Posts Tagged ‘The White House’
A Beatle Night Music
Posted on: July 30, 2010
The only down side to summer is there is nothing good on TV or cable. After my 20 mile “bike training”, I found myself aimlessly channel surfing. As I was about to throw in the towel – or in this case, the remote, I stumbled on the telecast of the Gershwin Awards paying tribute to Sir Paul McCartney on PBS. The event was held in the East Room of the White House and it is given by the President. To commemorate this special evening, an intimate concert was held paying tribute to Sir Paul. A bunch of artists walked up on stage and sang our favorite songs written by our favorite Beatle. I really felt like I was treated to a free concert. Plus the songs made me so nostalgic of the days when we were little and our parents would play The Beatles on the cassette player. Here are some of my favorites.
The Inside Story
Posted on: June 5, 2009
NBC’s Brian Williams did a two night special report on a day in the life of President Barack Obama called Inside the Obama White House.
photo credit: http://www.msnbc.com
Doesn’t he look so dapper and handsome? But I digress. Anyhoo, this special report gives us a glimpse of President Obama on a regular day at work. Every morning he is briefed by his team of advisers. Among them, he has his Economic and Financial Policy Team as one of the first in line to brief him. For obvious reasons, this team is probably the most “watched”and the most scrutinized by the media, by the voters and probably by Pareng Barry himself. Their marching order is to get this country out of the mud and back to being the land of milk and honey. Here are some them pictured below.
Photo credit: http://www.nydailynews.com; L-R: Tim Geithner, Christina Romer, Larry Summers
The report also features some of the President’s staff. I was so amazed by his deliberate and critical choices of members of his staff. He made a conscious effort to surround himself with rabidly driven, fervently committed and fiercely loyal people. He also made sure that his White House was inhabited by the young. After all, it was this tech-savvy, change-starved youth that put him in that house in the first place. So he has a very interesting and very diverse mix of workers. Meet his posse.
David Axelrod is Barack’s Senior Advisor. He pretty much works as the chief strategist, the brains behind it all.
He looks a little drunk here but I promise you he is brilliant
And then you have Rahm Emmanuel who really should be featured as a separate post because his personality is just too multi-faceted. Imagine all the moxie, crude-ness, cut-throat-ness, abrasive-ness and an infinite vocabulary of expletives and profanity poured into one man. That man is Rahm. Oh and did I mention that he was smart?
They say that NBC’s hit show The West Wing based its character Josh Lyman on Rahm.
And here is some trivia for you: Rahm’s brother, Ari, is the basis of another TV character. Can you guess? Do I hear Gold? : D
You also have to meet John Favreau. He is Barack’s Director of Speechwriting. He has collaborated with Barack in all of his speeches since 2004. So all of those unforgettable speeches that would keep you up thinking about them at night (ok fine, keep ME up at night) were written by this brilliant man, this brilliant 28-year old man! ‘Nuff Said.
Finally there is Reggie Love. He is the President’s “Body Man”, his personal assistant (read: YAYA). This guy used to play Forward for Duke University and even has an NCAA championship under his belt.
So these are just some of the personalities that wake up everyday asking only one question: how can they bring about a positive change in this country that will also positively change the world?
As a form of unwinding at some point in his very busy day, Barack does spontaneous unofficial trips to unspecified locations. Check out this video below.
The report also did a segment of Michelle and the kids. Of course, a special segment was dedicated to Bo, the very controversial first dog.
From the Obama Camp this report was a very powerful communication and PR tool that was consistent with their strategy to be transparent, to “keep it real” and keep it close to the people. But I also think that this report was meant to inspire. The White House is occupied by ordinary (and maybe smart) people all working towards the same extraordinary vision. Fueled by only passion, these folks want us all to believe that if we stick with them, we’ll go places.
