White House Takes Crack at Car Website

Nope, says spokesman: event reports, pics are online

(NEWSER) - At the nadir of the economic crisis, the Obama White House held a lavish Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween costume party, organized by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and full of Star Wars character. But with unemployment at 10%, the Tea Party at its apex, and the economic downturn still rocking the country, officials feared the 2009 party would look terribly decadent, so kept it a secret, reports the New York Post . “White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans—or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care—that the event was not discussed publicly, and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” alleges Jodi Kantor in her new book, The Obamas . More»

Cabinet secretaries to meet on wasteful spending

(NEWSER) - The Justice Department has managed to recover some $5.6 billion lost to fraud over the 2011 fiscal year, officials will announce today. Civil fraud accounted for some $3.4 billion, with the rest attributable to criminal fraud, insiders tell the Washington Post . Much of the money was recovered by so-called Medicare Strike Fraud Forces, which track down millions in fraudulent claims. It's yet another step forward in the crackdown on fraud: Such recoveries have climbed 167% since 2008. More»

William Daley will now only handle external relations

(NEWSER) - William Daley has only been President Obama’s chief of staff for 10 months, but he's seemingly ready to be co-chief: Daley is stepping sideways, the Wall Street Journal reports, handing over the day-to-day running of the White House and its dealings with Congress to longtime Obama aide Pete Rouse , while Daley focuses on managing relations with business leaders and other important outsiders. "He likes continuing his relationships on the outside," said friend Ray LaHood, admitting that inside "it’s been a tough slog." More»

Bill Daley says Congress won't let Obama be a chief executive

(NEWSER) - Roger Simon of Politico has an entertaining interview with White House chief of staff Bill Daley. Some highlights:

• How it's going: “It’s been a brutal three years. It’s been a very, very difficult three years, an incredible three years. And we are doing all this under the overhang of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. F--k! It wasn’t like all this was happening in good times."
• On 'we can't wait': "Both Democrats and Republicans have really made it very difficult for the president to be anything like a chief executive. This has led to a kind of frustration," and to the president's push for the executive branch to do as much as it can without Congress.

...On a matter involving Democrat donor

(NEWSER) - Air Force Gen. William Shelton dropped an uncomfortable bombshell in his Congressional testimony yesterday, accusing the Obama administration of asking him to soften his remarks about a company that happens to be owned by a Democratic donor’s investment fund. The company, LightSquared, is trying to build a nationwide wireless broadband network that the military fears would disrupt its GPS systems . The White House suggested Shelton express support for consumer broadband, and add that the Pentagon would test solutions to the issue within 90 days. More»