OMG, Obama Exec Order fed txtg while drving ROFL!

Now that Health and Human Services Secy. Kathleen Sebelius has issued formal instructions on the proper way Democrats want Americans to sneeze and/or cough during the official federal flu season (into your elbow), President Obama 2day issued an Executive Order with strict new rules for feds to not text while driving.

Good thing for highway safety, cuz feds not known as gr8 multi-taskers.

The order (full text below in legalese) was obviously written by a Harvard-trained team of lawyers with all kinds of cool sections and subsections, which include lots of things -- but, you should know, are not limited to them. You can, for instance, leave the car motor running while texting from vehicle, but must be on the roadside and/or driveway at the time. Good 2 no.

The Obama Order is way longer than 140 chars. But lawyers paid by hr anyway.

Important thing is highway safety, rt? The nation's chief executive is also the country's most notorious left-handed CrackBerry addict. He's very interested in personal safety, according to the executive order, which is no doubt why he also made his daughters wear those goofy-looking helmets while bicycle-riding on their recent Massachusetts vacation. (See photo below.)

Although, truth be told, the role-model-in-chief went helmetless himself for that photo op. (Why? Think 1988. Photo op. Massachusetts. Governor. Democrat. Dukakis. Army tank. Dumb helmet. Laughter. Loser.)

Also, Obama doesn't drive himself anywhere anymore. So he's in the back....

Frank Luntz tells Americans what they really want

What do Americans want?

Frank Luntz, a political advisor, pollster and author of several books, thinks he has the answers. Dozens of curious Americans convened at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica recently to find out.

Luntz paced around the room, animatedly referring to his slides, as he broke down the data and observations he accrued in numerous public opinion polls. Much of that info is condensed in his new book, called "What Americans Really Want...Really."

It took almost an hour, but he eventually landed on a summation of the greater tone he observed:

"All we want is to improve our economy," Luntz said. "It's not about healthcare or nuclear weapons. It's about jobs."

Healthcare may not be the No. 1 priority, but Luntz still has his own tips for how President Obama should have tackled the immense issue.

"The first thing I would have done is look at the Republicans and say, 'No' is not an answer,'" Luntz said. And to the Democrats, "You can't get it all in one year."

Obama isn't the only one that Luntz had advice for. He criticized the American people for their obsession with blabbing about their daily lives, which fills the air on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. Perhaps we should take a note from Luntz, a noted observer.

"I think we would be a happier, healthier society if we focused on how we take information in, rather than how we put it out," Luntz said.

-- Mark Milian

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Photo credit: Mark Milian / Los Angeles Times

Sarah Palin, read this! Gavin Newsom's media advice

Bipartisan note to Alaska's Republican Sarah Palin from a direct-action California Democrat:

Stop whining about negative coverage from newspapers that don't like you and never will except if you help promote their publisher's favorite local charity and even then the affection will be short-lived.

Instead, simply help those nattering nabobs of negativity go out of business, one angry subscriber at a time.

Gangsters knew intuitively not to sue/argue with newspapers because of the resulting drumbeat of new negative stories. But it took longer for politicians across the ideological spectrum to learn the conventional wisdom: Don't argue with people who buy newspaper ink by the barrel.

Grumbling and worse over the media is sometimes warranted and always chronic among those in the public eye, who depend on the publicity but don't like it all.

Lyndon Johnson blamed negative media coverage for much of the Vietnam War opposition and the self-imposed end of his political career. Richard Nixon was not a huge fan of the Washington Post, which through Watergate helped him move along to memoir-writing a couple of years earlier than planned.

Of course, the media can create a handy target to help unify political followers against a perceived common enemy. Think Ron Paul's well-covered claims of being ignored last year and Republican convention delegates turning en masse to boo the overhanging media booths in St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center. 

And Palin is likely to re-mention media bias toward her and her family in her eagerly-awaited book, now set for publication Nov. 17. (Countdown now at 49 days.) She's particularly aggrieved over some mainstream media that took local blogs/gossip at face value. It's all sure to provide juicy new reasons to love and hate her, which Harper's corporate parent, News Corp., is unlikely to mind at all.

