Colombian children look at President Obama during a land titling event for Afro-Colombian communities in Cartagena
…. gesturing to Colombian singer Shakira, as Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos looks on, during a land titling event for Afro-Colombian communities in Cartagena
…. greeting Sebastian Salgado, of the Afro-Colombian San Basilio de Palenque community, during a land titling event at the San Pedro Claver square in Cartagena
Catholic Priest Alvaro Gutierrez leads President Obama and President Santos on a tour of the Spanish colonial Cathedral San Pedro Claver in Cartagena
…. greeting people during a land titling event for Afro-Colombian communities in Cartagena
…. at a multilateral meeting with Caribbean Leaders. Front row from left to right, Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Kenny Davis Anthony, Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Joseph Thomas Barbados’ Prime Minister Freundel Jerome Stuart, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, President Barack Obama, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Belize’s Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega, Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. Back row, from left, unidentified, Haiti’s Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Winston Baldwin, Bahamas’ Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette, Dominican Republic’s President Leonel Fernandez, Saint Kitts and Nevis’s Prime Minister Denzil Llewellyn Douglas and Suriname’s President Desire Delano Bouterse.
From left to right, clockwise: Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Winston Baldwin, Bahamas’ Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette and Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Departing on Air Force One from Rafael Nunez International Airport in Cartagena, April 15
More photos in the posts below
****
The Obama Diary 
Did I make it???
yes!
Yes you did, Quick Draw;) Beat me to it!
Congrats SueBee!!!
Winner!!!!!
So adorable!
Awww..I got the three cuties in one pic! Thanks Chips!
OMG that is so sweet I’m gaining weight just looking at it.
Awwwwwwwww ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Goodness, Chips, look at all this splendid Colombia coverage! You are the best. I have a lot to catch up on. The weather was so gorgeous here, I hope it was as gorgeous where you are and that you got to spend at least some time enjoying the day. Thank you for all you continue to do!
Oh, aren’t they so precious? I will not say it, because you guys know I love all the pictures of POTUS with FLOTUS and his family. What a special First Family we have, and that includes Bo too. 4 More Years.
4 More Years!!!! 4 More Years!!! 4 More Years!!!
I have got to have that picture to put in my Obamas picture books.
Congrats SueBee.
Did anyone tell you if you’re first you have to bring the refreshments?
Oh..really? I got rum..LOL
works for me, tho I’m a scotch person.
My family is from Trinidad & Tobago & Venezuela. My dad always loved his scotch, but family did NOT come to visit from T&T without some good rum and guava jelly. To this day, the smell of good rum reminds me of my aunts & uncles visiting at home.
Yeah, I know. Strange, but not really. There’s a special smell to good T&T rum I tell ya.
Yes!! Nothing strange about that..I have aunts back home who still make guava jelly…and I got that good Johnnie Walker Green over here too..:D
guava jelly wrapped in thin brown waxyish paper….peeling the paper back from all the sticky sweetness…the anticipation of that first slice. mmmm 😆
Good evening! Say can I join the party.
i agree about the rum. When my Parents come to visit me here In Atlanta, they always brought the great rum from home. Vat 19 and Old Oak, there is none better, They are gone now, but I am always reminded of them when I smell the rum. I love My Country of Birth Trinidad.
Hola!
Oh Wow, Chips, I am a kid in a candy store with all of these photos.
Posting this here again….everytime I post, Ms Chips gives us a new playground! It is oppositional research on Romney found by McCain campaign…and a MUST READ! Can someone Tweet this to the important folks at PBO’s campaign….???They will have a field day/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/78582788/McCain-2008-Oppo-File Just peruse for yourself. The man is a liar and a fraud.
everyone needs to at least bookmark this link. Lot’s of useful info that will come in handy in the months ahead.
Oh wow, what a goldmine – bookmarked, I’m going to study every word tomorrow. Thank you Desertflower.
Good, because I just got done skimming this, and it is a goldmine of info! From all his shipping jobs overseas, to the mess he left MA in, to his flip flopping views, to Bain ties with China/Iran, OMG.HUGE! I recommend that everyone bookmark this…for sure!
I love the picture of President Obama holdng hands with the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and Trinidad..I am especially proud because I am originally from Trinidad..my family back home is so excited and proud 😀
Isn’t that the sweetest picture? All those men there.. and our POTUS stands in the middle like a link to all of South America.
