“we’re going to keep on pounding away at this thing”

Pictured from left are Press Secretary Jay Carney, Chief of Staff William Daley, Vice President Joe Biden and Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

ABC: President Obama touted a “productive meeting” at the White House Wednesday evening with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on negotiations to avert a government shutdown – but there’s no deal yet.

“I thought the meetings were frank, they were constructive,” Obama said, adding that the discussions helped focus the issues at hand.

Both Reid and Boehner expressed hope that a deal could be reached, with Reid seconding Obama’s notion that the “honest” meeting “narrowed the issues considerably”.

Obama, meeting with the congressional leaders for a second day in a row, suggested he would keep the pressure on both sides to negotiate a plan to keep the government running before funding dries up on midnight Friday evening.

“My expectation is that folks will work through the night,” Obama said. “If we haven’t made progress [by morning], we’re going to go at it again.”

“There is no reason we should not be able to complete a deal,” Obama added. “I want to meet the expectations of the American people in terms of delivering with them.”

…”A shutdown could have real consequences for real people,” Obama said. “There are ramifications all across this economy and at a time when the economy is still coming out of a very deep recession, it would be inexcusable” to have a government shutdown.

welcome

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden greet participants during a roundtable meeting with military spouses, veterans, and volunteers to discuss the military families initiative, in Dr. Biden’s office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, April 6. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

okay, where’s boehner, let me at him

President Obama returns to the White House after a visit to Philadelphia and New York, April 6. The President plans on meeting tonight with Senator Harry Reid and Representative John Boehner to break a stalemate in budget negotiations

Members of the Secret Service await the return of President outside the Oval Office

‘take that, tea party!’

Andrew Leonard (Salon): Call it the miracle of Wisconsin … With 100 percent of precincts reporting, the liberal candidate for state Supreme Court justice, JoAnne Kloppenburg, boasts a whopping 204 vote lead over the longtime incumbent and conservative Wisconsin fixture David Prosser…

…That there will be a recount appears inevitable … but this is a fairly amazing result. In February, Kloppenburg managed to get only 25 percent of the vote in a primary contested by four parties. Prosser was considered a shoo-in …  just six months later, the Tea Party tide, at least in Wisconsin, has been matched by a wave in the opposite direction.

Adding fuel to liberal euphoria, a Democrat also won election to the county executive seat in Milwaukee vacated by Gov. Scott Walker …and Kloppenburg decisively trounced Prosser in the district currently represented by Republican state Sen. Dan Kapanke, the first legislator for whom Democrats have accumulated enough signatures to force a recall vote….

The best evidence of what was at stake in this election, ironically, comes from the Walker camp. The night before the election, Walker’s chief counsel, Brian Hagedorn, sent out an email outlining the dire consequences of a Kloppenburg victory. “If Justice Prosser loses:

* The Supreme Court will shift from a 4-3 conservative majority to a 4-3 liberal majority.
* Governor Walker’s agenda could be stopped in its tracks by this new activist majority.
* Union bosses and their allies will be emboldened and further push to recall the brave Senators who voted for Governor Walker’s budget repair bill.
* (Chief Justice) Shirley Abrahamson and her allies will continue to drag down the reputation of the Court, with an additional vote to further push through their radical agenda.”

One could argue about who really has the “radical” agenda in Wisconsin, but the gist of Hagedorn’s email shouldn’t be in dispute. Walker’s opponents will be emboldened. And so will anyone else looking for evidence of what can happen when enough people get out and vote.

Full article here

(more) tears of a clown

ABC: He did it again.

John Boehner was driven to tears again today. This time it happened at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans.

According to sources inside the meeting, it happened while Boehner was speaking to the group about the latest on his negotiations with Democrats over government funding .. in a rousing conclusion, he thanked the House Republicans for standing by him and supporting him through these tense negotiations.

The Republican conference responded with a standing ovation for their speaker.

As you could imagine, that prompted the Speaker to cry.

“Yes,” said one person at the meeting, “He cried, but only briefly.”

😥

Thank you bjw2

***

I did it again, I ventured in to Teapublican territory on the interwebs just to see how they were reacting to yet more Boehner tears. They are not happy bunnies:

“Now I am envisioning him welling up and boo-hooing at this very moment in front of Reid and Obama. All they have to do is tell him how much they respect and admire him. They’ll have him down to one billion in cuts by eleven p.m.”

“God help us. We need someone with ice water in his veins, not mother’s milk.”

“Come on, GOP; dump this guy. He is an embarrassment.”

“C’mon man, enough with the damn crying.”

“Recall how obama threw him a bone during the SOTU message. He didn’t dry up for a day.”

“Oh Geez. Get a Grip, Boner!”

“OMG”

“john boohoo is not the man to lead us out of this disaster. He needs to step down – ASAP!”

“WTF? I understand crying once, say at a soldier’s memorial or something, but over every single thing?”

😆

my kind of town

President Obama greets Rev Al Sharpton as he arrives to speak at the 20th anniversary National Action Network Gala on April 6, in New York City

Former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson gives a ‘thumbs up’ to President Obama

Spike Lee uses his smartphone to take a picture of President Barack Obama … and then his iPad:

Former New York City mayor David Dinkins greets President Obama

looks like the president’s ready for this meeting ;-)

*** President Obama and Vice President Biden will meet with John Boehner and Harry Reid this evening to go over budget negotiations, the White House announced ***

Philadelphia International Airport, April 6

Update: Yes, he’s very ready:

President Obama at the 20th anniversary of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s organization National Action Network, April 6

start spreading the news….

President Obama greets people on the tarmac during his arrival at JFK International Airport in New York, April 6

“somehow we still don’t have a deal”

high energy

Full video later

President Obama speaks at the Gamesa Technology Corporation in Fairless Hills, Pa., April 6