The American League of Lobbyists has issued a statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.

Monte Ward, the organization’s president, said on their site: “Lobbyists are the professional advocates who help educate lawmakers every day about how their action (or inaction) affects the nation.  Lobbyists will be critical components helping our federal lawmakers to understand the implications of their votes on the issues that they will tackle.”

The American League of Lobbyists statement provides a summary of the group’s self understanding and a reflection on the nature of the lobbying industry, with an eye to the future. You can find a pdf file of their “Recommendations for Improving the Regulation of Federal Lobbyists” at this link.

“State of the Union 2013: President Obama’s Speech is Just the Beginning” from The White House Blog.

“Check Out This Cool Thing the White House Is Testing For #SOTU” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.

“Upcoming State of the Union Will Be Interactive” by Joseph Marks in Mashable.

“Obama to Do a ‘Hangout’ After State of the Union” by Miranda Neubauer in TechPresident.

“5 things to watch for in the State of the Union” by Carrie Budoff Brown and Reid J. Epstein on Politico.

“The 10 Most Historic State of the Union Moments in Modern History” by Mark Micheli in Government Executive.

“Memorable guests at the State of the Union” by Kourtney Geers in Politico.

“Lobbyists Vie for Mentions in State of the Union” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Obama to use State of the Union to make case against spending cuts” by Amie Parnes in The Hill.

“Days After SOTU Are Full of Lobbyist Feedback” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Super PACs’ money could tip balance of power in Congress” by Martina Stewart in CNN Politics.

“Lobbying dips sharply in 2011” by Dan Eggen in the Washington Post.

“Lobbying spending falls for first time since 1999” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

“Obama says Congress should stop campaign bundling by lobbyists” by Kevin Bogardus on The Hill.

“Super PACs set sights on 2012 congressional races” by Fredreka Schouten in USAToday.

“Super PACs drive a near-doubling in federal election spending” by Jim Galloway in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Wis. governor fights recall with out-of-state cash” by The Associated Press on CBS Money Watch.

Lobbying

“Gingrich says $1.65M contract wasn’t for lobbying” by The Associated Press.

“Ex-Gingrich Adviser Now Trying to Close Lobbying Loopholes” by Eliza Newlin Carney and Kate Ackley on Roll Call.

“Ethics bill gets cool reception in Ga. House” by Chris Joyner and Christopher Quinn in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Clerk reports on lobbyist activity in Cook County” by The Associated Press in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“’Occupy Courts’ to hit Citizens United” by MJ Lee on Politico.

“Lobbying for just a nod, a mention” by Abby Phillip on Politico.

“Perry’s K Street Allies Jump to Romney, Not Gingrich” by Eliza Newlin Carney and Kate Ackley on Roll Call.

President Barack Obama delivered his 2011 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress on January 25. If you missed it, it’s not a problem, you can watch an archived video on the White House website. What you may have missed is the “Gov 2.0 style” conversation that surrounded the event.

Gov 2.0 is a term that gets thrown around a great deal to describe the new way government and citizenry can interact through technology. I think the State of the Union Address 2011 is a dramatic example of how far social media has changed the way government operates.

All we have from George Washington’s first State of the Union Address is his manuscript and that is pretty much it – precious as it is.

For the State of the Union 2011, Whitehouse.gov provided live video online (now archived) of the speech, a transcript of the text, and a photo gallery. You can also download it on iTunes.

But it was what happened after the event that we see where Gov 2.0 really came into play. The White House provided the chance for an exchange with the American people. According to Whitehouse.gov: “In the days following the State of the Union Address, President Obama and senior Administration officials held a series of live online events to answer your questions.” Through social media, the White House took in questions from the public and then answered (some of) them.

On the Whitehouse.gov SOTU site you can see a video of President Obama responding to questions. You can see Vice President Joe Biden fielding questions on Yahoo. There are videos of what was a series of live online roundtables with White House policy experts in the areas of the economy, education, foreign policy, and healthcare. Live from the White House,  senior White House officials also answered questions about issues covered in the speech and you can see it on YouTube.

From the website, you can receive email updates regarding the State of the Union address or follow the White House on Twitter and Facebook. Connectivity, it’s all about connectivity.

If you want more, there is plenty out there. One of the coolest websites – stateoftheunion.onetwothree.net has an interactive word cloud that allows you to see exactly how many times a word is used in all of the State of the Union Addresses by all of the presidents. The admirable American Presidency Project offers an easily navigable source of transcripts from every State of the Union Address since George Washington’s first.

That ought to keep you busy. Have a great weekend!