Comments on: What's Obama up to?

Question: What's Obama up to?

cyrusdogstar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:45:03 -0800

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.

By: Precision

Precision — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:58:04 -0800

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!

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:12:12 -0800

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.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:32:15 -0800

The WP has a blog on the subject.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:09:40 -0800

this was just posted to the blue.

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:24:20 -0800

Politico 44 is subtitled 'A living diary of the Obama Presidency.' So far, I think it's pretty interesting and refreshingly non-partisan.

By: inconsequentialist

inconsequentialist — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:41:24 -0800

The Huffington Post now has a First 100 Days big news page.

By: Carol Anne

Carol Anne — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:57:45 -0800

The White House Blog?

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:16:16 -0800

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).

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:18:53 -0800

I've been wondering the very same thing - the Politico44 blog is exactly the sort of site I was looking for, thanks Space Kitty!

By: cyrusdogstar

cyrusdogstar — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:51:34 -0800

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 =)

By: Tin Man

Tin Man — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:09:28 -0800

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.

By: so_necessary

so_necessary — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:38:17 -0800

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.

By: Tin Man

Tin Man — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:19:07 -0800

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.

By: BugsPotter

BugsPotter — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:34:27 -0800

The Slate Change-o-Meter.

By: Chrysostom

Chrysostom — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:25:46 -0800

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

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:37:19 -0800

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?

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:46:41 -0800

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.