Did exiting Bush staffers disable the White House comment line?
posted at 2:25 pm on January 21, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
The official White House comment line is down, and at least one activist group is pointing fingers at the departing Bush administration staffers. The phone number 202-456-1111 has served for years as access to citizens to share their thoughts with the White House on policy. Now, however, it appears that the system has been shut down, and The Hastings Group sent out an e-mail strongly suggesting its failure is deliberate:
Remember the brouhaha about the supposedly missing “w”s on the keyboards when George W. Bush took over the White House?
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the outgoing Bush team shut off the White House telephone comment line and that the Obama people were not told how to reconnect it. I am working with a client – the Civil Society Institute — – that is running a call-the-White-House campaign today — but the White House comment line is down and has been all day. An operator told a caller that the Bush people shut down the comment line and that it may not be back up until next week.
I understand that other groups are trying to run similar campaigns and have run into the same roadblock.
You can find info on the CSI campaign at http://theclean.org/callwh.html. Thousands of people from 67 groups across the U.S. have been trying to call about this clean energy message – but can’t get through to the White House.
I tried calling the number, and it has a recording notifying callers that it is no longer working. Obviously, something happened in the transition, but it seems a little premature to blame exiting White House staffers. As a former call-center manager, I can attest that both PBX and voice-mail systems crash at the most inconvenient times. When managers change, routine procedures can get missed and create momentary havoc.
George Bush has gone out of his way to ensure a smooth transition for his successor, an effort acknowledged by Barack Obama himself. We should wait to see what caused this problem before pointing accusing fingers back to the departing staff.
Update: This is interesting. According to a group determined to get a pardon for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, the White House turned off the comment line ten days ago:
After being swamped with calls last week, and even after hiring a pack of new operators to handle the volume, the White House phone lines were still overwhelmed at close of business on Friday.
J4JP has just learned that the White House plans to ‘restore order’, discouraging calls about Jonathan Pollard, by announcing that it is closing down comment lines until after the inauguration of the next President on January 20, 2009.
Apparently, they just forgot to turn it back on after they left — or perhaps the Obama administration wants a few days of peace in the first week.
Blowback
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Does anyone remember what the outgoing Clinton lackeys did in the White House as they left?
It would only make sense to the criminal Democrat mindset that anything that is not in order was done intentionally. Heck, that MO and lie works for them every time.
Hening on January 21, 2009 at 2:28 PM
BFD…
NRA Lifer on January 21, 2009 at 2:28 PM
$10 says George left a whoopie cushion in the Oval Office chair.
Limerick on January 21, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Just the first of many many things that Bush sabotaged to make BarryO look bad.
Hey, I wonder what happened to the artificial crisis that Bush was going to make happen to declare martial law and stay in the White House himself?
JamesLee on January 21, 2009 at 2:33 PM
I notice there haven’t been any reports of all the “O” keys being ripped off the computer keyboards.
Jim-Rose on January 21, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Uh… why not just leave a message on the new website? Or send a tweet?
Obama’s transition team concentrated on all NEW media, it’s not surprising they forgot about the OLD media.
Skywise on January 21, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Obviously this is white not doing right.
Does Dear Leader have all the staff in place to handle the phone line at the moment? One would think that a comment line would be a lower priority than any number of other issues.
rbj on January 21, 2009 at 2:34 PM
They must have figured there would be no need for people to make comments during the Obama administration as everyone will be too busy taking care of their unicorns…
phreshone on January 21, 2009 at 2:34 PM
This is really lame.
Esthier on January 21, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Within a short period of time, I don’t think Barry will want it reconnected
Vashta.Nerada on January 21, 2009 at 2:36 PM
At least they didn’t remove the “O’s” from all keyboards.
Oink on January 21, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Whatever the cause is, I bet there were zillions of people trying to call yesterday. I was too lazy to do this, but my state gun rights org advised months ago that if Obama won the election, we should start calling and writing the WH on day one. I bet a lot of orgs were saying similar things.
juliesa on January 21, 2009 at 2:37 PM
They want to rip Bush for this, but it was OK for the Clintons to steal stuff from the White house?!
WTF?
