no one’s interested in the state of the union, you know

…well, apart from the 42 million Americans who watched it last night (figures just released). Thirty-one million watched the President’s Tucson speech.

hey, it’s twinkle toes!

President Barack Obama arrives to deliver remarks at Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc, Wis., Jan. 26,

snowed under

President Barack Obama walks down the stairs of Air Force One in the snow at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Jan. 26

The motorcade of President Obama is stuck in traffic during a snow storm in Washington, January 26. Obama’s motorcade was forced to negotiate multiple traffic accidents and heavy snow from Andrews Air Force Base back to the White House as a snow storm hit Washington and forced Marine One to be grounded.

According to Mark Knoller, it  took the presidential motorcade over an hour to drive from Andrews back to the White House, compared to the 24 minutes the reverse trip took this morning. 😦

‘obama wins velma hart back with sotu speech’

Daily Beast: Velma Hart didn’t want to become a media darling for telling the president she was “exhausted” with him last September at a televised town-hall meeting. She’s a “staunch” supporter, she says, both then and now. But her concerns about the dark place the recession might be taking her family resonated with Americans … she feels her fundamental question, however, got lost in the debate, which was simply: “Is this my new reality?”

…Watching the State of the Union on television, she found reason for optimism, and even for a change in her parenting. “My youngest has wanted to be a teacher, that’s been her dream since she could walk and talk, and I’ve always steered her away from that,” she said. Hart has friends who have struggled as teachers, and she didn’t want the same for her child. But now she says she hopes that her daughter, an eighth-grader, will catch the window when education reform will have kicked in and will grant her opportunities a decade from now that don’t exist today. Hart had not expected Obama to talk about education, yet it was in that realm that he most affected her. “The idea that she could some day be considered—what did he call it—a ‘nation-builder’ as a teacher? That’s hot. I just love that.” She added, “I won’t discourage her from being a teacher anymore.”

….in short: Obama passed the Velma Hart test. “He spoke plain to us, he told us the truth, what’s important, and how to move forward.” … she was impressed with his poise, and said, “it sounds maybe a little glib, but I was struck by how presidential he was.”

….What she found most striking was Obama’s argument that the American people were adjusting to live within their means, and that they deserved a government who did the same. “Now that’s just poetic,” she said.

In short: Obama passed the Velma Hart test. “He spoke plain to us, he told us the truth, what’s important, and how to move forward.” But then what? “The real test is what happens tomorrow,” says Hart, concerned about when lawmakers go back to work. “Will compromise still be a dirty word?”

Read the full article here

jeez dennis, your teeth look fine to me

President Obama with Rep Dennis Kucinich, March 23, 2010

Salon: Dennis Kucinich is suing the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria because of a sandwich.…The Cleveland congressman filed suit against a number of companies that supply and run the congressional eatery, because in 2008 he bit into a “sandwich wrap” of some kind and hurt his teeth on an olive pit.

According to the suit: “Said sandwich wrap was unwholesome and unfit for human consumption, in that it was represented to contain pitted olives, yet unknown to plaintiff contained an unpitted olive or olives which plaintiff did not reasonably expect to be present in the food prepared for him, and could not visually detect prior to consumption.”

Kucinich claims he suffered “serious and permanent dental and oral injuries” and has sustained “other damages as well,” including “suffering and loss of enjoyment.” He is seeking  $150,000 in damages. Gawker found video of Kucinich talking on the floor of the house five days after Olivegate, and he seems fine…

😯

a day to remember

West Philadelphia High School student Brandon Ford (far right) attends the State of the Union address sitting in the first lady Michelle Obama’s box.

Newsworks: West Philly High School Junior Brandon Ford is returning home today after a whirlwind trip to Washington, DC. Tuesday night he watched the State of the Union Address alongside First Lady Michelle Obama.

“It was an honor to be there,” Ford said. “It was an honor to sit in her box and it was an overwhelming, great experience for me.” Ford shook hands with President Obama and and got a picture with the First Lady….

Ford had been invited to a speech at the White House in September as part of the West Philly Hybrid X team. The group won national attention for outlasting teams of professionals and college students in an international competition to design fuel-efficient cars.

But Ford forgot his ID, so he wasn’t allowed through security and into the White House. He had to wait outside, where the Hybrid X Team’s director, Simon Hauger, said a White House staffer took pity on him. “One of the staffers there felt really bad that Brandon wouldn’t get to come in so she said she would try to do something for him,” Hauger said. “Our gut was a letter or a photo or something like that.”

Nothing came in the mail and after a few weeks, everyone thought the President had forgotten about Brandon. Then last week, a call came from Washington asking if Brandon would like to sit with the First Lady during the State of the Union.

“We were utterly surprised and delighted,” Hauger said. “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid, he’s really delightful.”

Read the full article here

support

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet the Green family after the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 25. John and Roxanna Green are the parents of eleven-year-old Dallas and the late Christina Taylor, the nine-year-old girl killed when a gunman opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson earlier this month. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

unlikeliest joint statement in the history of joint statements?

President Barack Obama with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, August, 2010

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following joint statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

“America’s working families and business community stand united in applauding President Obama’s call to create jobs and grow our economy through investment in our nation’s infrastructure.

“Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools, these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete in a global economy.

“With the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO standing together to support job creation, we hope that Democrats and Republicans in Congress will also join together to build America’s infrastructure.”

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue

a wisconsin welcome

People wave at President Barack Obama’s motorcade as he drives to Tower Tech Systems, Inc, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on January 26 as part of his White House to Main Street Tour

…touring Skana Aluminum Company in Manitowoc

People line the streets to greet President Barack Obama on a visit to Manitowoc, Wis

Back to DC

hey, nice shades

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Orion Energy Systems founder and CEO Neal Verfuerth, center, greets a worker at the company in Manitowoc, Wis., Jan. 26. Orion Energy Systems makes high-efficiency lighting and renewable solar technology for businesses.