Press Secretary Gibbs on His Future & the Future of @PressSec

Posted by White House

In today's edition of First Question, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answered the flood of questions that came in over Twitter on what he's doing next, whether White House social media engagement will continue in his absence, and perhaps most important of all: what will become of his Twitter handle @PressSec:

The President released the statement below after Gibbs' announcement:

For the last six years, Robert has been a close friend, one of my closest advisers and an effective advocate from the podium for what this administration has been doing to move America forward. I think it’s natural for him to want to step back, reflect and retool. That brings up some challenges and opportunities for the White House – but it doesn’t change the important role that Robert will continue to play on our team.

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Weekly Wrap Up: “Tomorrow Will Be Better Than Today”

Posted by White House

A quick look at the week of November 22, 2010:

Quote: “We shape our own destiny with conviction, compassion, and clear and common purpose. We honor our past and press forward with the knowledge that tomorrow will be better than today. We are Americans. That’s the vision we won’t lose sight of. That’s the legacy that falls to our generation. That’s the challenge that together, we are going to meet,” said President Obama in his Weekly Address. Watch the video.

West Wing Week:“The Turkey Behind the Turkey.” Watch the video.

High Five: The First Family continues their annual tradition of service on the day before Thanksgiving at Martha’s Table, a community based non-profit organization in Northwest DC. Watch the video and find service opportunities in your community.

Don't Bet Against Us: President Obama and Vice President Biden visit Kokomo, Indiana. The lesson: "Don't bet against America. Don't bet against the American auto industry. Don't bet against American ingenuity. Don't bet against the American worker. Don't bet against us." Watch the video.

Get Updates: A few interesting things about the White House email list. Join here.

Building A Clean Energy Economy: From helping middle class families save on energy bills to modernizing our electric grid and powering electric cars – check out highlights from the last couple of weeks.

Return Of First Question: Press Secretary Robert Gibbs takes your questions from Twitter on prospects for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and ratification of the New START Treaty in the lame duck session of Congress. Watch the video answers.

Notable Number: 900,000. In September 2009, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would routinely release visitor records. The latest release brings the grand total of records that this White House has released to over 900,000 records. View them all.

It Gets Better: Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry shares his own video for youth who may be experiencing feelings of isolation because they are, or are perceived to be, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Watch the video.

DREAM: The DREAM Act is designed to stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents, by giving them the chance to either obtain legal status by pursuing a higher education, or by serving in the U.S. armed forces. Join a live web chat on the DREAM Act on Monday, November 29th at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

A New Rule: The “medical loss ratio” will require health insurance companies to spend 80 to 85 percent of your health care insurance premiums on making you healthier instead of overhead costs like advertising or executive compensation. In the latest White House Whiteboard video, Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the Office of Health Reform at the White House, explains why it’s so important.

The Return of First Question

Posted by White House

Today before his press briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs took a couple questions from Twitter as the next installment in the series we've dubbed "First Question." He took questions on prospects for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and ratification of the New START Treaty in the lame duck session of Congress. As a sign of our commitment to keeping the series going, we've also launched a dedicated page -- WhiteHouse.gov/FirstQuestion -- where you can see the tweets he's answering and archived videos of previous answers.

So go ahead and click over there to see today's answers, and make sure to follow @PressSec and @whitehouse to be alerted to chances to ask Gibbs questions in the future. And of course don't forget the #1Q hashtag.

8 Ways to Follow the White House

Posted by White House

Did you know that there are eight official White House Twitter accounts? Each White House account provides a different view into the Obama administration: Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza takes you behind the scenes in pictures, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answers your Twitter questions, and New Media Director Macon Phillips wants to hear how you think government can use technology to be more responsive and transparent.

Here’s a look at all of our Twitter accounts, along with a few favorite tweets:

@whitehouse - The White House (1,882,850 followers)

@lacasablanca - La Casa Blanca (5,878 followers)

@PressSec - Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (113,918 followers)

@billburton44 - Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton (15,995 followers)

@petesouza - Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza (7,343 followers)

@macon44 - New Media Director Macon Phillips (3,927 followers)

@whitehouseostp - The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (108,942 followers)

@OpenGov - The White House Open Government Initiative (117,163 followers)

Intern Picks: 10 Must-See White House Videos

Posted by White House

The other day, we were given a pretty fun assignment: comb through nearly 1,500 White House videos and come up with our favorite ten.

The variety of videos the White House has published since President Obama took office is overwhelming. Along with the President’s speeches and daily press events, there are powerfully candid moments from the light-hearted to the awe-inspiring, clips that make you laugh out loud and behind the scenes material that you can't find anywhere else (for example, a look inside a Cabinet meeting).

So after careful consideration, we are excited to share the first "Intern Picks" of 10 Must-See White House Videos:

10. The President's Order for Stephen Colbert

Go behind-the-scenes with President Obama as he records his cameo appearance on "The Colbert Report." In the segment, he orders Colbert's head shaved, which was promptly executed by General Odierno during a special broadcast from Camp Victory in Baghdad.

Why it’s great: The President is faced with a lot of important decisions on a daily basis, but it’s not every day that he gives an order like this. Also, Stephen Colbert makes an addition to the White House library.

9. Inside the White House: Letters to the President

Every day, President Obama reads ten letters from Americans around the country to stay in tune with their issues and concerns. "Letters to the President" is an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the process of how those ten letters make it to the President's desk from among the tens of thousands of letters, faxes, and e-mails that flood the White House each day.

Why it’s great: This video provides an intimate look at one of the ways President Obama connects directly with people from around the country daily and it’s moving to see.

8. The Hovercraft

President Obama convinces New York Times reporter Sheryl Stolberg to demo a small hovercraft at Industrial Support Inc., a manufacturing services company in Buffalo, N.Y.

