How Obama ruined the Easter Egg roll...

[posty 2,315]

http://www.enlightenedredneck.com/2009/03/...aster-egg-roll/

 

Change has come to the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, and our family is not happy about it. The end result is that we won’t get to go for the first time in nine years.

 

President Obama thought outside the box and decided it was better to move the ticketing process online — and predictably, the system didn’t work as advertised. I know because I tried off and on all day to get free tickets for the event. Most of the time I couldn’t even access the system; the two times my wife and I did, we were booted from it right as we placed our orders.

 

By 7:45 p.m. Thursday, we were rewarded for our efforts with this message: “Tickets are no longer available for the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll.”

 

Washington’s local NBC station reported on the problems during the day Thursday. And here’s a recap from The Washington Post the next day:

 

The White House’s Internet distribution of tickets to this year’s Easter Egg Roll appears to have begun with a splat. …

 

Several people said that they were unable to log on to the White House ticket site or that when they logged on, tickets weren’t available. Some resorted to Craigslist to find tickets, for as much as $50 apiece.

 

Kristin Vergis of Garden City, N.Y., said she was up until midnight to see whether the ticket site was active. She went to the site again at 6 a.m. and tried to reserve tickets throughout the day, to no avail. “At one point, I got through the verification process and then was timed out,” she said in an e-mail to The Post. “I wish the ticket process had been left the way it was.”

 

I know my wife wishes Obama’s high-tech minions had left the process alone. Technology doesn’t always make things better, and in this case, it definitely made matters worse.

 

People like us who, technologically speaking, were in line before anyone else didn’t get tickets. The fairness of the first-come, first-served process of the past was dumped for a system that rewarded egg-roll enthusiasts based on random luck.

 

All you had to do was click at the right time (without knowing what that time was) and hope that the system didn’t boot you before your order was processed. It’s as if the White House invited everyone to camp in D.C. and gave tickets to those who fought their way to the front of the line, not those who were there first.

 

There’s another flaw in the online approach: With the egg roll more than two weeks from the date of the online ticket distribution, as opposed to at most three days in the past, the Obama administration has created a huge opening for the online scalping of free tickets.

 

Behold the free market, and free speech, on display at the Washington Craigslist page:

 

* From an offer to pay $200: “We want those tickets 1 adult and 2 beautiful children wanting to attend the Egg Roll. Have a heart and we’ll bring you back an egg.”

* “I will trade 2 regular season Redskins tickets for 1 game (no parking) for any time tickets to egg roll 2 adults 2 kids. “

* “I am a professional civil engineer about to install solar pv and solar hot water systems in current old-house addition project. … I will come to your house for a 2-hour session and conduct an in depth solar survey to assess your suitability. … I need 2 adult 2 children tickets — to the 8 a.m. slot if possible.”

* “My fam has NEVER been and would love to this year! I can’t afford more than $50 for a pair or 3 tix but perhaps we can trade for them? Here’s an example of 1 of the things I have to trade.”

 

* “All these people who wanted to get these tickets, and here is our government standing there holding them up just out of reach to see who will maim and kill and scratch their neighbors’ eyeballs out, and then climb up on their bloody stumps to reach those stupid tickets!”

* “Everyone needs to contact the White House and suggest a lottery system for next year. A lottery system would allow everyone interested an equal chance to get tickets instead of rewarding folks who can try every 5 seconds the entire day.”

* “The ‘purpose’ of online tickets this year was to make it more accessible to Americans who otherwise might not be able to go. It is really just a lame excuse for the government to fleece the Americans and ‘change’ a system that was not broken.”

 

Even if the technology had magically worked, the change wrought by Obama was unnecessary and unwanted. I’ve never once camped out to get tickets to anything, but lots of people love the experience — the camaraderie and the conversation.

 

The first time we went to the egg roll, I was lucky enough to have a reporter with White House credentials who had no children and offered her special passes to my wife, our infant son and me. But every year since then, my wife has camped on a sidewalk near the White House to get them.

 

Kimberly has taken friends with her and made new friends. One year, she met a family from North Carolina. They traded contact information and reconnected for future egg rolls.

 

April almost always seemed to bring its cold showers on camping night, but my wife never missed a year in line. A couple of years ago, she returned from a trip to Europe on a Saturday and took her place on the sidewalk early Sunday evening to get tickets for Monday morning.

 

I don’t know how she survived — and I felt guilty because Kimberly had asked me to get in line Friday night in order to get tickets Saturday morning while she was flying home. I didn’t want to camp all night and set the alarm for 3 a.m. instead. A few hours later, a National Park Service ranger was giving the bad news about who wasn’t in line early enough to get tickets.

 

The cut-off point was two people ahead of me. I was heartbroken — and feared for my life when I had to tell a travel-wearied wife — but in that case, I didn’t deserve to get tickets. The process was fair, and I was in control. All I had to do was get in line earlier. It’s not anymore.

 

This year, Kimberly was planning to take our two oldest children, ages 7 and 9, to camp in line with her if the weather wasn’t bad. She was bummed when I heard the word from a reporter friend this week that tickets would only be distributed online.

