The Permanent Campaign

    For a president who perfected the permanent campaign, I am surprised that the Obama team didn't come up with this idea sooner.  The White House publishes the public schedules of the president and vice president, though rarely in advance for obvious security reasons.  However, archives of the schedules go all the way back to July 2010.  A cursory review of the archived schedules reveals a fairly dry recitation of the events of the day.  September 8, 2010 is a good example:

9:45 AM - The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
12:05 PM - The President departs the White House en route Andrews Air Force Base
12:20 PM - The President departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Cleveland, Ohio
1:30 PM - The President arrives in Cleveland, Ohio
2:10 PM - The President delivers remarks on the economy
3:50 PM - The President departs Cleveland, Ohio en route Andrews Air Force Base
5:00 PM - The President arrives at Andrews Air Force Base
5:15 PM - The President arrives at the White House
5:20 PM - The President meets with senior advisors

    However, it appears that last week someone at the White House got tired of the same old-same old and decided the schedule was a missed opportunity.  Here's the new and improved White House schedule:

    So on Tuesday, rather than the boring "11:30 AM - The President and the Vice President attend a meeting with leaders from the labor community and other progressive leaders," the permanent campaign has tacked on "to discuss the actions we need to take to keep our economy growing and find a balanced approach to reduce our deficit."  This looked so good on Tuesday, that entries for Wednesday and Friday were enhanced with a similar message.  Even a visit to inspect storm damage in the North East was billed as "The President views storm damage, talks with citizens who are recovering from the storm and thanks first responders who put their lives at risk to protect their communities."

    Is there anything wrong with these Enhanced Information Techniques?  Nothing that I can see.  But it is instructive to note that even though President Obama often declared over the last several months that "This is my last election," his campaign is likely to continue for another four years... at least.