Taking Bots Into Battle
Contracting Provision Irks White House
The Untapped Potential of Data Analytics
Bracing for the Worst in Budget Requests
The Washington Bubble
Gimme My Discount! Deals for Feds
Fedblog
Out of Touch with the White House
Great piece in the New York Times yesterday on the uncanny ability of the operators of the White House switchboard to get anyone on the phone, anytime, if the president wants to speak to them. Anyone, that is, except Shirley Sherrod, who remained out of touch for hours last week as the White House was trying to reach her as part of a desperate effort to quell the firestorm caused by her ouster.
Why couldn't she be reached? Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had a theory:
Much of the time, Ms. Sherrod was busy chatting her way through network and cable television, leaving the White House and Mr. Vilsack scrambling to get her. When, at a news briefing, a reporter remarked, "She's been all over TV -- why wasn't she reachable," the press secretary wryly replied, "It may have been because she was all over TV."
Tom Shoop is vice president and editor in chief at Government Executive Media Group, where he oversees both print and online editorial operations. He started as associate editor of Government Executive magazine in 1989; launched the company’s flagship website, GovExec.com, in 1996; and was named editor in chief in 2007.