Why it’s great: You don’t need to be President to know that hovercrafts are fun.

7. What Wall Street Reform Means to You

A quick and simple animated explanation of how Wall Street Reform works and what the strongest consumer protections in history will mean for you and your family.

Why it’s great: This animated video makes Wall Street Reform accessible for anyone, and we like that.

6. Jimmy Fallon at the White House

Jimmy Fallon can't believe he's at the White House on the Fourth of July. Watch part of his stand-up performance from that evening.

Why it’s great: Jimmy Fallon is good, but Fallon impersonating Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, and Robin Williams, among others, during a performance on the South Lawn for the USO, is GREAT!

5. The President visits Ghana

During his visit to Ghana, President Obama reminds the people of Africa of America's commitment to partnership and friendship.

Why it’s great: The music is uplifting, the dancing is beautiful, and the President’s speech is inspiring.

4. Dunk Tank

At the annual White House Congressional picnic, guests are invited to dunk Robert Gibbs, Rahm Emanuel and Peter Orszag. The President also joined in the fun.

Why it’s great: This raw video clip of the President dunking some staff is pretty hilarious. We wonder if this is how the President practices for throwing out the first pitch...

3. The 4th of July at the White House 2010

The White House and the USO celebrate the 4th of July with service members and their families at the Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn. Performers at this year’s celebration included Brandi Carlile, Cedric the Entertainer and the rock band The Killers.

Why it’s great: This video really captures the spirit of Independence Day. It features a montage of the Fourth of July celebration on the south lawn, set to upbeat music and the President’s words on the pride that we share for our country.

2. Inside the White House: Cabinet

President Obama and Cabinet members share their perspectives on their bimonthly meetings in this exclusive, behind-the-scenes video.

Why it’s great: Check your blackberries at the door; this is a glimpse into a tradition as old as our Constitution and our country.

1. Surprise Phone Call

President Obama makes a surprise call to Gail O'Brien, a woman in Keene, NH, that is benefiting from the Affordable Care Act. Gail was previously uninsured and diagnosed with high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Thanks to the new law, Gail now has insurance through the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan that will pay for her treatments, and she is responding very well.

Why it’s great: Gail’s story reminds us of what passing health reform was all about — this video captures a wonderful moment between Gail and the President.

Introducing First Question

Posted by White House

Most people who have watched a daily press briefing from the White House Press Secretary have probably thought at one time or another “I’d like to ask the White House a question!”

Well, here's your chance! Today we launched a new type of online engagement called "First Question" that uses Twitter to collect your questions for the WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to answer. Here's a video of today's answer:

While we'll constantly look for ways to improve it, here's how First Question will work for now:

1. In the morning, Robert will ask for that day's questions in a post to his @PressSec Twitter account. Although this won't happen everyday, it will be pretty frequently so be sure to subscribe to his account and the WhiteHouse's main Twitter account (@WhiteHouse) to find out when it does.
2. Once he's posted, anyone can fire away with questions using the hashtag #1q.
3. Over the next hour or two we'll collect all of the questions, record his answers and post the video.

Even though every question can't get answered (looks like over 300 tweets with #1q were posted today) we'll try to choose questions from a broad variety of perspectives. But even the questions we can't get to are tremendously valuable to understanding what's on people's minds.

And while everyone here is excited about this new type of online engagement, it's worth pointing out that there are even more opportunities to ask questions and learn about what's happening at the White House. In fact, in a few minutes (at 7pmEDT), the Official White House photographer, Pete Souza, is going to take your questions about some of the photos he's snapped and on Tuesday next week at 1pm EDT, Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, and Jeff Bader, Senior Director for Asian Affairs, will chat about the President’s upcoming foreign travel.

There are constantly new events being set up, and the best way to stay current is to subscribe to the White House's Daily Snapshot.

Whether it's using Google Moderator to vote on YouTube questions for President Obama, Facebook to chat with David Axelrod or Twitter to take a crack at Robert Gibbs, we're constantly looking for new ways to use technology to connect Americans with their White House. And if you have any ideas or feedback along these lines, we'd love to hear it -- in the spirit of this post, you can reach me at @macon44.

President Obama Signs the Fair Sentencing Act

Posted by White House

This morning the President signed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduces the disparity in the amounts of powder cocaine and crack cocaine required for the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences and eliminates the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine. It also increases monetary penalties for major drug traffickers.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about the legislation in his daily press briefing and responded:

MR. GIBBS: Well, let me see if there’s any guidance on it. I will say this, April, I think the signing of today’s bill into law represents the hard work of Democrats and Republicans coming -- this is a good example -- of coming together and making progress on something that people had identified as a glaring blight on the law.
Look, I think if you look at the people that were there at that signing, they’re not of the political persuasions that either always or even part of the time agree. I think that demonstrates the, as I said, the glaring nature of what these penalties had -- the glaring nature of what these penalties had done to people and how unfair they were. And I think the President was proud to sign that into law.

US has better ties with nations: White House

Posted by White House

Washington, July 12 : Because of policy of engagement of the Obama Administration and its outreach with the outside world, the US now has improved ties with virtually every country of the world, the White House said.

"We’ve better relationships with virtually every country in the world as a result of the President's foreign policy outreach," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

"We’re reducing nuclear weapons in this world that we know can cause the type of calamity, whether they accidentally launch or whether they fell into the hands of the terrorists," Robert Gibbs was quoted as saying by NBC.

There is no doubt that we have taken foreign policy in a different direction. We’ve improved relationships with countries but not just as a means to an end.

That's actually making our country safer and more secure as a result, he said in response to a question.