ok, own up: which one of you bought this apartment?

June, 2010

well, hello harlem

November 18: First Lady Michelle Obama plays with kids at the Harlem Police Athletic League building and holds a press conference for her ‘Let’s Move’ campaign.

getting back to work

Feb. 17, 2009: Aboard Air Force One, a close-up of the President’s signature on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which he had just signed in Denver

Auto industry bailout pulls Kokomo back from brink

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) – Jerry Price remembers the eerie silence less than two years ago when he walked through one of the transmission plants that long provided the economic lifeblood of this town steeped in auto industry history.

With the machines still and the workers gone, casualties of Chrysler’s bankruptcy declaration a few days earlier, the only signs of life were a few lights that had been left on.

“None of us, including myself, ever thought that this place would be running again,” said Price, vice president of United Auto Workers Local 685.

Not only has the plant reopened for business, but President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are visiting Tuesday to herald Kokomo as one of the major success stories of the auto bailout.

“If the bailout hadn’t come, then we’d be a ghost town,” said Jeff Newton, a pastor who runs Kokomo Urban Outreach.

Kokomo leaders and business owners say an infusion of cash pulled the city back from the brink. Besides benefitting from Chrysler’s $7.1 billion share of the auto industry bailout, the plant received nearly $4 million in federal stimulus money and an $89 million grant to help Delphi Automotive Systems develop electronic components for vehicles.

In September, the jobless rate dropped to 12.7 percent – the lowest in nearly two years.

Chrysler and Delphi have invested heavily in Kokomo since receiving federal help … Downtown has also seen a turnaround, with 13 new businesses starting up or moving in since January.

“The mood has definitely risen,” he said. “People are starting to feel more comfortable about Kokomo’s future, whether they like to admit it or not.”

Full article here

coming up….

Tomorrow (Tuesday): The president and vice president will hit the road together, traveling to Kokomo, Ind., as part of the White House to Main Street tour. They will visit a local Chrysler plant that received $89 million dollars in stimulus funds, modernized its facilities and retained more than 1,000 workers.

Also tomorrow, the President and first lady will sit for an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters at the White House for a network special to air the day after Thanksgiving (Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern)

Wednesday: Yay – the president will pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternate in a Rose Garden ceremony. Unlike previous years, though, the pardoned turkeys won’t get a trip to Disneyland – this year they will be driven to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate in Virginia. Boo.

Pardoned turkey flashback:

quote of the day

“I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism. And I have a communications degree.” (Time)

 

staff room

President Barack Obama meets with staff including, from left, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication, Chief of Staff for Policy Mona Sutphen, Liz Sherwood-Randall, Senior Director for European Affairs, Mike McFaul, Senior Director for Russian and Central Asian Affairs, Senior Advisor David Axelrod, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs at the NATO Summit in Lisbon, Nov. 20, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

More official photos from the Lisbon summit here

michelle, miami, monday

First Lady Michelle Obama at Riverside Elementary School in Miami, Florida, November 22. The First Lady was helping launch a new initiative to make fresh salads and salad bars available during lunch break to schools around the country

“give ’em hell, barack”

Ari Emanuel, HuffPost (extracts): Even before this month’s midterm shellacking, many commentators were saying that Barack Obama was beginning to look like the second coming of Jimmy Carter. Now, with Congress tacking hard to the right, and 64 newly-minted Republican House Members lining up behind John Boehner, the doomsayers are growing even louder and bolder.

But the Obama equals Carter crowd is way off the mark. The more accurate resemblance is between Obama and Harry Truman.

The similarities are striking…. see here

History has been kinder to Truman than the Trib was today. … he’s lauded for his “the buck stops here” attitude and willingness to take responsibility — even for unpopular decisions.

The public now rates Truman as one of America’s best presidents.

For his part, President Obama already has three major accomplishments to his credit. By pushing through his stimulus package, he kept the country from plummeting into an economic depression. He enacted financial regulatory reform. And, most importantly, after 100 years of legislative futility, he oversaw the passage of comprehensive health care reform.

While this trio might not currently be seen as momentous, each will be vindicated by history — especially health care reform, which will cover more Americans than ever before, and transform how we deliver care, so that keeping people healthy becomes a priority not an afterthought.

President Obama has also spearheaded many other accomplishments that would be lauded under other administrations but have been overshadowed by his other achievements — or just ignored by his critics. These include: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (extending the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits); negotiating a favorable renewal of the START treaty; fixing the student loan program (while saving taxpayers tens of billions); redirecting the mission of NASA; and focusing the nation’s attention on the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Like Truman, Obama will not be fully appreciated until he is out of office. But, like Truman, he will win re-election. And also like Truman, Obama will one day be considered one of America’s great presidents because of his willingness to do bold things and take responsibility for momentous decision — even unpopular ones.

Give ’em hell, Barack.

“some folks are wise and some are otherwise”

CBS (November 14)

Thanks Chi 😉

picture perfect: no 28

Walking on the South Lawn of the White House, June 25, 2009 (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

See all the ‘Picture Perfect’ photos here