What's Obama up to?

January 21, 2009 8:45 PM

What are some good blogs or other news sources concerned solely or mostly with "what the president is doing" (politically; not what he had for breakfast)? Basically, I'm curious about keeping up with Obama's acts as president -- orders signed, deals forged, initiatives taken, stuff like that.

For example, the official Executive Orders page might be a good start, but I'd prefer a third party to summarize or explain their ramifications to me (not too politically/legally savvy), and I assume the president does things other than sign executive orders.

So: good recommendations along these lines? I'd prefer anything that is solely/mostly about the President or the executive branch, but if those don't exist, I'll gladly take anything that at least includes such coverage and doesn't have a million posts a day.

posted by cyrusdogstar to Law & Government (17 answers total)

I was just fixing to ask this. I'm interested in seeing what he does in his first 100 days, and I can't listen to NPR during class, and Newsweek only goes so far.

A detailed day-by-day breakdown would be awesome!
posted by Precision at 8:58 PM on January 21, 2009

I third this request. I was only peripherally interested in Obamatime up until a week or so ago, and now, I can't get enough of the guy.

For the moment, I've been making do with The Guardian and the Washington Post.
posted by turgid dahlia at 9:12 PM on January 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The WP has a blog on the subject.
posted by smackfu at 9:32 PM on January 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: this was just posted to the blue.
posted by nadawi at 11:09 PM on January 21, 2009

Best answer: Politico 44 is subtitled 'A living diary of the Obama Presidency.' So far, I think it's pretty interesting and refreshingly non-partisan.
posted by Space Kitty at 11:24 PM on January 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

The Huffington Post now has a First 100 Days big news page.
posted by inconsequentialist at 1:41 AM on January 22, 2009

The White House Blog?
posted by Carol Anne at 4:57 AM on January 22, 2009

Well, in the first day he froze all pay to White House aides making more than $100k, and instituted new rules to try and sap the power & influence of lobbyists (more details in the link).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:16 AM on January 22, 2009

I've been wondering the very same thing - the Politico44 blog is exactly the sort of site I was looking for, thanks Space Kitty!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:18 AM on January 22, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks, guys! Already got some great links added to my feed reader.

Carol Anne, the official WH.gov blog is in my reader, but I expect it'll be more a blog about really, really "big" official things, and/or about the site itself. Interesting stuff, but not quite what I'm looking for here. Thanks though =)
posted by cyrusdogstar at 6:51 AM on January 22, 2009

The daily White House pool reports will apparently be made publicly available for the first time, although these reports primarily discuss the president's schedule and interesting incidents that happen during the day. And there don't appear to be any pool reports up yet.
posted by Tin Man at 8:09 AM on January 22, 2009

Talking Points Memo: the main page feed, or the more detailed / traffic-heavy TPMDC. They include legislative stuff too, but I suspect any blog that goes into the kind of detail you want is going to include Congress. When Obama signs a bill, the story of how the bill took its final shape is of no small significance.
posted by so_necessary at 9:38 AM on January 22, 2009

Another interesting resource is the collection of Public Papers of the Presidents -- every speech, proclamation, executive order, press secretary briefing, etc. You can view them by month; here are the papers for January 2009.
posted by Tin Man at 12:19 PM on January 22, 2009

The Slate Change-o-Meter.
posted by BugsPotter at 1:34 PM on January 22, 2009

Looks like the pool report thing isn't happening after all.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:25 PM on January 22, 2009

Looks like the pool report thing isn't happening after all.

Not to create a derail, but that seemed kind of extraneous to me. Isn't that the stuff that's, y'know, public? As in, presented to and reported on by the press? Why would including it on the website provide any greater transparency other than, well, having it on the website?
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:37 PM on January 22, 2009

I think the appeal of the pool reports is that they are written by reporters for reporters, so they can have fun and be a bit more informal, as long as the facts are there. Especially if it's a boring event where no one really cares about the little details. OTOH, I assume that publishing them would have made them "just the facts", and no better than the AP story.
posted by smackfu at 7:46 PM on January 22, 2009