White House communications not very effective

I know running an entire country, especially one the size and stature of the United States, is tough work, but just from my limited interaction with the Obama administration so far, things could be run a little better on the communications end.

Earlier this week I called the White House in an attempt to track down an old White House photo I wanted for a story I was working on. Believe it or not, the White House has a listed phone number. A quick search online will tell you it’s (202) 456-1414. But getting someone to answer is not such an easy proposition, and that’s a change. The few times I’ve needed to call the White House for something in the past (Clinton and Bush administrations), someone quickly answered and transferred my call to the appropriate place. This time around, though, I reached a recording that told me I could press 1 to leave a message for the President. Smart move, I guess. I’m sure a big chunk of the people who bother to call the White House actually think they’ll be able to talk to the President. So I’m sure they think he’ll actually listen to their message. Riiiight.

I was given other options on the recording, none of which was helpful. In the end, it took me several tries before I was finally able to reach an operator (you apparently just have to wait and not choose an option and hope they answer, apparently) who could connect me to the press office, which eventually directed me to the photo office. Neither could help with the photo I wanted, but at least I now have phone numbers to get in touch with those offices directly.

Today, I had my second disappointing interaction with the White House. This morning the press office sent out a release letting us know about a conference call during which Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council, would talk with "Southern Reporters on American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." You know it better as the economic stimulus package that’s been debated in Washington the last couple of weeks. My boss asked if I would call in at 1:30 this afternoon to hear what was discussed.

Just before 1:30 I called the number the White House provided. Then I waited on hold, listening to bad music and an occasional recorded message saying, "Your conference call will begin shortly. Thank you for your patience." So I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. After 30 minutes on hold I accidentally hung up, so I had to call back in. The operator had no idea when the call would start. At 1:57 p.m. the guy at the White House who had sent out the phone number sent another message with the subject line "Barnes call running late." The message read: "Sorry for the delay. Shouldn’t be more than 5 minutes." 

Indeed, the call started about five minutes after the message was sent. Of course the e-mail arrived after the call began. During the call Barnes spoke for a couple of minutes toeing the party line about why the stimulus bill is important and why it will solve all the problems of the world. And of course, in doing so, she actually said very little new or insightful. After her short statements, reporters were allowed to take questions. The answers provided were more hot air. At 2:25, after taking maybe six or seven questions that were barely answered, the White House ended the call. I had waited about ten minutes longer than the call actually lasted. Boy, politics is great.

I again wish the administration luck with all the great obstacles it is facing, because we need success right now. I just hope their telecommunications are not an example of how everything else is going. Maybe I’ll call back and press 1 to leave President Obama a message about what happened. I’m sure he’ll use his BarackBerry to call me back.