AllThingsD » Robert Gibbs

Former Obama Aide Robert Gibbs May Join Facebook

Liz Gannes — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:09:43 +0000

Facebook is trying to hire Robert Gibbs, the former White House press secretary and Barack Obama communications director. Gibbs, who left the White House in February, would report to Facebook’s Elliot Schrage as a member of his communications, marketing and public policy team, according to a report by DealBook. Many executives from Silicon Valley–especially from Google–have gone to work for Obama, but this would be a significant move in the other direction.

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.

White House to China: We're With Google on This One

Peter Kafka — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:10:09 +0000

A ratcheting up in the Google-versus-China fight: The White House has officially endorsed the search giant’s position.

Here’s White House spokesman Robert Gibbs today, per MarketWatch:

“We support [Google's] action…in a decision to no longer censor searches that happen using the [Google] platform,” Gibbs told reporters. He added that “our concern is with actions that threaten the universal rights of a free Internet.”

I’ll leave it to geopolitical tea leaf readers to decipher whether the White House’s position on this means that much for Sino-American relations. But it’s not a huge surprise: The affectionate relationship between Google (GOOG) and this administration has been documented many times already.

President Obama's Online Town Hall Now Open for Questions on the Economy (Answers–If There Are Any–On Thursday!)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:47:51 +0000

WhiteHouse.gov just opened for questions for a “community-moderated online town hall,” setting up for a Web appearance by President Barack Obama on Thursday.

According to the site, anyone can:

“Submit your own question about the economy and vote on submissions from others. We also encourage you to include a link to a video of yourself asking your question, but text submissions are all you need. Come back on Thursday to watch the President answer some of the most popular submissions live at WhiteHouse.gov.”

The site has held similar online events twice in the transition period, but questions were then answered by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and not Obama.

This time, it will be the President, taking questions picked from those voted most popular.

The site is using Google (GOOG) Moderator technology, although there is no branding of it, as well as Google-owned YouTube for the video from Obama posted below.