Badger40 on January 21, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Um, OK…
So, the incoming Administration is not competent enought to run a phone system? (figure out how to turn it on)…
But we are gong to let them run the country?
Kinda makes ya go… hmmmmmmmm…..
Romeo13 on January 21, 2009 at 2:38 PM
What goes around comes around…
Bigfoot on January 21, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Telephones? With actual human operators? Can’t they just use their super secret crackberries?
Brat on January 21, 2009 at 2:38 PM
To be fair, they did remove all of the zeroes.
Y-not on January 21, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Who makes phone calls anymore?
izoneguy on January 21, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Yeah, I’m with Vashta. I doubt Obama has much interest in comments from the public. All he needs from us now is our money. He knows better than we do what to do with it and needs no input from the plebes.
aero on January 21, 2009 at 2:40 PM
This is so sad. Poor little children all over the United States can’t call their president and leave an opinion. Why I’ll bet they stopped taking US Mail, email, and telegraph messages also.
This is just so sad, why it’s like not being allowed to pray.
Think of all those poor children. How hurt them must feel. This is just terrible.
Skandia Recluse on January 21, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Call 202-456-1111 to complain about the socialism that will be shoved down our throats.
Better yet e-mail:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
You can also write to St. Barack:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
izoneguy on January 21, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Drama queens. As if anyone cares what is left on the comment line.
lorien1973 on January 21, 2009 at 2:41 PM
You’re right. They’re grasping at straws as they try to find some way to pull out the Moral Equivalence card and say that Bush is just as bad as Clinton.
INC on January 21, 2009 at 2:41 PM
No, they “supposedly” did those things.
Esthier on January 21, 2009 at 2:43 PM
TF?!? (Get it)
boko fittleworth on January 21, 2009 at 2:44 PM
So, a dastardly plot by the eeeeevil Bush is nothing but a tempest in a teapot.
Anyhoo, for all the weepy Obamatons out there, fear not, you have not been silenced. Click on “contact us” and comment away.
Buy Danish on January 21, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Breaking……….., Barry stubbed his toe on some oval office furniture, looks like Bush might have moved it a 1/4 ” to purposely hurt the peaceful transition
MDWNJ on January 21, 2009 at 2:45 PM
To send a message to the White House: Text CHANGE to 4409. Cost is 25 cents per message. All proceeds will go to the CHANGE REELECTION PAC, I mean the CHANGE Charity Fund.
CP on January 21, 2009 at 2:49 PM
I can see the Obama admin disabling it, because of all the swooning fans who are going to swamp the lines, with, “Uhm… yeah… can I, like, talk to, like Obama… cause he’s … like soooooo dreamy!”
ToddonCapeCod on January 21, 2009 at 2:53 PM
I told them to rip off the “O” keys and replace them with the “Hammer & Sickle”. After all, that’s where we’re headed.
Jarhead68 on January 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Puhleeze. The lines are “down” on purpose. They either don’t have the staff in place yet or they are temporarily pursuing the “Hear No Evil” policy.
kingsjester on January 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM
The number’s been changed to
867-5309
Ask for Jenny
DamnYankee on January 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM
This made no sense if you didnt know the lines were shut down weeks ago. (a local radio show mentioned this last week) Why would the Bush administration shut down the comment lines to do something bad to the incoming administration. Remember all the times we used the phone lines to voice our frustration and people like grahmnesty came back with “Ill do whatever I want to no matter who calls” I would want those lines open to make them do MORE WORK not less.
CaptainObvious on January 21, 2009 at 2:58 PM
the fact that they shut it down because they didnt want to deal with calls any more shows again how idiotic it is to try to equate pulling Ws off key boards to shutting down the phone lines.
CaptainObvious on January 21, 2009 at 2:59 PM
I don’t think it was sabatoge, rather it was a decision on their part to cut off the vile vitriol from the left-tards that can’t seem to let go of their BDS!
Hmmm…perhaps I should open a psychiatry office and offer a special on alleviating BDS! It would go something like this:
Patient:
“Bushitler, he ruined America, he’s evil along with his accomplice DarthCheney, they’re waaaaarrr cccrrriiimmmmiinnnaaalllss!!!”
