homeward bound

President Obama and his family walk to board Air Force One in Massachusetts, August 26

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President Obama and his family arrive at Andrews Air Force Base

Back at the White House.

friends

Left to right – Martin Nesbitt, Valerie Jarrett, Dr. Eric Whitaker

The State: They golf with him, they vacation with him, their kids and his kids hang out. To them, he is Barack, not Mr. President. He can be teased and tease back.

They form the trusted circle of tightlipped friends who have sustained Barack Obama through good times and bad since his days in Chicago, from Hawaii to Washington to Martha’s Vineyard and back again.

For the most powerful man on the planet who nonetheless may have one of the loneliest jobs, a close band of buddies – Eric Whitaker, Martin Nesbitt and Valerie Jarrett form the core – has become a second family, to a degree replacing the one he lost or never had with the absence of his father and death of his mother in 1995.

Apart from wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha, they are the people he is closest with. And to the president, in his private life a creature of habit, there’s a comfort in turning to trusted friends with whom confidence runs deep and there is no question about where loyalties lie.

“I think that for a president of the United States who’s always on, it’s a relief to be around people who’ve known you for a very long time so that you can just be comfortable, No. 1 being yourself, and No. 2 knowing that you can trust them completely,” Jarrett said in an interview.

“There’s a level of trust that has withstood the test of time. He doesn’t have to worry about his friends leaking the details of his vacation to the press,” she said.

“He enjoys being around people who are completely comfortable teasing him and treating him like a friend and not the president of the United States.”

Full article here

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CBS: Obama’s Circle Of Friends (January 21, 2009) – ‘From Barry to President Obama; Erin Moriarity speaks with Marty Nesbitt, one of President Obama’s closest friends, about this historic moment and the importance of friendship.’ (You can see the original video here)

‘a master of foreign policy must confront the march of the economic morons’

Robert Shrum: A master of foreign policy must confront the march of the economic morons to evade the 41st president’s fate

With the fall of Moammar Gadhafi’s evil kleptocracy, Barack Obama is arguably the most successful foreign policy president since George H. W. Bush. And we know what happened to him.

First, Obama’s successes: The restoration of respect for America abroad; the negotiation and ratification of the new START nuclear arms treaty with Russia; his resolve to wind down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by a date certain … relying on special operations and drones to counter the terrorist threat that infests the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, while skillful diplomacy with India has lessened the odds of a potential nuclear conflict on the subcontinent.

The promise of special ops was stunningly proven in the boldest decision of the president who, when he made it, surely realized that he had the loneliest job in the world … With a cool hand and no drama … Obama ventured a risky mission to capture or kill the elusive mastermind of 9/11. The mission was finally accomplished, but not with the bluster of Bush 43.

The president had already orchestrated American influence with the Egyptian army to secure the uprising there …. He took a similar approach in Libya in the face of withering and often opportunistic criticism from Republicans…..Predictably, Obama’s GOP adversaries now celebrate the outcome while refusing to give the president a scintilla of credit….

… The president doesn’t have the power here he wields in foreign affairs – and the tea-drugged Republican House and the filibuster-intoxicated Republicans in the Senate are bent on blocking whatever Obama is for … he has to contend with a march of morons that stretches from Capitol Hill to the summit of international policymaking.

….in the plain sight of the American people, the president can become the fighter for jobs and growth – and the GOP, to invert Obama’s own phrase, can be blamed for putting politics ahead of country. The Republicans are so overt in their obstruction that Obama won’t even have to say this explicitly; they themselves will pin the tail on the elephant.

….It’s time for this president to move on from the art of the possible to the art of persuasion. He was superb at that in 2008, and he can be again. The leader who so notably succeeded in foreign policy – and legislatively in health and financial reform – now has to recapture the nation’s imagination….

Full article here

‘maya angelou’s abundant hope’

by Dr Maya Angelou

Reverend Martin Luther King

The great soul
Flew from the Creator
Bearing manna of hope
For his country
Starving severely from an absence of compassion.

Martin Luther King

The Great Spirit,
Came from the Creator
Proffering a sparkling fountain of fair play
To his country
Parched and deformed by hate.

The whole man came forth
With a brain of gentle wisdom
To persuade quiet
Upon the loud misery of the mob.

Read the full poem at WhiteHouse.gov

Thank you Meta

but, but, but ….. they said he’d lost the base?

Orlando Sentinel: Organize for America opened a new office in east Orlando to an overflow crowd tonight. The crowd came in part to hear U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is also chair of the Democratic National Committee. But most appeared to be current campaign volunteers or ready to enlist.

….. This is not the campaign committee’s entrance to Orlando, but merely a short move, a few blocks down Colonial, in a quest for more room. OFA first set up shop last spring in offices at the corner of Colonial and Mills.

Last night it still was no where near enough room. The crowd filled OFA’s new second floor suite of offices at 1516 E. Colonial Dr., as well as both the first and second floor lobbies.

welcome back!

The W.E.E. See You people have a new home (here), and it looks positively lovely – bookmark it now!

take care

President Barack Obama holds conference call on Hurricane Irene with FEMA Director Craig Fugate, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Chief of Staff Bill Daley, and John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, in Chilmark, Mass., Aug. 26. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and his family are coming home tonight, ending their vacation one evening early as Hurricane Irene hits the East Coast.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest announced the change in plans to reporters traveling with Obama on Martha’s Vineyard Friday morning. “I think the president simply reached the conclusion that it would be more prudent for him to be in Washington, D.C., and to be at the White House at the end of the day today,” he said.

President Barack Obama confers on Hurricane Irene with affected governors and mayors, as John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, monitors the call, inside the Fisher House at Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, Mass., Aug. 26. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama’s daughter Sasha looks out the window of an SUV as she departs Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, Massachusetts, August 26

coming up

White House Live

Loved Africa’s comment on this: “Why is he giving that speech now? He should have done so two weeks ago.”

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Hi everyone, I have to head out for a few hours but I’ll catch up and update later – have a perfect day 😉

‘something smells rotten’

west wing week: mailbag day, summer edition 2011