The Washington Post has started a website that aims to give you the lowdown on the people and deals in the new administration in Washington D.C. Who Runs Gov [1] leads today (sadly) with a profile [2] on Michelle Obama that asks such penetrating questions as “[S]hould she advise her husband? should she stop working? should her primary role be as a mother to the couple’s two daughters?” Fortunately, there are profiles of others that may be more to the point: e.g. Richard Holbrooke [3], Linda Douglass [4], and Eric Holder [5]. One feature of the site that has me scratching my head a bit is the ability to see every last edit that editors make to a profile and to compare versions; thus, for example, the profile for Jason Furman [6] has been edited nearly two dozen times, and we are invited to compare versions 15 and 16 to see which single word was added. Clearly some people need to get a life and not just a profile.
In addition to the long list of profiles of all and sundry, there’s a blog, The Plum Line [7] by Greg Sargent that looks like it might attract some interesting commentary, and the now seemingly obligatory blog about the site itself, Who Runs Gov Blog [8].