‘we are going to win this thing’ (updated)

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event, Dec 13: Back in 2008, we used to talk about this being a historic moment for America, that we were at a crossroads in our history. Well, we haven’t fully crossed the road, and in some ways, 2012 is even more important than it was four years ago. The choices could not be starker. The vision about where we want to take the country could not be more different.

I gave a speech in Kansas last week where I talked about where we need to go as a country; a country that’s based on everybody having a fair shot, a country that depends on everybody doing their fair share, a country where fair play applies across the board….

…. And that vision, in contrast to a vision that basically says you are on your own, is what this election was about in 2008; it’s what this election is going to be about in 2012. I am confident that the vision that we believe in so deeply and that we’ve worked so hard for is the vision that is truest to our history and most representative of the core decency of the American people.

But we’re going to have to fight for it. It’s not a slam-dunk. We’re going to have to deliver this message effectively all across the country….

All of the things that we’ve done over the last three years – to rescue the economy and rescue the auto industry, and end the war in Iraq and end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and make sure that health care is in place, and financial reform brings back some integrity to the financial sector – all those things don’t mean that much to somebody if they’re still out of work right now, or their house is still underwater by $100,000.

So, yeah, this is going to be tough. But I just want to remind all of you that you didn’t decide to support Barack Hussein Obama because it was going to be easy. There were always easier choices to make, just as there would have been easier political choices for me to make. We took a flyer on this thing because we believe passionately in an America in which everybody is getting ahead.

That’s worth fighting for. And here’s my message to you. If you guys stick with this, if you don’t falter, if you stay steady, we are going to win this thing. We are going to win this thing, and America is going to win as a consequence.

Full speech here

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AP: Australia’s prime minister said Wednesday that President Barack Obama impressed her as a “good person” through his acknowledgment of attendants and security staff during his recent visit to Australia.

“I always think the way you can best judge people’s attitudes is not necessarily how they treat me, the prime minister of Australia, but how you see them interact with others, and as President Obama moved through Parliament House, he said hello to every attendant and every security guard he walked past.”

“He doesn’t have to do that – nothing makes him do that except being a good person,” she said.

…. Gillard described him as charming, with a “fabulous, high-voltage smile.” “The private person is very like the public person – very calm, very measured person, very intelligent, casual in a way,” she said.

“Clearly being president of the United States comes with all of this machinery and prestige, but in the middle of that, he is actually one-to-one in his reaction with people a very casual person,” Gillard said.

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Oh, any excuse:

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Wednesday:

10:05: The President and First Lady depart the White House en route to Joint Base Andrews

10:20: Leave Andrews for Ft. Bragg, N.C.

11:25: Arrive in Ft. Bragg

11:55: The President and First Lady deliver remarks to the troops

12:50: Depart Ft. Bragg

2:05: Arrive at the White House

5:00: The President attends a campaign event

evening all

Thanks BWD

I fixed that cover for Time:

WSJ: Chrysler Group LLC is on track to generate $3 billion in operating profit in 2012 thanks to rising vehicle sales in a recovering U.S. auto market, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday.

The auto maker should see its global sales reach two million cars and trucks this year, and rise 20% to 2.4 million in 2012…

….In the first three quarters of this year, Chrysler made $1.47 billion in operating profit. Year-to-date, the company has reported a net loss of $42 million, in part because it was paying interest on U.S. government loans for much of the year.

…. For the first three quarters of this year, GM reported $7.7 billion in net income, and Ford $6.6 billion.

Full post here

 

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TPM: With less than a month to go until the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, you’d probably think the candidate with the most offices and the the biggest operation in the Hawkeye State would be a Republican.

You’d be wrong….

Full post here

Thanks Loriah

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Vice President Joe Biden, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, hosts a Cabinet meeting to discuss the latest efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse, Dec. 13

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Republican Obstructionism:

Bob Cesca

Thanks desertflower

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President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden listen to Rob Nabors, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, during a meeting with senior advisors in the Oval Office, Dec. 13, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

carole king …. and more

MSNBC

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Washington Post: The White House says a more aggressive effort to nab deceptive government contractors and deceitful Medicare recipients is paying off – to the tune of billions of dollars.

The Obama administration plans to announce Tuesday that the Justice Department recovered more than $5.6 billion in fraud committed against the government in fiscal 2011. Almost $3.4 billion of the funds came in civil fraud recoveries, with more than $2.2 billion tied to criminal fraud, according to administration officials familiar with the announcement who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The announcement is tied to a Cabinet-level meeting to be held Tuesday regarding plans to cut wasteful government spending across federal agencies and departments.

Full article here

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Another promise kept

Thank you Meta

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Bloomberg: U.S. economic data are outperforming expectations by the most in nine months, a trend Federal Reserve officials may incorporate into their policy statement tomorrow.

The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index, a daily measure of whether economic data is better or worse than economists’ projections, improved to 85.7 on Dec. 2, the highest since March 9, after the Labor Department reported an unexpected drop in the jobless rate….

“Most of the economists are missing the underlying strength” in the world’s largest economy, said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. The Fed will “modestly upgrade the economic outlook but change little else.”

November unemployment at the lowest level in more than two years and manufacturing running at the fastest pace in five months are among data that may dissuade Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and fellow central bankers from pursuing a third-round of large scale asset purchases. At the same time, the Fed may still see “significant downside risks” for the economy as Europe’s financial crisis evolves.

