This is very typical of anything in govt. Why is it that the people who suggest you call XYZ never have had to jump through the same hoops...they always have a backdoor to get the information they need. All of this begs the question: if the public cannot get any help from the people they pay to help them, then, do you really need them. I think you could get rid of 80% (including myself), and the U.S. would get along swimmingly. Personally, I wouldn't call anyone in govt. though. I called the IRS once about an innocuous hypothetical question about filing jointly vs. together. A couple of months later I get a bill from a return that was few years old (with penalty), which triggered something similar in the state. I couldn't even read the danged letter it was so full of govt-ese. I just paid it...and considered myself lucky that I wasn't audited. I guess that puts me in the same class a most of the Kenyan's staff: tax cheat!
Politico is a left leaning rag, therefore this unglamours article from a supportive paper would signal that the Obama ship is sinking. The calling the government stuff is a moot point. Never call, just guess and plead ignorance. You will never get the right answer or right person in pass the buckville .gov land.
True and that is why he is an empty suit of a failed presidency. A poster boy for why his moon bat ideology doesn't work; unfortunately too many people were too caught up in the historic moment to pay attention.