Communication is an Issue in President Obama's First 100 Days

I've been waiting years for an open and honest presidential administration, and that's one thing President Barack Obama has promised to give us. In his first 100 days as president, has he given us real transparency? We have at least seen improved communication.

Obama's communication changes began on day one. On Inauguration Day, whitehouse.gov was completely replaced. The Bush White House site was abandoned, and a new site, similar to Obama's change.gov transition site, was installed. This site includes information, press releases, a blog, and a listing of executive orders, memoranda, and proclamations. However, it is lacking in opportunities for people to comment or otherwise take part in conversation (which change.gov did have).

We've also not seen any progress on a "Sunlight Before Signing" policy. Obama had earlier committed to posting any non-emergency legislation on whitehouse.gov for public review and comment for five days prior to his signing it. The only mention of this on the website is a February 6 blog post stating that the administration was still working on how to implement this.

The weekly presidential radio address has now become a weekly web address, via YouTube video (available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/weekly_address/). The President has been making other efforts to communicate with the people, including special press conferences, a speech before Congress about the economic situation, and an appearance on the Tonight Show.

In order to make the economic stimulus a transparent process, the Obama administration has set up recovery.gov. Here, the government posts information about how our stimulus money is being used.

"Open For Questions" is a new feature on whitehouse.gov. Participants can submit questions and also rate other questions up or down. The President then answers the top questions during an online town hall meeting, which is streamed on whitehouse.gov. The first session was completed on March 26, and was about the economy. This seems like a positive step in engaging the people in conversation.

Finally, relations with the press are different now, although somewhat awkward. Members of the press seem unsure how to handle new procedures, and what questions they should ask. Leslie Savan of The Nation suggests that they got used to the softball questions of the Bush era, and haven't figured out what to do with Obama yet. We've also seen the President falter publicly a few times, with his sense of humor occasionally offending some people.

Clearly, communication is important to this administration, and a great deal of effort is going into it. Is it really transparent communication? That's hard to say, since we can't know what we don't know (unless someone comes forward with additional information). That may be something we can judge better in the future.

SOURCES
whitehouse.gov, "Update on Sunlight Before Signing", http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog_post/update_on_sunlight_before_signing/
Leslie Savan, "Zombie Media Still Fighting the Last Gotcha War", http://www.thenation.com/blogs/state_of_change/421254/zombie_media_still_fighting_the_last_gotcha_war