Change has come to the Internet

While most of the world was fixated on the pomp and circumstance of the Inaugural ceremony on Tuesday, the Obama administration quickly made its first visible change in government.

At 12:01 p.m. on Tuesday, the White House Web site (www.whitehouse.gov) officially came under the control of Barack Obama, and the new site immediately changed to reflect the difference.

At the top of the page was the familiar White House logo, recognizable to millions from the backdrop of the White House briefing room. But not much else was the same.

The first noticeable change was the huge photograph of President Obama looking out from the right side of the Web page. 

Another change was the size and color of the page. The new White House Web site seems a bit larger than the site was under the Bush administration. And although the primary colors remain blue and white, the use of the colors is noticeably different from before.

Since Tuesday, new content has been added and the site now includes presidential executive orders and proclamations, a blog and a listing of staff. There's also space for weekly video addresses and pool reports from reporters, neither of which existed in the previous version of the site.

Site Reflects Obama's New Policies

The policy agenda had also changed. On issue after issue, the Obama administration stakes out positions starkly at odds from its predecessor, all reflected in the Web site. 

The site promises that Obama will seek to end racial profiling, eliminate sentencing disparities between crack and powder-based cocaine, preserve women's rights in Roe v. Wade and support legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

The White House site also picks up on Obama's campaign pledges. On one page, the administration promises to "responsibly end the war in Iraq so that we can renew our military strength, dedicate more resources to the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and invest in our economy at home."

On another page, the administration expresses its belief in "affordable, accessible health care for all Americans."

A New Transparency

Macon Phillips, the director of new media for the White House, posted a blog entry at 12:01 p.m. on Tuesday announcing the goals of the new site. "Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration's online programs will put citizens first," he explained.

Phillips said the administration's initial new media efforts would focus on three priorities: communication, transparency and participation.

"President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history," wrote Phillips. He said WhiteHouse.gov "will play a major role in delivering on that promise."