Yes! I hope he goes to Jamaica eventually, when he went to Trinidad a couple years ago it was like Carnival!
Maybe a trip with FLOTUS and the girls to Jamaica, can you just imagine that? Wow.
I am hoping that he comes to the Bahamas..
my youngest granddaughters mom & family all go home to Trinidad every year for Carnival.. her mom is from there originally.
Jamaica and Trinidad have female leaders, well maybe it will be America time in 2016. Hillary Clinton maybe. But I will focus on that later, what matter now is to re-elect President Obama.
Chips, the trip to Colombia was really made special by your excellent coverage. Thanks.
Ah, thank you UT! I didn’t have the time the past couple of days to look up articles on the trip, I really just posted pics and videos, but I’ll check tomorrow if I missed anything good. Thanks UT.
I appreciate it too Chips. I’ve only had time to check in every now & then this weekend .. and have been thrilled by your coverage- thank you as always 🙂
Ditto. Occasional peeks during the day. Lots of good stuff to catch up on in the evening. Thanks much ChipsChica
Thanks a million sherijr, our trips abroad are always good fun!
Chips – I agree with the others. Well done!
Yes they are the best Chips.. I so enjoy taking these little jaunts around the world with all of you 🙂
Si, Gracias, Hermana, Chips~
I agree 1000%, UT. I don’t know what I (we) would do without Ms. Chips.
Look at him:) In the 10th picture down, he’s holding both women’s hands that are beside him. I love him.
Desertflower, when Miss Pat sees that photo she’ll faint! All she wanted was a pic of PBO and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller … I think she’ll like that one.
Truly! She’ll be EXTRA HAPPY with this one:)
Just wonderful to see how they just love him! Awesome pics!
Julie
Those are some of the prettiest children I’ve seen. How precious! What lovely faces!
You made it SueBee, congrats!
Hi Chips Chica, haven’t harassed you in what seems like forever. How ARE you? Enjoying your pics as per usual. Thanks.
Helloooooooooooo VC! I’m doing good, how are things with you?
Apart from being unable to keep up with TOD, Twitter & linked articles at the same time, EVERYTHING is fine. I really don’t know how you do it. Are you hiding a personal secretary somewhere out of sight/ Fess up, if only to save my self-esteem! 😆 😆
The kids in the video completely cracked me up, they are SO bored by the speeches!!! 😆
Could you imagine being 10, having to sit in the heat in your sunday best listening to a foreigner drone on in a language you don’t understand? Must suck to be them. <—that last part was my lunatic self. Please ignore. 🙄
LOL But in the first picture the way they look at him. It's like you can see them thinking, 'that could be me'. That is the most substantial gift of this presidency. How so many who never thought they could, could now see the possibility.
President Obama is so debonair. I mean there ought to be a law 😀
All I can say is, Thank you, Chips. Without you, where would we be ?
My pleasure Eve – thank you!
That wink at 6:44 was for me, by the way, so back off ladies.
No doubt for all you do to keep us informed, entertained, motivated and captivated. 😀
Chips, I gave a loving request to Jay and Pete to make sure that wink was for our Chipsticks. See that my requests went through.
Thanks for all that you do for us and POB, Chips. ((((((((((((((Love you back so much)))))))))))))HZ
Obama ‘hopeful’ about transition in CubaThe Associated Press () 04/15/2012 18:11
President Barack Obama says he is “hopeful” about the prospect of a transition in Cuba and says there may be an opportunity in the coming years for communist-run island to start “loosening up.”
Obama says the U.S. would welcome a free Cuba. He says he is not a U.S. president who brings “a lot of baggage” to this issue and is willing to look at the problem in a fresh way.
Divisions over Cuba kept leaders at the Summit of the Americas from agreeing to a joint summit declaration. Some countries wanted to include language specifying that Cuba attend the next regional meetings, but the U.S. was opposed.
The U.S., which has a half-century long economic embargo on Cuba, says the communist-run island does not meet the summit’s democratic standards.
“He says he is not a U.S. president who brings “a lot of baggage” to this issue and is willing to look at the problem in a fresh way.”
Thank you PBO. That’s what I was talking about in the last thread.
