the week ahead

Monday: There are no public events scheduled for the president … he will hold his monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan with his national security team.

Tuesday: The President and First Lady will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel for an official visit at the White House. Chancellor Merkel’s visit will include an official arrival ceremony, a bilateral meeting and a press conference with the two leaders.

In the evening, the Obamas will host a state dinner for Merkel and her husband, Dr Joachim Sauer. During the dinner ceremonies, President Obama will present Merkel with the 2010 Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Merkel was bestowed the award last year but was unable to attend the ceremony at the White House.

Wednesday: President Obama will attend an “event” – details to come – in the Washington area that the White House says will focus on “the importance of training and preparing our workforce to compete for manufacturing jobs across the nation”.

Later on Wednesday, the president will host the Auburn Tigers, Auburn University’s football team, winners of the 2010 BCS national championship.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan meets with President Obama at the White House.

Thursday: President Obama will welcome President Ali Bondo Ondimba of Gabon to the White House. Ondimba holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of June.

The White House has not released details of the president’s schedule for Friday.

CNN

eh, trying to rewrite history

See LittleGreenFootballs

Thank you Meta and Fred 😉

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From #accordingtopalin on Twitter – they’re all jokes, but the most hilarious thing is you could actually imagine the half-termer coming out with this stuff 😆

“nothing to celebrate”?

Steve Benen: In 2009, with the American automotive industry on the verge of collapse, and with at least a million American jobs on the line, President Obama unveiled a rescue strategy. John Boehner, like the rest of his party, predicted the policy would fail miserably. Two years later, we now know Obama was right and Boehner and the GOP were wrong. It takes a mature and responsible adult to admit when he’s wrong. It takes a Republican leader to screw up the same fight twice:

…Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) would rather have seen those jobs disappear … “The administration’s auto bailout is nothing to celebrate,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. “The model the White House should be touting is Ford, which, instead of relying on a taxpayer-funded bailout, saw trouble coming and made the tough decisions necessary to preserve jobs and weather the storm.”

….President Obama: “Today, each of the Big Three automakers – Chrysler, GM, and Ford – is turning a profit for the first time since 2004. Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency – and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule…. all three American automakers are now adding shifts and creating jobs at the strongest rate since the 1990s…. That’s remarkable when you think about where we were just a couple of years ago.”

If you have America’s best interests at heart, and you consider these developments “nothing to celebrate,” then maybe your celebratory standards are in need of revision….

Full post here

‘obama the nerd’!

Steve Benen: …..For the record, President Obama has collected Spider-Man comics; he knows the name of Superman’s father; he’s a fan of Star Trek; and can, rather effortlessly, offer a Vulcan salute. I distinctly remember laughing shortly after the ‘08 election when Ezra Klein wrote, “Obama is by far the most culturally awesome president this country has witnessed…. Forget beers: This is a president I could play Halo 3 with.”

Check out Smartypants’ blog (here) for photographic and video evidence of the nerd thing 😆

sunday

From the archives (three years old this month):

The Charlie Rose interviews:

November, 2004

October, 2006

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Morning everyone. I hope that Newt pic didn’t give you nightmares 😕

See you all later 😉