Me:
“STFU and get over it you moronic sniveling idiot, now go out and get a job so you can give the money you earn to your messiah!” “That will be $5,000….next patient please!”
Liberty or Death on January 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
The President, not Dear Leader, uses a crackberry bless his 21st century heart. Phones are so 20th century… just like telegrams are so 19th century.
Now if only the President gets bin Laden, cuts the deficit and takes cues from Governor Palin all will be swell.
HotAirJosef on January 21, 2009 at 3:01 PM
paranoia big destroyer….
trailortrash on January 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM
They didn’t take the O’s….they removed all of the H’s. So now, not only can they not say Hussein, they can’t spell it either.
milwife88 on January 21, 2009 at 3:06 PM
The term “crackberry” is now officially raaaaaacccciiiissst!!!!
jk
CP on January 21, 2009 at 3:10 PM
I work in the voip field and i know how complex these things are.
If right before the move
the admins were preparing to hand over the reigns to the obama team and with all of the tens of thousands of networks or terminals they must surely have situated all over the globe
Its very possible that the new admin forgot or wasnt informed about that little pbx sitting in the basement which handles a couple of phone lines for comments.
Not saying it wasnt stupid but i doubt it raises anywheres near to the level that the clintons did when they left..
Also it is very likely that someone just made a decision with all that was going on to just shut off that one bri line wich was being flooded with requests..
No to all of your liberal morons
Just maybe you should learn to actually
Diagnose and troubleshoot your own network
instead of blaming the president
whom i really doubt even knows what a pbx or bri line even is.
Liberals just like islamic terrorists
Love to BLAME anyone for any concievable problem
Just because it coudlnt possible be an honest mistake or a technical glitch now could it???
jcila on January 21, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Once Obama was confirmed (by the electoral college) what point was there for the Bush administration to take calls on the complaint line when there was nothing to do for the final week or two before the inauguration? If you are not going to listen to the complaints while you are packing up and getting ready to leave, why leave the complaint line up?
jerseyman on January 21, 2009 at 3:18 PM
They should say “Yeah we did it … so what? We were just following the democrats lead from the last change over … now get bent”.
darwin on January 21, 2009 at 3:19 PM
I think it might be cool to leave one with the message “Relax!” on it, just to break the tension.
Count to 10 on January 21, 2009 at 3:20 PM
They have “crackberries”? I guess that’s because the term “blackberry” is raaacist.
Bigfoot on January 21, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Turning off the comment line sounds like more of a gift, than any kind of sabotage.
RBMN on January 21, 2009 at 3:37 PM
I spell it “Whosane” therefore they should have taken the W’s that had to be replaced in 2000.
Brat on January 21, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Is that so the taxpayers won’t realize how many jillions of dollars we will be indebted for?
onlineanalyst on January 21, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Blueberry, red raspberry, mellow yellow, red man tobacco and pineapple, all now racyst.
Brat on January 21, 2009 at 3:45 PM
The Obama staff probably just can’t figure out which one of the thousands of prepaid credit cards they have to bill the phone charges to.
dinobalz on January 21, 2009 at 3:47 PM
A wizard did it
Asher on January 21, 2009 at 3:51 PM
Brat on January 21, 2009 at 3:38 PM
I spell it Insane. HAHAHAHA!
milwife88 on January 21, 2009 at 3:52 PM
I thought all those Obama fawners were so much smarter than the neo-cons working for Pres Bush. I guess not if they can’t figure out how to reactivate a communication system. Apparently it’s harder than playing their computer games.
katiejane on January 21, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Not only the phone lines – but the internet comment line
also was disabled. I sent a few notes to “comments@whitehouse.gov” and they were sent back – no known recipient at this address.
The new Obama site at whitehouse.gov gives no email address, but lets you submit a comment – at long as it is under 500 characters.
sultanp on January 21, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Good one!
