Staff Writer

ave you ever tried to call President Barack Obama to set up an interview? Well, neither have I, but it must be one difficult venture to get any form of actual verbal contact from our nation’s Commander in Chief or the First Lady.

You see, recently, I tried to get an interview with the White House’s newest social secretary, Julianna Smoot, since she and her family once called Clinton home.

So, I thought I would just get on the phone and call the White House. I should have known better. I started by talking with a young lady named Stacy, someone who got me in touch with the White House press office. Actually, I give Stacy a lot of credit — at least she directed me to someone who was supposed to help.

After my talk with Stacy, I called the number she provided, and the person on the phone conveniently told me that it was “not possible” to talk with Julianna, and if I wanted to talk with her, I would just have to send an email, which by the way was to a generic address. I’m sure it would be added to the endless list of requests for interviews from everyone from Michelle Obama to Bo, the first dog.

Don’t they know who I am? I am Katie Holland, a reporter, just like Barbara Walters is a reporter and Bob Woodward is a reporter. Maybe if I had said my last name was Couric and not Holland, then I wouldn’t have gotten so dizzy from the White House run around.

Now I know I am complaining, but I just don’t think it should be that difficult to get an interview with someone in the White House. This is supposed to be the “People’s White House,” so why am I not being shown as much consideration as Brian Williams would be shown if he just wanted to get a few minutes for an interview? Come on people, we are talking about someone who works in the White House, not the President, himself. It should not be that difficult to get a one-on-one interview.

Now as I look back, I still didn’t get Julianna on the phone, but I did get two very important people in her life to speak to me, her mom and dad. That was relatively simple. A few calls to people they knew, and boom, I had the two proud parents on speaker phone reliving their fond memories of Clinton and how thrilled they are to know that their daughter is at the White House.

Well, at least around here my name means a little something.

Katie Holland can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 136, or by e-mail at silife@myclintonnc.com.