 

Then came the heartbreaking news that she and the kids — including our 4-year-old, who might actually have remembered this year’s event — won’t get to go at all.

 

We’re happy for the families who were lucky enough to snag tickets through a flawed system and who will get to enjoy the White House. But for the Glovers, it’s an Easter family tradition ruined.

 

Thanks for the change, President Obama.

[wiffleball 4,679]

WHile I'm guessing he didn't have anything to do with this per se. God, I focking HOPE he's not that much of a micro-manager. Don't the people who run this sort of thing have some kind of ah, BETTER things to do?

[Frank M 181]

Boo-focking-hoo.

[wiffleball 4,679]

Ah, well, this makes sense. The execution of it sounds like a total Charlie Foxtrot, but the idea behind it makes sense.

 

This year, for the first time, you can get free tickets online -- starting Thursday morning.

 

In previous years, you had to go to Washington, D.C., the weekend before the event. Now, all you have to do is go to www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll and sign up.

 

No word on how many tickets will be available.

 

White House Easter Egg Roll Photos The theme of the 131st event is "Let's go play," encouraging America's youth to lead healthy and active lives.

 

The event, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., is open to children 10 and younger, along with their families.

 

Dating to 1878, the Easter egg roll has children using spoons to roll hard-boiled eggs across the lawn.

 

Activities this year will also includes sports, cooking classes, musical performances and storytelling.

 

A maximum of six tickets will be issued per order, and there may be no more than two adults per group.

 

For more information, call 202-456-7041.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

I wouldn't worry about it. Once the Secret Service stumbled across your postings here, you wouldn't have been allowed within 3 miles of the White House anyway.

[Sho Nuff 720]

Im waiting to see how "Obama" ruined it?

Do you seriously think he was personally involved in the change to the online system...and to the system being focked up? Is he a freaking programmer now handling the freaking whitehouse.gov website?

[The Next Generation 10]

Im waiting to see how "Obama" ruined it?

Do you seriously think he was personally involved in the change to the online system...and to the system being focked up? Is he a freaking programmer now handling the freaking whitehouse.gov website?

 

 

Also, isn't it a good thing that some of the poor slobs that REALLY wanted to go, but couldn't make it to DC 2 weekends in a row, can FINALLY see the damn thing?

 

Poor him...his F'n family has gone for the last 8 years...give someone else a chance to go...greedy bastage!

[wiffleball 4,679]

 

Also, isn't it a good thing that some of the poor slobs that REALLY wanted to go, but couldn't make it to DC 2 weekends in a row, can FINALLY see the damn thing?

 

Poor him...his F'n family has gone for the last 8 years...give someone else a chance to go...greedy bastage!

 

Good point.

[surferskin 30]

Im waiting to see how "Obama" ruined it?

Do you seriously think he was personally involved in the change to the online system...and to the system being focked up? Is he a freaking programmer now handling the freaking whitehouse.gov website?

Presidents get credit and blame for things their adminsrations are responsible for.

[parrot 789]

What a focking tragedy. I hope I can get through the rest of my day after reading that.

[wiffleball 4,679]

Related: Whoever thought of the idea of hiding hard boiled eggs outside in the sun?

[Chronic Husker 85]

It's nice to see that the right wing smear tactics are still in full effect. (Really, who the fock cares about an easter egg roll?) 8 years of Obama will do this country a world of good.

[DAVID RUFFIN 1]

He should resign

[wiffleball 4,679]

Presidents get credit and blame for things their adminsrations are responsible for.

I hope he doesn't overcook the eggs.

[posty 2,315]

8 years of Obama will do this country a world of good.

 

 

Thanks for the laugh...

[Chronic Husker 85]

It's nice to see that the right wing smear tactics are still in full effect.

[BMoney 0]

so he made the folks scramble for tickets..isnt that part of the fun? the hunt...pursuit?...

[NorthernVike 2,080]

 

Also, isn't it a good thing that some of the poor slobs that REALLY wanted to go, but couldn't make it to DC 2 weekends in a row, can FINALLY see the damn thing?

But they can't afford the internets

[NorthernVike 2,080]

 

You do realize that by quoting yourself you are very close to turning into Giants Fan.

[wiffleball 4,679]

The enlightened redneck.

[BunnysBastatrds 1,955]

He beacame the President?

[NorthernVike 2,080]

He changed it to a watermelon roll?

[kpbuckeye 2]

You do realize that by quoting yourself you are very close to turning into Giants Fan.

 

Well he is a woman beater so there is not a huge difference to begin with.

[surferskin 30]

That's how Obama rolls!

[Chronic Husker 85]

You do realize that by quoting yourself you are very close to turning into Giants Fan.

If you say so. posty failed to address the first line of my post so I was merely reminding him it was still there.

[BMoney 0]

He changed it to a watermelon roll?

 

 

makes me worse that i tried the scramble joke...THIS is the winnah with tootsie roll coming in second....

[nobody 2,104]

a system that rewarded egg-roll enthusiasts based on random luck.

 

I have to admit I'm a big egg-roll enthusiast myself.