If you just can’t get enough of the goings and doings of President Barack Obama, can’t wait for the blog posts, Twitter tweets, Washington whispers or even the newspaper and magazine stories about the U.S. chief executive, now there’s help. You can sign up for e-mails from the president. He sent his first one Wednesday. It’s hardly a window on the inner workings of the White House but it is a new way to communicate.

“My staff and I plan to use these messages as a way to directly communicate about important issues and opportunities, and today I have some encouraging updates about health care reform,” wrote in his first message, also posted here. “The Vice President and I just met with leaders from the House of Representatives and received their commitment to pass a comprehensive health care reform bill by July 31.”

He ended the note with,

“Thank you,
“Barack Obama”

and then added a postscript:

“P.S. If you’d like to get more in-depth information about health reform and how you can participate, be sure to visit http://www.HealthReform.gov”

It’s not like Obama’s been under wraps. He traveled to Tempe, Arizona, on Wednesday to deliver a commencement speech at Arizona State University. He heads for Indiana to give a graduation speech at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend on Sunday — where protests against Obama’s stance on abortion and stem cell research are expected. And today, there’s a town hall meeting at Rancho Rio High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This administration seems to communicate constantly, but presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs apparently draws the line at ringing cellphones in the White House briefing room.

When one reporter’s cell phone rang during Gibbs’ daily briefing on Wednesday, the spokesman interrupted his remarks to say, “Just put it on ‘vibrate,’ man.” When the correspondent’s phone rang again, Gibbs took direct action, taking the offending mobile phone and tossing it into the press office. Another reporter had a different response when his phone rang during the briefing. He took the call but moved quickly out of the briefing room.

On Capitol Hill today, the Senate is expected to vote on credit card legislation, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to unveil final details of the Democrats’ climate change bill and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify on the defense budget request for fiscal 2010 before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (A likeness of Barack Obama pulled from a recently published online blog posting as a part of a cinematic art installation, “We Feel Fine,” on display during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, January 15, 2009.)

WASHINGTON - Moments after Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th U.S. president, the Web site for the White House, www.whitehouse.gov, underwent a dramatic metamorphosis, offering a new blog for online readers.

It will serve as a place for the most technology-savvy president in U.S. history and his new administration “to connect with the rest of the nation and the world,” Macon Phillips, director of new media for the White House, said on the site.

The site features a web-log or blog, an online “briefing room” and allows visitors to sign up for e-mail updates on major announcements and decisions, and to send in their own ideas.

As his first official act, Obama proclaimed Jan. 20, 2009 as a “National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation,” calling on Americans to serve one another and come together to carry forward American democracy.

Phillips said Obama also remained committed to his campaign pledge to make “his administration the most open and transparent in history.”

All executive orders and proclamations would be published on the website, as well as all non-emergency legislation, giving the public five days to comment before they are signed by the new president, Phillips said.

Citing Obama’s early work as a community organizer in Chicago, Phillips said, “Citizen participation will be a priority for the Administration, and the Internet will play an important role in that.”

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama takes the oath of office)

WASHINGTON - As Meghan McCain has traveled the country campaigning for her father, Republican hopeful John McCain, she has been writing a blog sharing her thoughts and behind-the-scenes photos from campaign stops as well as from book signings for her new children’s book.

With her father behind in the latest polls, Meghan on Tuesday offered an impassioned plea for votes for her father over Democratic rival Barack Obama. At the same time, she acknowledged the country’s thirst for change and the fact that she and the Republican party do not always see eye to eye.

“I know there are people who are so desperate for change they will do anything to get what they think is a better deal,” McCain’s 24-year-old daughter wrote on her blog, McCainBlogette.com.

She argued that Obama was inexperienced and he would raise taxes if elected, noting that Democrats would control not just the White House but Congress as well. (Obama has said only those earning more than $250,000 would see their taxes go up.)

“Some of you have asked me how I can support my Dad or call myself a Republican when times are so tough, especially since my own personal beliefs don’t always sync with the GOP. Well, I have asked myself that same question a lot. But I support my Dad through it all because I know this: my Dad will be unlike ANY other Republican president,” she said.

In wrapping up her blogpost, McCain also tried to turn two words Obama regularly uses on the trail, “change” and “hope,” against him. 

She said a vote for her father was one to “change our country for the better.”

“Don’t hope for a better future,” she added. “Vote for one.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (Meghan McCain introduces her father at a rally in Ohio.)