So, President Obama goes all the way to Europe, Turkey, and even Iraq, and what did he get out of it? For all those pretty pictures, a ton of nice videos of great speeches in front of enthusiastic crowds, were there any concessions from European leaders on Afghanistan or a worldwide bailout? Did he get anything of value? Uh, no, not even a stupid t-shirt. And for every little faux-pas Obama makes, like his “totally awesome” gifts to Gordon Brown and the Queen, doesn’t that make it even harder to get Europe on his side? Plus, while the media coverage here in America was lavishly kind – minus Fox News, of course, who suggested Obama had repealed the Declaration of Independence -didn’t anyone read all the criticism from European media?

In today’s Wilshire & Washington, our hosts Ted, Teresa, and Maegan tackle all these questions, and with the help from our regular guest, Media Lizzy, we also take on this week’s announcement about cuts to the Defense Budget by Mr. Gates. Lizzy isn’t taking too kind to these cuts, mostly because she feels they’re being done ideologically rather than intelligently. And if Obama tries to push through these cuts to Defense, fifty or so Senators are going to say, “wait just a second, that affects a ton of jobs in my state,” and the President will quickly find himself in a Congressional revolt.

We also address the latest developments in gay marriage, from Vermont to Iowa, and the possibilities of future states tackling the issue. And finally, everyone gets to weigh in on the hiring of Gen-Y’s favorite stoner for a White House job: Kal Penn, who is giving up his cush job as an actor on the hit show House for a public relations gig at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Will it inspire kids to be pols rather than movie actors? Will anyone ever take Kumar seriously?

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.

The general consensus on the new Whitehouse.gov has been positive, with a bunch of people concentrating on the new robot file, the new copyright license, and the blog. All good stuff. To the site’s critics though, cut the IT guys some slack. Putting up a sophisticated, interactive website is tough. They just went live, and it’s already got people talking about communication with the White House. That’s a big improvement over what came before.

My main concern is that on the blog, none of the posts have authors. This is problematic because it means these posts are being put up anonymously, and with anonymity comes a lack of accountability. If we want an accountable government, someone’s name has to be put by every post. Someone has to claim responsibility. This has to change. I also want multiple authors contributing, each with their own focus on the Office of the President. Hey, we can all dream.

We have a new white house website, updated with a blog, and you can even subscribe to a feed. Oh, yeah, and there’s a new president there too, but back to technology. Really, can anything be official until the website changes over? But with Obama in charge, will the website be anything more than just PR? Can it help people organize and work together, like his campaign did?

But that Inauguration: it sure was something, eh? What happened with Justice Roberts? Did screwing up in front of millions of people maybe remind us all that Obama wasn’t born in a manger and to temper our expectations accordingly? I had my eye on some gold and myrrh, but I can wait. And with all this “hope” and “good feeling” in the air, is this really going to be the end of consumerism, when we put away our childish things? Uh, no. We’re going to go with, “No, Americans love pizza and hamburgers and plasma TVs.” And did people really have to give ol’ Bushie the metaphoric one-finger salute as he flew off into the sunset? I mean, he did come to work every single day – except for a few holidays, anyway…

Still, yesterday was a highly impressive feat. Two of our hosts, Ted and Maegan, were in Washington DC for the festivities and they offer their own personal perspectives from the ground, even though they’re recovering from late night “networking.” Teresa talks about volunteerism, and how people have already started to get involved in her part of the country, volunteering at local charities. Technology is also a big topic of the day, with twitter, CNN Live, and Facebook being huge winners in one of the internet’s biggest days ever.

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player:

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.