losey
"Can we rasta-fy the government by 10 percent?"
If there’s one phrase I’m tired of hearing over and over from senior White House leaders, it’s their desire to ”make government service cool.”
An occasional quip would be one thing. But it’s become a mantra for the Obama administration, included in everything from official bios to speeches to interviews to strategic plans. And what’s worse, it’s a meaningless catch phrase.
If the government is having a hard time attracting and retaining talented young people, it’s probably because it takes five months to hire somebody and because hard workers don’t feel properly rewarded and think slackers aren’t dealt with — not because of a perceived lack of cool. After all, there’s a good deal of evidence suggesting many young people are already interested in public service.
All the coolness talk reminds me of the Simpsons episode “Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie.” In it, television executives try to boost the ratings of the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon by adding a new, “hip” character called Poochie, who they describe as “extreme!” and “totally in-your-face!” But the transparent and desperate attempt at coolness falls flat with the show’s audience, and Poochie is quickly killed off.
Young people can see right through such superficial talk, and it only turns them off of what you’re saying. Simply repeating “we’re going to make government cool” may be the least cool thing anyone can do.
Tags: cool, Poochie, Simpsons, White House
WH declassifies cybersecurity parameters
March 2nd, 2010 | Information Technology White House | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The White House has declassified much of a cybersecurity initiative developed during the George W. Bush administration.
The release of Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative’s 12 key goals is part of the Obama administration’s quest for transparency, said Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt in a March 2 White House blog post announcing the declassification. Bush created the initiative in 2008 and few details were available about it before the March 2 release.
Schmidt wrote:
We will not defeat our cyber adversaries because they are weakening, we will defeat them by becoming collectively stronger, through stronger technology, a stronger cadre of security professionals, and stronger partnerships.”
Portions of the initiative outlining cyberwarfare plans remain classified.
To read the 12 initiatives, click here.
Tags: cybersecurity, White House
More about new WH dashboard
February 10th, 2010 | White House | Posted by Rebecca Neal
My colleague Elise Castelli posted a blog earlier this week about the White House’s launch of a new open government dashboard, which you may have missed for all of the Snowpocalypse/Snowmaggedon/snOMG news.
Not much information is posted yet on the dashboard’s Web site, which is part of the administration’s move to make government operations more transparent. President Obama signed an executive order Dec. 8 giving agencies until April 7 to detail how they will open up data to the public, and more will be added to the dashboard once agencies have released their transparency plans.
But until then, the first version of the dashboard — Version 1.0 — is a preview of what’s to come for federal transparency, wrote Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra on the White House blog Tuesday.
Version 1.0 of the Dashboard focuses on agency execution of the deliverables explicitly identified in the Open Government Directive. It makes it easy for the American people to visually track progress on the deadlines to date. The Dashboard also links to each agency’s Open Government Webpage, where the public can find more details on the steps taken to implement the Directive. Just look for the words ‘Evaluating our Progress.’”
Tags: open government, White House
Get the White House on your iPhone
January 25th, 2010 | White House | Posted by Rebecca Neal
You don’t need C-SPAN to keep up with what’s going on at the White House, thanks to a new iPhone app launched by the White House last week.
The White House posted a quick tutorial about the app on its blog today, with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs demonstrating the app’s handy little features. The tongue-in-cheek video won’t embed, unfortunately, but you can check it out here:
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs shows off the new White House iPhone app.
The blog also praises all of the video you can watch by downloading the free app through iTunes, all while taking a few potshots at reporters, commuters and fans of any NBA team other than the Los Angeles Lakers.
Just today you can watch the President and the Vice President at a Middle Class Task Force meeting at 11:00 EST, even if you’re hunkered down hiding from the rain at a bus stop as a lot of people in DC are right now. At 1:00 you can watch the selfsame Robert Gibbs take on the White House press corps, even if you’re a White House reporter who decided to just stay in bed today. And at 2:20 you can watch the President welcome last season’s NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers, even if you’re at a hockey game because watching your team get beat by the Lakers over and over made you look for other sports to stir your passions.”
Tags: White House