President Obama has had his face and words on almost every magazine cover and newspaper in the world but can he sway health care votes IN 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS?

Wednesday, he will be the first President to have his presidential news conference tweeted to the world. Will he change his style of speaking? Will reporters tweet questions in earlier in the day? Don’t miss Robert Gibbs briefing LIVE on WHCInsider.com and get an advance TWEET!

The Press Conference will now be at 8 PM EST.

Read the whole story on FishBowlDC

gtruong Uncategorized Obama, Press Conference, Twitter

Instead of a comedian or impressionist, guests at the Convention Center on Friday night will hear music from Sweet Honey in the Rock, the all-female African-American a Capella group that the RTCA dinner organizers tout as “a favorite of the First Lady.” Humor will come from JibJab.com, which says on its blog that it is “beyond thrilled” that its first satire of the Obama Administration will premiere in front of the man himself. (The satirists entertained President George W. Bush with “What We Call the News” at the 2007 dinner, as well.) Onion News Network will have a “special report.”

“For our dinner, entertainment is a plural term, not a singular term,” says Heather Dahl, a producer at Feature Story News and the dinner’s chair.

Despite the smaller table buys from some news organizations in this money-crunched year, what will stay the same, she says, is the attendance: Her preliminary estimates are that the crowd will number in the ballpark of recent dinners, around 2,000 attendees.

International news organizations took more tables, Dahl says, and some journalists whose employers refused to pony up for full tables have paid their own way. “I believe this shows that people really want to go out and have a nice evening, so that’s what we’re going to deliver,” she says.

EJensen History of Dinner Bush, Dinner, Jib Jab, Obama, RTCA, Sweet Honey and the Rock

After the tour de force from President Obama, it didn’t seem like the night could be any more magical. But as guests walked up the circular drive for the Bloomberg | Vanity Fair after party at the French Ambassador’s residence, the magic continued. It was the ultimate insiders affair: no red carpet or paparazzi gauntlet, just Owen Wilson lounging near the front door talking quietly to a few Washington admirers.

With Donald Rumsfeld, who lives down the street, stopping by for a drink, it was a night, a location, and a crowd where anything could happen. Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter, joining party forces this year, welcomed the exclusive guests.

The brave captain of the Maresk Alabama, who offered his life in exchange for his mates, was Bloomberg’s special guest for the weekend. That followed getting the keys to New York City from Mayor Bloomberg the day before. Captain Richard Phillips shrugged off the compliments of celebrities (Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore) and politicos who lined up to shake his hand, but he did pose proudly with another real-life Captain America, Chesley Sullenberger, who safely piloted a US Airways jet onto the Hudson River.

Earlier in the day, Phillips and his wife, Andrea, met with President Obama in the Oval Office, after a private tour of the White House. The unflappable captain told Bloomberg it was an “honor to meet the President. He’s a very amazing man and he’s a very down-to-earth man.” His wife agreed, “It was very overwhelming, surreal to actually, be inside the Oval Office … I was so deeply excited to have met the President like that.”

After being introduced to the Commander-in-chief, Phillips admitted it was hard to get excited about meeting anyone else after being introduced to the Commander-in-Chief.
Read more…

thaddad Washington Events After Party, ashton kutcher, Bloomberg, Captain Richard Phillips, Celebrities, Demi Moore, Obama, Vanity Fair

The Examiner’s Jeff Dufour got the scoop of the night: Who wrote the President’s comedy routine? Jon Favreau, the president’s chief speechwriter. Favreau told The Examiner it took him two weeks, working with speechwriter Jon Lovett, Obama political adviser David Axelrod, and a team of joke writers, to craft the punch lines. He also said they spent several hours on Friday, working out Obama’s opening sight gag with the teleprompter screens.

thaddad White House Staff David Axelrod, Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Obama, The Examiner

Some of Obama’s jokes from tonight’s WHCD:

• “Most of you covered me, all of you voted for me. Apologies to the Fox table.”
• “Sasha and Malia aren’t here tonight because they’re grounded. You can’t just take Air Force One on a joyride to Manhattan.”
• “Mother’s Day is a tough holiday for [Rahm Emanuel]. He’s not used to having to say the word ‘day’ after ‘mother’.”
• “Dick Cheney was supposed to be here, but he was working on his memoirs: How To Shoot Friends and Interrogate People.”
• “During the next 100 days, we will design, build, and open a library to commemorate my first hundred days… In the next 100 days, we will complete 100 days work in 72 days.”

lrozett Washington Events Obama, WhiteHouse Correspondents Dinner

Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, told WHCInsider that he thought Obama’s speech was great. Steele said he thought the ribbing was “fine and fair.”

And Wanda’s?
 
“Wanda is Wanda, she comes real and you got to be prepared. But there will be news made later this week, I guarantee you,” said Steele.

Watch Wanda’s routine below.

BTriplett Uncategorized, WHCD 2009 Guests, Wanda Sykes, Washington Events Michael Steele, Obama, Wanda Sykes

In Part 2 of our interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper and The Examiner’s Julie Mason, the White House correspondents tell WHCInsider that the Obama administration’s Briefing Room is not much different than when President Bush was in office.

It’s a “different vibe,” said Mason, “but in terms of the access we get and the information, it’s very much the same.” Tapper said the Obama White House is an improvement over the Obama campaign – staffers can’t “dodge” reporters so easily: “[They're] much more accessible here, because they’re right here as opposed to on the phone.”

Does that mean Ana Marie Cox got it wrong, when she said White House correspondents are not necessary?

“Has Ana Marie Cox ever covered the White House,” asked Mason. “I’m not sure what her credentials are … she was there for the dog story.”

“Having a vigilant press corps in that room is definitely necessary,” Tapper added diplomatically. “I didn’t find her piece particularly persuasive.”

thaddad Correspondents, White House Staff Ana Marie Cox, Bush, Jake Tapper, Julie Mason, Obama, White House correspondents

A Preview of the 2012 Presidential Race?

Fox News analyst and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trashed the White House press corps during a Friday appearance on Greta Van Sustern’s show, “On The Record.” Gingrich claimed the White House correspondents have “taken such a pathetic dive with this President that they ought to be part of his PR firm. I mean it’s embarrassing to watch.”

Republicans have often railed against a perceived left-wing bias among mainstream media reporters and it appears they’ll continue that refrain during the Obama administration, but will it be a major campaign theme for Republicans?

In the interview, conducted at Mount Vernon, Gingrich quipped: “If you didn’t know better, you’d think that he was practicing with his own public affairs people for the future press conferences. These look like practice sessions; they don’t look like real press conferences.”

thaddad Correspondents Fox News, Greta Van Sustern, Newt Gingrich, Obama, White House Correspondens

NBC’s White House Correspondent Chuck Todd told WHC Insider that the preparation and response to Monday’s Air Force One fly-by over Lower Manhattan was a classic example of a “bubble” mentality in the Obama administration.

lrozett Correspondents Air Force One, Chuck Todd, Obama

Wanda Sykes

The LA Times fills us in on what Wanda Sykes said she did first, when she agreed to emcee the White House Correspondents Dinner:

“I made sure my taxes were paid,” quipped Sykes, referring to the withdrawal of former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle from Obama’s Cabinet for unpaid taxes.

From The Los Angeles Times blog “The Dish Rag,” by Elizabeth Snead.

lrozett Wanda Sykes Los Angeles Times, Obama, Tom Daschle, Wanda Sykes, White Houe Correspondents Dinner

Sykes Promotes Her Last AlbumCheck out the WSJ profile of Wanda Sykes in the Weekend section today, which says she’s “trying out Obama jokes” for the White House Correspondents Dinner. During a show before a mostly white, middle-aged audience at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey, the WSJ reports Sykes suggested Obama should have chosen Gov. David Patterson for vice president. “Who’s going to hurt the half-black guy if you’re going to be left with the whole black, blind guy?”

lrozett Wanda Sykes David Patterson, Obama, Wanda Sykes, White House Correspondents Dinner