In conjunction with an investigation of the influence lobbyists have on the Obama administration, The Washington Post has released a database that registers the more than 2.2 million guestbook entries that have been made by those passing in and out of the White House between January 2009 and January 2012. The massive trove gives a keyhole look at what it’s like to live, work, and socialize in one of the centers of American power. The White House is part office building, part residence, and part stage on which the drama of national and global politics is played out. From state dinners to powwows with corporate titans to movie screenings with Steven Spielberg, this easily searchable database allows anyone to cast a magnifying glass over the comings and goings around the nation’s president.
The Daily Beast collects the highlights from the White House guest book.