Who knows, you might even see Palin on another News Corp. property, Fox News. The way you just happen to see CBS stars show up on CBS talk shows and actors from Universal movies appear on NBC.

But now liberal San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who would like to be California's next governor, has added a novel twist to media-bashing. He got a Tweet from a follower feeling aggrieved about coverage of Newsom.

Not surprisingly, the mayor was sympathetic to the sympathy. He did not mess around or waste one of his 140 characters.

Newsom Twittered out to all 1.1 million-plus followers, specific advice on how to terminate their newspaper subscription, to at least one San Francisco publication.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Why Chuck Grassley should probly knot use the Twitter

No one wants their representative looking like a twit while surfing through the interweb tubes.

But while it's commendable for gray-haired senators to embrace new technologies to communicate with their constituents, some people are really doing more harm than good. Today's example comes from the conservative Republican senator from Iowa, Chuck Grassley, who was obviously instructed that it's OK to abbreviate words in his tweets.

While it's true that the 140-character limit of Twitter is contradictory to the long-winded behavior of many representatives, when you're talking about schools and education, maybe you should consider a different approach than abbrevatin' like a newbie trying to be kewl.   

This is the same Sen. Grassley who in June tweeted at the president, claiming that Obama "had nerve" to encourage Congress from Paris to get serious about the healthcare bill.

While new media barbs might be interesting to one's followers (virtual and otherwise), today's tweet was either a clunker of a joke, or an unfortunate attempt to squeeze 160 characters of thought into 140 letters.

Grassley has explained previously why he has used Twitter and why he doesn't plan on abandoning the free tool. “I’ve tried to use every latest technology to keep in touch with constituents. Representative government is a two-way street,” the senator told the Iowa Independent this summer. “I’m one half of that, my constituent’s the other.”

May I suggest that either the senator creates a blog where he can be as verbose as he pleases (and then uses Twitter to provide a URL link to his masterworks), or use programs such as Twitzer, Twitlonger or Twerbose.

-- Tony Pierce

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California gov hopeful Gavin Newsom really, really likes Twitter

Sure, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom may have been pandering a bit to the social-networking-crazed crowd at 140: The Twitter Conference in Santa Monica.

But in Newsom's brief webcast that was broadcast Tuesday afternoon on the main stage projector, the Democratic contender for the 2010 California gubernatorial election professed an undying love for Twitter.

"I'm here because I have great expectations in terms of what this technology is going to mean in terms of changing the world," Newsom said from his mayoral headquarters in San Francisco.

To back up his earth-transforming claim, he pointed to the role the service played in the Mumbai, India, terrorist attacks, Iranian revolts and the case of a UC Berkeley student who was released from an Egyptian jail thanks to Twitter friends.

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey has demonstrated the tool to government officials around the world, making believers out of folks twice his age on Capitol Hill and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom Newsom hopes to replace next year if he wins the Democratic nomination and then the November election, has also leveraged Twitter and publicly praised the product.

Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco, a place Newsom calls "a city not of dreamers but of doers."

"We are trying to use Twitter and this technology to improve the governing of this city," Newsom said.

Naturally, Newsom is going to support a popular company on his home turf. There's also the bonus of highlighting his embrace of social media while high-profile Republican hopeful Meg Whitman goes about the traditional advertising route, as well as some Twittering.

But how influential can one website be?

"I think this is the beginning of the end of the way things are being done in government," Newsom said. "The best is yet to come."

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: Newsom, right, with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone last summer. Credit: Kelly Pretzer via Flickr

California 2010 governor prospects Newsom, Brown, Whitman, others take to Twitter

Across the board, Twitter is looking like the fast track for organizing constituents and attracting some fundraising for California governor hopefuls.

But there's a pretty significant divide among the top candidates. Just look at these numbers.

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom (see photo), a competitor for the Democrats' 2010 nomination, has more than 1 million followers.

California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, the other guy on the left, has about 829,000 followers.

But the elephants aren’t looking so good.

Meg Whitman has 3,300 followers. Steve Poizner, Calif. insurance commissioner and a potential Republican nominee, has 2,100.