Back in the day, the departing staff would just deface the office. Like when the Clinton staff removed all the “W” keys from the keyboards. Ah…the good ole days.
dont taze me bro on January 21, 2009 at 3:57 PM
dont taze me bro on January 21, 2009 at 3:57 PM
.
oops…I obviously didn’t read the original post very carefully…as this incident is already cited right up front. oy.
dont taze me bro on January 21, 2009 at 4:00 PM
That’s very bad. Bambi’s gonna need a lot of zeroes for the stimulus package …
PackerBronco on January 21, 2009 at 4:01 PM
I’ve been dialing all day with no luck… trying to tell Obama where to wire my money
gatorboy on January 21, 2009 at 4:06 PM
OMG OMG We need a congressional inquiry…. OMG
roux on January 21, 2009 at 4:09 PM
As a card carryin’ VRWC member, I know exactly what happened….
heh….. heh….. heh
franksalterego on January 21, 2009 at 4:47 PM
The number’s been changed to
867-5309
Ask for Jenny
DamnYankee on January 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Please, I was drinking coffee just then!
flytier on January 21, 2009 at 4:56 PM
As if… anyone in BO’s camp would actually LISTEN or ACT on any comments I may leave. ROFL…
Mark_Tampa on January 21, 2009 at 5:29 PM
I don’t really think that any president would care what the comment line callers have to say. It is a joke that it still exists.
SC.Charlie on January 21, 2009 at 6:19 PM
.
If you don’t like the way I am
drivingleading, call the comment line at 1-800-EAT-$HITdont taze me bro on January 21, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Possibly the last thing blamed on President Bush?
Yea, what the heck am I thinking, we are just into day 1 of 4 years of blaming President Bush….
But more to the point, the people who are going to fix the economy and defend this nation can’t manage hooking up a phone line? Well that’s encouraging.
Hog Wild on January 21, 2009 at 7:25 PM
Oh please. If the Bush staffer’s wanted to be malicious, they’d remove all the O’s from the keyboard.
Try writing any official document without use of the words “Office” or “Of” or “Hope and Change”
BKennedy on January 21, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Given O’s Web history, what do you want to bed his Admins just screwed it up and, also given O’s campaign’s history, are just blaming everyone but themselves?
The outgoing admins probably left detailed instructions the new boys haven’t even read yet.
Speaking as someone who has handled IT transitions, I’m betting that this is nothing more that the continuation of the Obama Campaign’s “policy of failure,” Blame Everyone Else.
Merovign on January 21, 2009 at 11:02 PM
Heck, I still remember when I was told by lefty after lefty that Bush was going to bring back the draft if won the election in 2004. He had a secret plan that they knew about , of course.
I’d point out that the people who were trying to bring back the draft were leftist Demmies like Rangel and they’d kind of blank for a moment, and then go back to the talking points.
Anyway, after the election I asked, hey dude were is my draft? And again with the momentary blanking before coming to the next talking point.
Politics has gotten odd. People, mostly leftwingers, repeat things that we both know aren’t true, but they try to make it true by wanting it *really* hard.
18-1 on January 22, 2009 at 12:28 AM
I’d have removed the e’s. I’d love to see Uhbama repeat “Hop and Chang”, “Audacity of Hop”, and ” W ar th Chang” a few times before he realized the e’s weren’t showing up on the teleprompter.
18-1 on January 22, 2009 at 12:32 AM
If he said it in China he could cause an international incident!
BKennedy on January 22, 2009 at 12:57 AM
It was more than missing ‘W’s on the keyboards – although that just highlighted the pettiness of the Clinton Administration.
It was $200,000 worth of stolen White House memorabilia, derogatory graffiti in the bathrooms and other walls, and various other acts of outright vandalism that cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair.
Real classy.
Mr Purple on January 22, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Personally I’d bet that the Obama people shut it down so that they didn’t have to endure all the “Christians” screaming about Obama going directly against the bible in order to legalize abortion on demand, criminalize abortion protests, and preparing to legalize homosexual marriage which has already appeared on the Obama website. Personally I faxed questions asking if he lied to the public in order to get his job “above his paygrade” by calling himself a Christian when he obviously went against everything Jesus said in the bible. Flame me all you want! Jesus said that homosexuality was wrong and he wanted ALL life especially unborn life protected!
Vntnrse on January 22, 2009 at 10:14 AM
I think its funny as h*ll! If you want to read how things are going to go down with the Obama presidency go to thehill.com and read Dick Morris’ story! It is so scary!
And so it begins…….
Eyvonne on January 22, 2009 at 1:28 PM