In part two of our interview with White House Visitors Office Director Ellie Schafer, she tells us about learning the history of the White House, meeting guests like Captain Richard Phillips, who came for a tour and visit with the president after being freed from Somali pirates.
Ellie told us she has to “pinch herself” to remember she is really at the White House; it’s been quite a trip for a woman who started out with President Obama in 2007, working on his advance.
Even a bad day is “still a pretty good day at the White House,” Ellie said. And that’s easy to see — her office contains photos of her with First Lady Michelle Obama, with the President, and Nancy Reagan. President Reagan and Ellie’s grandfather were racheros together: that’s some history! Ellie brings a pretty impressive sports history to the Visitors office. She played Mushball (it’s a Chicago thing), and her softball team won the league championship – they went all the way to the Gay Softball World Series!
Jay Leno premiered his new show last night on NBC and asks President Obama about owning a lot of cars, the ladies of The View, the future of his show, among other “hard-hitting” questions.
The White House has long been known as “the People’s House” and President Barack Obama promised to make it an open, friendly and welcoming place. Over the last week, the hardest working staff at the White House hasn’t been the health care team … it’s been the Visitors Office. With only five staff members, they have ushered roughly 6,000 people a day through the White House gates with extended tour hours: 12-hour days instead of six. Every congressional office request was honored.
White House Correspondents Insider co-founder Tammy Haddad spoke with White House Visitors Office Director Ellie Schafer and her team for the inside scoop on what goes on behind the scenes at the only building in the world which is simultaneously the home of a head of state, the executive office of a head of state, and a museum open to the public.
Schafer is testing out guided White House tours — which were dropped after 9/11. For the past eight years, visitors have walked through on their own, with Secret Service officers looking on. The Obama WH visitors team is getting kudos from White House veterans for allowing visitors into the always popular china room for the first time.
President Barack Obama awarded 16 Presidential Medals of Freedom, America’s highest medal awarded to civilians. The recipients includedNancy Goodman Brinker, Pedro José Greer, Jr., Jack Kemp, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Stephen Hawking, Billie Jean King, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, Harvey Milk, Sandra Day O’Connor, Sidney Poitier, Chita Rivera, Dr. Janet Davison Rowley, Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu, and Muhammad Yunus.
The White House rolled out a new Web site that will share raw data from government agencies — Data.gov — which can be the foundation for new, user-generated apps. And WhiteHouse.gov is launching new tools to open government decision making to the public.
“The whole process is premised on the notion that people are smart and they have things to share. It’s an important step in creating opportunities for citizens to engage with the government and co-create policy,” said Obama’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer Beth Noveck.
Read the rest of the Washington Post article here.
The White House rolled out a new Web site that will share raw data from government agencies — 
