top flight

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, en route for a nine-day trip to Asia, Nov. 5, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Race to the top…..

letter-perfect

Denver Post: So, many in this country decided Tuesday that the Democrats had plenty of time to undo the damage caused by the Republicans over eight long years. They have said that 21 months should have been plenty of time to restore the economy, get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan and put everyone back to work. Well then, I now give the Republicans in the U.S. House 21 months to undo the damages they initially caused themselves.

In a way, it is nice. Let them use their own methods to get us out of the messes they created. If, by October 2012, we are not all employed, living comfortably, have restored the deficit to where Bill Clinton left it in 2009, and are completely out of all wars in the Middle East, then I challenge those same voters to undo the damage they have done this week and put the Democrats back into office. Twenty-one months. That is all they get. Good luck, may the force be with them, and God help us all.

Jane Madden, Colorado Springs

one giant step for san francisco

bon voyage

President Obama and First Lady Michelle leave for Germany, en route to Asia.

Schedule for trip here

before i leave….

WH: Today’s employment report shows that private sector payrolls increased by 159,000 in October, continuing ten consecutive months of private sector job growth. While job growth was substantially higher than in past months and higher than analysts expected, the pace was not enough to reduce the overall unemployment rate, which remained at 9.6%.

In addition to the increase in October, the estimates of private sector job growth for August and September were revised up by a total of 93,000. Since last December, private sector employment has risen by 1.1 million. Over the last quarter, including today’s revisions, private sector employers added an average of 122,000 jobs per month.

Overall payroll employment rose by 151,000 last month.

… economists pleasantly surprised by Friday’s report that the economy added 151,000 jobs in October, calling the growth a sign that the economy is picking up.

“This was hugely surprising. It’s strong across the board,” Fabian Eliasson, vice president of currency sales at Mizuho Corporate Bank in New York, told Reuters.

John Canally, economist at LPL Financial in Boston, said the new jobs weren’t enough to change the unemployment rate but are “certainly a good kick-start.”

Echoing President Barack Obama, Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Inc. in Lexington, Mass., told Bloomberg that the report is “very optimistic news.” She added, “It looks like the last month or so, things have started to move upward again, and the momentum is hopefully building.”

picture perfect: no 17

February 2008: Barack Obama poses with the Heisman Trophy in University of Texas football coach Mack Brown’s office during a tour of the athletic facilities. Photo by Scout Tufankjian.

See all the Picture Perfect photos here

white house sleepover

west wing week: “don’t watch the plasma arc” (november 5, 2010)

think-tank

in sync