For the second or third time in as many work days, the White House e-mail system has gone down. E-mails aren't getting in; they're not getting out; they're being lost in transit.
Maybe that's why Robert Gibbs won't return your e-mails -- actually, that's not why he won't return your e-mails, but at least now he has an excuse.
NB: The White House website is underutilized, unidirectional and thinly resourced. The top story right now is last Saturday's Weekly Radio Address. This isn't a knock at the White House, its new media team or anyone -- it's just an observation about the challenges they face in merging a campaign culture with the culture of the presidency.
One is dynamic, the other is static. Habits of mind must be broken; to succeed, the White House website ought to have a structural a bias in favor of transparency, information saturation and communication, rather than a bias in favor of consistency, security and prudence. Lawyers have to check everything. Why? There are laws governing everything; protocol rules; a way things are just done.
With balky technology and security concerns, it's hard to communicate, even when you have something to say -- something this White House is finding out daily.
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