Update: At one point, whitehouse.com a porn site (not whitehouse.com, as we wrote below), which a lot of you have been so kind to remind us of. You guys really know your porn.
At exactly 12 p.m. today, the official Web site of the president, WhiteHouse.gov (once a porn site) got some new clothes. Now it sports the duds of President Barack Obama, who took the opportunity to announce that January 20, 2009 is the National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. Oddly, we do feel cleansed.
And reconciled we are. The branding folks over at the White House did a great job, especially back when they were branding that Senator from Illinois whose middle name is Hussein. Imagine what they can do now that he’s got the best title, ever. And no competition, either!
At a time when the entire nation is pissed at the last guy and has high hopes for the new guy, Mr. Obama’s, “we all have to work together” speech is the only message that we can all get behind. Why? Because for the first time since that second big war (the one with the Nazis), Americans seem to be realizing that the government governs, and we shouldn’t expect it to fix everything else.
Maybe now we’ll have an excuse to get off our asses and contribute (whatever that means for each of us). Maybe with a brand to stand behind, one that is as real as it seems, we can make a difference. That’s what we should be doing — associating ourselves with something we can believe in — and now that we’ve seen that things can indeed change (at 12:00 pm today, it happened!) maybe now…they will.
Hope is the message, President Obama is the messenger, and we’re the audience. We’ve heard. Now, let’s do.