And taking home the bronze medal is fellow Republican Tom Campbell with 1,400.

C’mon, Tom, 1,400? 

Unfortunately for the GOP, Twitter -- the social network that became so integral for Barack Obama to reach a connected demographic during his presidential campaign -- is becoming a major platform in the California gubernatorial race.

Newsom seems to be devoting the better half of this week to his virtual campaigning. He’s hosting a “Twitter Talk” on Tuesday at 12:45 p.m. Pacific to discuss his ideas for California.

The next day, Newsom will make a short speech in the afternoon at 140: The Twitter Conference, a series of panels discussing the social network. The Ticket will be there. Then at 6 p.m. Pacific, Newsom will ....

Obama calls Kanye West a 'jackass.' But not officially

Oh, the perils of social media for politicians in modern life.

President Obama was giving an interview today to CNBC. An ABC reporter said he overheard the president call Kanye West a "jackass" for his dramatic interruption of the VMA's Sunday night to praise a Beyonce video that did not win.

Said ABC reporter immediately Twittered the comment to a million or so folks:

"Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential."

Do you think that started bouncing around as an RT?

(UPDATE: Tuesday 1:14 p.m. TMZ has the actual audio right here. TMZ.com is running an online poll here that shows overwhelming on-the-record support for the president's remark.)

But there's a problem.

It seems that what got Twittered was during a so-called "off-the-record" portion of the interview. (Remember, Beyonce sang "At Last" at Obama's inaugural ball.) Such casual between-us-folks chatter is often a part of the technical set-up before an interview officially begins.

So, officially for the record, the president never really called the music star what he reportedly called him.

ABC issued an apology to both CNBC and the White House (and removed the Tweet, but not before folks got screen-grab images of it) and promised to ensure no repetition. How long do you think now before ABC gets an exclusive Obama interview?

Kanye West apologized Sunday night and again tonight during an interview on the premiere of the new "Jay Leno Show" on NBC.

This isn't the first time Obama's been burned by off-the-record that wasn't off-the record.

Remember during the Democratic presidential primary campaign when the then-Illinois senator complained to rich folks at a San Francisco fundraiser about bitter Pennsylvanians clinging to their guns and religion? But there was a Huffington Post reporter there with a tape recorder?

Hillary Clinton found time to mention that gaffe in her campaign and took the state. And Obama's going back there to visit tomorrow.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Czar wars: After axing Van Jones, conservatives sharpen knives in hunt for more Obama blood [Updated]

Green jobs czar Van Jones left the Obama administration over the weekend.

The one-time Marxist who had said a bad word about Republicans in February and signed a 9/11 conspiracy petition in 2001 resigned at midnight Saturday, in the middle of a holiday weekend. [Updated 2:30 p.m.: Jones was also a co-founder of Color of Change, which later launched an ad boycott of Glenn Beck's program. But Fox News insists that Beck's venom against Jones was not payback; the anchor had been ferreting out the more unsavory footnotes in Jones' vita before the boycott began, a publicist told us.]

Now Georgia Republican Jack Kingston, in one of those you-can't-make-this-stuff-up moments, is threatening to put all 34 Obama administration czars -- in every area from science to diversity -- under a microscope. In a recent op-ed on his website, Kingston argued:

In its day, czarist Russia had just 18 czars in 300 years. In just seven months, President Obama has nearly doubled that number. At this rate, we’ll have 272 czars by 2012. Who are these people and why are they necessary? Why do we need an Energy Czar and a Secretary of Energy? Why do we need a TARP Czar and a Secretary of Treasury? Why was a 31 year old with no background in the auto industry and who drives a foreign car appointed as the Auto Recovery Czar? What qualifies a college professor to set executive salaries?

To remedy the situation, Kingston has introduced H.R. 3226, the Czar Accountability and Reform Act, which would bar all funds to presidential envoys not confirmed by the Senate.

Other conservatives, smelling blood in the water, are sharpening their knives. Already, Fox's Beck has alerted his Twitter followers to "find everything you can on Cass Sunstein (the regulatory czar), Mark Lloyd (FCC diversity czar), and Carol Browner (energy czar)."

