Washington Post: Obama, Reaching Outside the Bubble

[Jackeens]

Interesting article, life in the White House sure sounds suffocating.


Each morning when he arrives at the Oval Office, President Obama asks his staff to deliver him a package containing 10 letters. It is a mere sampling of the 40,000 or so that Americans send to the White House every day -- a barrage of advice from students and teachers, small-business owners and the unemployed. In between his daily meetings with senior staff members and Cabinet secretaries, Obama has made a habit of sitting alone behind his desk and reading one letter at a time, friends and advisers said. The exercise is intended to help keep him grounded, but it also provides Obama with a glimpse beyond the White House walls and the Secret Service perimeter into what the president sometimes refers to as "the real world.".........

.........Younger staff members said Obama likes to be kept up on their gossip about weekend nights and new girlfriends and feels left out anytime he's the last to know what's going on in their lives. On Super Bowl Sunday, he invited a few dozen people to the White House for a party and implemented two rules: no talking about politics and no posed pictures. Instead, Obama instructed a personal photographer to follow him during the party and take candid shots of him chatting with his guests, which would be mailed to them later. Obama explained to a few congressmen in attendance that he wanted to feel like a part of the group, not apart from it.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/28/AR2009022801808.html?nav=rss_email/components

[grannie4peace]

1. wow! that's sad

[babylonsister]

2. Good article, thanks, and check out the slide show. Letters, we get letters!

40,000 daily?!


Deb Corbin sorts through mail in the presidential correspondence office. About 40,000 letters arrive at the White House every day, and deciding which ones land on Obama's desk is a big job. (Photos By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)