Calling White House Experts
While contemplating White House "czars" (see post below), I took a gander for the first time at the "White House Blog." This is a section of the official White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) in which various administration officials can post news and commentary.
What struck me is how fiercely partisan the blog is. So let me ask our resident White House experts here on Ricochet (Bill, Peter, John . . ): Does the tone of this blog represent something new in White House communications? I realize that the President must engage in party politics. But I always thought that "the White House" as an institution was meant to appear non-partisan. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I was surprised by official blog posts with titles like:
- American Has Spoken, Will the GOP Listen?
- Republicans in Congress Push to End Consumer Protections, Let Wall Street Run Loose
- No Excuse for Holding Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage
- Republican Tax Plan Doubles Nation's Deficit in Just Ten Years
Did the Bush White House have a blog like this?
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Calling White House Experts
I doubt Pres. Bush had one. One of the things that frustrated me the most was Bush's reticence to use the bully pulpit.
May '10
Re: Calling White House Experts
Actually Felicia's use of the term "billy pulpit" brings to mind the key distinction in this administration. TR coined to term to mean that the Presidency was a good platform from which to instruct and lead the American people; a "pulpit" in the same role that the pulpit is used in a church. Presidents can command attention and be listened to, and a President needs to bring the people into agreement with his vision. TR used the word "bully" as he always did, to mean "very fine" or "d*mn good."
The Obama administration has taken the word "bully" in its other context and forgotten about the "pulpit". They use the office to beat and abuse rather than advise and lead, looking not for consensus, but subservience.
May '10
Re: Calling White House Experts
Hmm, sounds like some fishy misinformation we need to report.
Maybe his days snoozing in the pews at Trinity United church gave Obama a distorted image of the proper use of a pulpit..
May '10
Re: Calling White House Experts
I hope the predictions of a GOP blowout in November come true, because President Obama's use of so many government resources as cogs in his campaign machine would be infuriating if it weren't so ineffectual.