White House ‘Footnotes’ to History

It’s a fact of Washington life that current occupants of the White House get to control its website. But after the Obama team on Monday touched up some past presidential bios with current-day “footnotes,” Republicans cried foul.

As noticed first by the Heritage Foundation (and then picked up by Commentary magazine and ABC News) the official Web biographies of Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt were supplemented with a coda under the heading “Did you know?”

In the Roosevelt bio’s treatment of Social Security, the editors added a statement that “today, the Obama administration continues to protect seniors and ensure Social Security will be there for future generations.”

On the Reagan bio’s treatment of the 1986 tax reform law, the editors added a statement that “in a June 28, 1985, speech Reagan called for a fairer tax code, one where a multi-millionaire did not have a lower tax rate than his secretary. Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule. “

The Republican National Committee quickly took to Tumblr  with a feature titled, “Obama in History: World Changing Events You Didn’t Even Know Obama Played a Part in.”