Sustein, a Harvard Law professor, is being castigated by the right for his support of animals. Lloyd is being portrayed as a disciple of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Browner, who served in the Clinton White House, is now seen as a socialist.

MSNBC's Keith Obermann, incensed by his Fox counterpart's efforts to root out scandal about the Obama czars, has responded by asking viewers to "send every bit of direct you can find" on Glenn Beck, his radio producer Stu Burguiere and Roger Ailes, the brainchild behind Fox News.

Maybe the czar wars will be good for cable television, but are they good for democracy?

Let us know what you think.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Twitter 101: A college class all abt Tweets (97)

This fall, some DePaul University students will learn how to report news in 140 characters or less, thanks to a new class centered on Twitter, which --

Ooops. We went over.

Of course, brevity will be only one of the many lessons the Chicago journalism students will get as they follow politics and politicians on the booming social network.

Last year's presidential election gave Twitter a chance to shine as "both a feedback mechanism and organizational tool," inspiring the course's professor, Craig Kanalley, to join the service.

That's what he wrote in an old-fashioned e-mail. Naturally, the subject of politics will be a recurring theme in the class.

Kanalley founded the website, Breaking Tweets, which bills itself as "world news, Twitter style."

President Obama's inauguration "gave me the idea for Breaking Tweets, chronicling major events around the world through citizen reports from the scene," Kanalley wrote.

A valuable use for plugged-in journalists on the Hill, Kanalley wrote, is to keep tabs on Congress members and officials by following Twitter accounts of those on their beats.

Reporters can then get crucial alerts from sources about, for example, when Rep. Kevin McCarthy is celebrating his wedding anniversary or when Rep. Dana Rohrabacher goes surfing. (Find out which beach, and you've got yourself an exclusive interview, Cub Scout!)

This new medium has a potential stumbling block, however. "It's important to verify that it's really them, and even then, you have to be careful attributing words to them because the updates could be from campaign staffers," Kanalley wrote.

Making the work easier for students, Twitter has begun verifying account holdersand placing badges on the pages of some public figures. Like an online Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

One unanswered question: How many characters in each class lecture?

-- Mark Milian

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Does Twitter favor conservatives?

The White House announced with some fanfare over the weekend that its Twitter account had passed the 1 million mark.

“A million followers – nice,” the White House @whitehouse wrote in a tweet sent out Sunday afternoon. “What would you like to see more of from this feed? Photos? Quotes? Cowbell? Tell us @whitehouse.”

Big deal. 

Arizona Sen. John McCain, who lost to Barack Obama in the 2008 election, passed the 1 million mark six weeks ago. He declared that tweeting, which for him was novel, was "a phenomenal way of communicating."

Like most things that come out of Silicon Valley, Twitter was assumed to be in a purview of the left, another tool for tech-savvy liberal netroots to use as they besieged the political system in the name of progressive change, in 140-character bites.

But the left has usually used Twitter to promote ideas, according to Alan Rosenblatt, of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. "We have a lot of amazing progressives on Twitter," he told Maine's online news source, the Exception.  But, he added, there had been "nothing that brings everyone together."

By contrast, he said, the right has been using Twitter to create new pressure points in politics. Conservatives have a website, Top Conservatives on Twitter, that ranks various right-wing tweeters (former House Speaker Newt Gingrich currently rides on top), and offers pointers on how to organize.

Liberals are fighting back -- Rosenblatt has created a rival website, TopProg.org -- but it's in its infancy.

Meanwhile conservatives seem to be having more fun with Twitter.

When Republicans staged a protest last summer and refused to leave for summer recess, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi simply adjourned the session and turned out the lights, effectively turning off the C-SPAN cameras. So several GOP stalwarts started tweeting an account of what was going on from the House floor. They developed a following and prompted conservative commentator Michelle Malkin to call Twitter "the new gathering place for conservative activism.”

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: California Democratic State Senate candidate Edward Paul Reyes works with a colleague on his Twitter page recently at a Los Angeles Starbucks. Credit: Associated Press

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