Could it be that We're Taking About the Issues, Already?

In a New York Times article today the title, "On the Stump, Gingrich Puts Focus on Faith," seems to imply that probable 2012 Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, could already be discussing the issues which he plans on making a major part of his campaign.  As we discussed earlier and I discussed in an earlier post, usually this early in the race there is little or no focus on issues but rather the focus tends to be on who is running not what is being run on.  Sadly the article really focuses on how Gingrich's personal views seem to to not fit so well with his parties views and the words that come out of his mouth.  I guess we'll have to wait a while for the real issues stories to come out.

Does the "President" Know His Stuff?

One would think that after 7 seasons and 8 years in the White House, actor Martin Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlet on NBC's The West Wing, would know how things work around the White House.  In an interview in Washington this President's Day Weekend, Sheen was quoted as saying "You always know if he's home if the flag is up. If the flag isn't up, he's not home."  The problem is, thats not quite true.  Sorry Jed, you should probably learn your facts before you speak to the press.  I guess TV doesn't teach us everything we need to know about the White House.

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1102/factchecking_president_bartlet.html

Somebody's Running Somebody's Not

As we discussed yesterday in class, when it comes to reporting on the 2012 elections, many races have begun.  What is being covered is not the issues which the candidates who are running care about, but rather what is being reported on the NY Times Politics Page is who is running and who is not running and how they made their announcement.

On another note, I find it interesting that Senator John Thune announced that he is not running on his Facebook page.  Not via a press release, not via a televised or radio address, but rather on his Facebook page.  Is there something wrong with this, or is Facebook taking on a larger and larger role in the political world.

"When drama fills the headlines, reason deserts the pundits"

In an article on foreignpolicy.com, under the picture the caption was "When drama fills the headlines, reason deserts the pundits." It seems kinda funny to me that a media outlet is admitting to the fact that when something very dramatic happens, there's no way of knowing whats actually happening, but rather we see some crazy things coming out of everyone's mouth, even supposed experts.

Governmental Social Networking

Social networks such as facebook and youtube, have become large parts of many Americans lives, and the government has figured they should jump on the bandwagon.  With the growth of these sites the government has seen these sites as a new way to reach out to Americans.  With the use of these sites as well as wh.gov, the White House can now get its message out to many more Americans than it was previously able to reach.  To be honest, before I discovered the WH's pages on youtube and facebook, the only way i knew about anything that happened in government was though watching or reading the news which obviously has its own slant.  Now I can find out what my government is doing straight from the source.  It is amazing the number of different ways the government now has of engaging the people online.  There are 9 different websites on the WH facebook page which serve to connect the people to their government.  I say the more the merrier, and I'm happy to say that with the help of these sites I am more informed on the happenings of my government.

http://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse
http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse
http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Obama's Fireside Chats

As we discussed today, in the mid 1800s the White House had its own paper through which it expressed its views.  As times change, the mode through the President expresses his views to the people changes.  FDR had his fireside chats, and apparently President Obama has a weekly address which is available on whitehouse.gov.  What I find interesting in comparing the mode Jackson used in the 1830s, what FDR did in the 1930s and 40s, and what Obama does today, is that until I looked on the White House website to look for something interesting to blog about, I didn't know that these Obama weekly addresses were happening.  As far as I knew, the only time Obama addressed the public is when its on the major news networks.  Whats interesting about this, is that since it isn't picked up by the major news outlets, there is very little commented on what the President says in these weeks addresses, which makes them completely unimportant, especially compared to the official newspapers in Jackson's times and the fireside chats in FDR's times.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address
In case you wanna see this address by the President.