President Barack Obama shakes hands with audience members after speaking at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, May 20
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President Barack Obama applauds CIA Director Leon Panetta
Text of address here
Archive for May 20th, 2011
20
May
11
netanyahu
President Barack Obama meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in the Oval Office at the White House, May 20
President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as they walk from the Oval Office to the South Lawn Drive of the White House, following their meetings, May 20, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
20
May
11
hello!
I’ll be out for a few hours, catch you all later 😉
Governor Nikki Haley speaks during a meeting of the Tea Party in Columbia Thursday night at the Statehouse. A.L. Geddings and Louise Geddings of Columbia were representative of the low turnout.
The State: The Columbia Tea Party went from Donald Trump to jilted chump after the celebrity businessman canceled his appearance at Thursday’s State House rally, and state legislators approved tax breaks and spending that the group opposed.
Trump’s decision to not enter the GOP presidential race left local Tea Party leaders stewing about the way they had been treated. But about 30 people were on hand Thursday to thank Gov. Nikki Haley, lawmakers and activists for their work to require more on-the-record Legislative votes.
It was all part of a tough week for the state’s Tea Party movement.…
Columbia Tea Party chairman Allen Olson expected as many as 2,000 would have attended Thursday’s rally had Trump been there. But The Donald, a favorite of many who attended the group’s Tax Day rally with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann elected to not run and dropped the rally from his schedule.
“It was a kick in the gut, but it gives you a chance to regroup,” said Olson.
Full article here
Thank you Donna Dem! 😆
20
May
11
“expects”??
President Barack Obama talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office, May 18, 2009
Jeffrey Goldberg (The Atlantic): …I was taken aback when I read a statement from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday that he “expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004, which were overwhelmingly supported by both House of Congress.”
So Netanyahu “expects” to hear this from the President of the United States? And if President Obama doesn’t walk back the speech, what will Netanyahu do? Will he cut off Israeli military aid to the U.S.? Will he cease to fight for the U.S. in the United Nations, and in the many international forums that treat Israel as a pariah?
I don’t like this word, “expect”. Even if there weren’t an imbalance between these two countries – Israel depends on the U.S. for its survival, while America, I imagine, would continue to exist even if Israel ceased to exist – I would find myself feeling resentful about the way Netanyahu speaks about our President.
….he threw something of a hissy fit. It was not appropriate, and more to the point, it was not tactically wise … Prime Minister Netanyahu needs the support of President Obama in order to confront the greatest danger Israel has ever faced: the potential of a nuclear-armed Iran. And yet he seems to go out of his way to alienate the President. Why does he do this? It’s a mystery to me.
Full post here
Thank you LoriahR
Also from Jeffrey Goldberg:….Republicans are misreading Obama’s speech for short-term political gain. But they’re doing the cause they ostensibly support – Israel – a disservice in the process. Because President Obama’s speech was enthusiastically pro-Israel …
Here’s Tim Pawlenty on the speech, misreading a crucial passage: “President Obama’s insistence on a return to the 1967 borders is a mistaken and very dangerous demand….”
President Obama didn’t “insist” that Israel return to its 1967 borders. He said the 1967 borders should form the basis of negotiations, and that Israel and Palestine should swap land, land swaps that would bring settlement blocs and East Jerusalem Jewish neighborhoods into Israel proper.
But Pawlenty is a master of subtlety when compared to Mitt Romney, who said: “President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus……”
Obama has thrown Israel under a bus? Top officials of the Israeli defense ministry have been telling me, and other reporters, for a couple of years now that military cooperation between their country and America has never been better. Some bus. There are a lot of countries out there that would like to be thrown under similar buses.
Full post here
20
May
11
(almost) ready
Welcome messages to US President Barack Obama are pictured on display in Dublin, Ireland, on May 20, ahead of his visit to the country. US President Barack Obama will visit Ireland on Monday.
A T-shirt produced to commemorate the visit of US President Barack Obama is pictured in a gift shop in Dublin
Street signs are removed from the centre of College Green, opposite Trinity College, in Dublin to make way for a platform to be built for a speech by US President Barack Obama
Hundreds of people wait patiently in Moneygall to collect their ‘golden tickets’ that will allow them see American President Barack Obama during next week’s visit
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May
11
coming up
USA Today: First lady Michelle Obama, who has visited with troops’ spouses and children at bases across the USA, today takes her message of support for military families straight to the young men and women who will be leading future troops in battle.
Obama will address roughly 1,000 graduating cadets and their families at West Point’s annual graduation family banquet held the night before commencement ceremonies.
Her appearance will … mark the first time a first lady has addressed graduating cadets at the prestigious United States Military Academy.
See you all later 😉
President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughter Malia arrive at Sidwell Friends Lower Campus for a school function for their daughter Sasha, May 20. Obama is scheduled to meet later with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
ABC: Chrysler Group LLC could repay most of its government loans as early as next week after raising $7.5 billion from bank loans and bond sales.
The company said last month that it intended repay the U.S. and Canadian governments during the second quarter. It announced the financial details on Thursday. Chrysler could repay the government as early as Tuesday if the deals close as expected.
…Chrysler took $10.5 billion from the U.S. government to survive two years ago, and it has repaid some of the money. The refinancing will allow it to retire a $5.9 billion balance on the U.S. loans and $1.6 billion to the governments of Canada and Ontario.
…Chrysler’s action is the latest in the long comeback of the Detroit auto industry after the recession put its future in doubt … Earlier this month Chrysler announced first-quarter net income of $116 million, its first profitable quarter since 2006. Its sales are up nearly 23 percent this year….
More here
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May
11
a mark of madness?
Mark Halperin’s obsession with the Alaskan half-termer is …. well …. bizarre. He must be the last man alive who takes this creature seriously.
His headline story at the moment on The Page is not about the reaction to the President’s speech on the Middle East, it’s not about the President’s meeting today with PM Netanyahu, it’s not about Jon Huntsman’s interview on GMA, it’s about the half-termer telling Fox (who else?) that she has ‘fire in her belly’. I kid you not, that’s his lead story, under the headline ‘Woman of Fire’.
The Obama Diary 
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