More here

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Business Insider: It didn’t get much attention, but this morning the latest NFIB small business optimism survey came in stronger than expected, as more and more corporations see good sales and decent business conditions on the way.

This is important, in part, since small businesses have been rather negative on the economy, even while large companies have reported record earnings.

More here

Thanks Loriah

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Chicago Sun Times: President Barack Obama’s top strategist, David Axelrod, predicted much more scrutiny of GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich, citing the “homespun wisdom” of Ald. Dick Mell (33rd) as he compared Gingrich to a monkey on a pole exposing his butt.

“…. Last week you all left him for dead at the checkout counter at Tiffany’s and now he’s back, a lion in winter,” Axelrod quipped. “That’s L-I-O-N by the way, I don’t want to stir up any trouble here.”

…. “In certain ways [Gingrich] fits the role for this, because as we pointed out earlier in the week he is the original tea partier. You know, he brought that kind of politics to Congress in the early 90s, he led three government shut downs in order to try and roll back environmental protection…roll back the Department of Education and education programs, he wanted to cut Medicare, he wanted to give more tax cuts to the wealthy. He was really a forerunner of what we see today.”

“I told my colleagues yesterday a bit of homespun wisdom that I got from an alderman in Chicago some years ago when one of his …colleagues wanted to run for higher office and he was really dubious. He said:

“Just remember the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt.”

So, you know, the Speaker is very high on the pole right now and we’ll see how people like the view.”

Full article here

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President Obama arrives to speak at a campaign event in Washington, Dec. 13

“If you stay steady, we’re going to win this thing …. This is going to be tough. But, I just want to remind all of you that you didn’t decide to support Barack Hussein Obama because it would be easy.”

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Washington Jewish Week: When flames swept through Israel’s Carmel Forest last year, destroying dozens of homes and lives, President Barack Obama didn’t hesitate to help, said Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S….

…. Netanyahu directed his ambassador to, “Quick, go ask President Obama for help.”

That’s when Oren entered the White House and asked to see the president. “I told him the situation and without hesitation, President Obama turned to one of his aides and said, ‘get Israel whatever it needs. Now,’” Oren recalled.

….”America has 11 fire-fighting planes; the next morning, 8 of them took off for Israel, along with a team of fire-fighting commandos.” “Later that night,” Oren continued, “I learned, that the President left the Hanukkah reception and flew secretly to Afghanistan. Upon arriving, he called Washington and the first question he asked, ‘Has Israel gotten its planes?’”…..

Full article here

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rise and shine

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10:30: The President is interviewed by regional television outlets.

11:25: The President delivers remarks at a campaign event.

12:45 Jay Carney briefs the press.

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Michael Tomasky: Could Obama Be Headed for a Landslide?

Obama’s approval rating is soft, but new polls of South Carolina and Florida show him ahead of Gingrich and Romney. Michael Tomasky asks: could the GOP be headed for disaster?

How can Barack Obama, as this new NBC/Marist poll has it, be beating Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in South Carolina, of all places? …. Is it conceivable that 10 months and three weeks from now, Obama could actually win the state? If it happens, we will know that the Republicans are headed off the cliff. And that is precisely where we should all hope they go.

…. now let’s look at the Florida numbers from the NBC/Marist poll. There Obama is beating both Romney and Gingrich by outside the margin of error. He leads Romney 48-41 and Gingrich 51-39.

…. if Obama holds Florida, he can afford to lose Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and either Michigan or Pennsylvania, and still rack up a winning 270 electoral votes. But of course, if he’s winning Florida, he’s likely not losing any of those other states, with the exception of Indiana….

Ten months and three weeks is a long, long time. But today’s poll suggests that a wipeout of such proportions is not unimaginable….

Full post here

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Washington Post: Against the backdrop of a tightening Republican presidential contest, much of the hierarchy of President Obama’s campaign is decamping from Chicago to Washington on Tuesday for a high-profile debriefing on the the state of the president’s reelection effort.

…. At the top of the list is an erratic Republican presidential field roiled by the ascent of Newt Gingrich, whom the Democrats view as a weak challenger to the president. They also take some credit for the Gingrich surge, because it appears to have partly been a result of a devastating video attack on Mitt Romney produced by Obama’s longtime admaker.

A speech by Obama last week in Kansas – a searing attack on GOP economic policies – was hailed by one liberal critic as the “most important economic speech of his presidency.” This week, Obama is celebrating the end of the U.S. war in Iraq, making good on one of this central campaign promises. Even the unemployment rate has dipped.

….. senior Obama advisers and supporters are cautiously pointing to signs that perhaps the president’s fortunes have turned a corner. Among their favorites: the laundry list of politically tricky statements that front-runners Romney and Gingrich have made during the Republican race….

Full article here

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Politifact

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NY Daily News: Julianne Moore didn’t bring her research on Sarah Palin home with her ….. the flame-haired actress told us she “read every single thing” she could about the Grizzly Mama and “watched every interview” in order to prepare for her role as the former Alaska governor in next spring’s HBO mini-series, “Game Change.”

But when we asked Moore if she’d developed a newfound respect for Palin after delving deeper into her life, the actress, 51, raised an eyebrow and sighed deeply. “No,” she said quietly.

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Rudy Giuliani to Piers Morgan: “My gut tells me right now as I look at it that Gingrich might actually be the stronger candidate, because I think he can make a broader connection than Mitt Romney to those Reagan Democrats…You won’t have this barrier of possible elitism that I think Obama could exploit pretty effectively.”

Poor Mitt 😆

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Morning everyone 😉