The old half-century long, anti-communist paranoia brigade hopefully gasping it’s last breath. (well not if the teabaggers and RWNJs have anything to say about it.
Ummm, and thanks Jovie for find that.
Beautiful children.
Thanks for all that you do Chips..I alway wait until the end of the day to come on the website…it enhances my day when I am having a good one and it cheers me up when I am having a bad one..thanks again 😀
Thank you SueBee, thank you everyone – now, stop making me blush! I trust you’re all suitably jet-lagged after your trip to Colombia?
Chips, cannot thank you enough…….once more before sleepy time. Good night.
Night LDS, thank you.
Thank you, Chipsticks! 🙂
A-Fucking-Men.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/15/1083641/-Obama-Cheney-has-been-Unmitigated-Disaster-To-The-Country-
Hate (i.e. Cheney) is a cancer for which there is no cure. Every word, smirk, gesture from this man is a physical manifestation of the toxic protoplasmic material this man is made of. He gets a second chance at life with a new heart, but the cancer of hate is so strong it will destroy his new heart too. It will be interesting to see how history deals with Cheney.
Do you think Cheney made sure he got a nasty old mean heart like the one he had. It’s clear we got the same old nasty hateful torture loving Dick Cheney. He was a disgrace the eight years and he still is a disgrace.
No matter what heart that was put into Cheney’s chest, he just does not have the decent human capacity to live a compassionate and loving life. He is a very bitter, painful,, old hate person who has allowed the cancerous hate to take over his entire mind and soul.
He is a disgrace to the decent human beings who help others daily, speak kind words, think of those things that are pure, loving, and gentle. The hate that he carries around in his life brings nothing but harm to an entire world, and that is a very sad legacy.
This man is in need of a physician, and I do mean a “Great Divine Physician”, or his soul is going to rot in a hellish place where such evil can never touch another child, mother, father, family or nation.
I pray that the goodness of POB will always be of such compassiona, caring, and sweetness within his spirit that we will long forget what Cheney has and still is doing to this country.
I am so elated that we have a decent and caring man in the Oval Office today and will continue to have for a second term. That is our job to get done. Let us all start participating in assisting a beautiful President to help us think on those things that he does daily to make this nation and this world a beautiful and better place for mankind to to enjoy. I’ll take POB anyday over the above mentioned person. Give us Obama/Biden for 4 more years, dear Almighty God.HZ
And this…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/15/1082885/-Dear-Ann-Romney-allow-others-the-choice-you-made
great articles DF
That was excellent. Funny. I can’t see that man saying thank you to anyone for anything. Ever.
Goodnight, sweet dreams to all! I am so proud of our intelligent (and handsome) President. He renews the promise of America. Oh, so does TOD, and all who dwell in blog heaven here! Bless our Chips! (sue bee and LunarSea, you go easy with that rum!) 🙂
Well said Pamela! “He renews the promise of America.” — So true!
Good Evening Everyone! So glad to get a chance to pop in before crashing for the night. Thank you for the gorgeous pictures and videos of the President’s trip to Columbia Chips. You’re always on the ball!
I have a lot of catching up to do. I’ve been entertaining family all this week. It’s amazing how exhausting just having family visit can be. Missed my TOD family though. It’s been like going through withdrawals. 🙂
You were missed, Dudette, but glad your family left something of you to return to us! You will rest and invigorate here! Goodnight, see you tomorrow!
Thanks Pamela! Goodnight! 🙂
Missed you Dudette. Glad that you are back. Get some rest and relax. Hope your visit with your family had its wonderful fun moments in it. Take care.HZ
Well Good night everyone. have a bless night. I guess POTUS should be home by now i hope.
I always breathe a sigh of relief when he gets home…I am always uneasy when he’s abroad..
Someone recommended watching “The Road We’ve Travelled” earlier as a tonic to the lunacy from the media, and I happened to watch the “The Story of Fired Up” after that. Very refreshed and ready to go. Good night everyone! Great weekend.
Good night, theo67. Have a restful evening. HZ
Etch-A-Sketch flip flopper, and pathological liar Mitt Romney told donors today what he will do for them if he becomes President and what cuts he’ll make including cuts to The Department of Eaducation and housing while giving top earners more tax breaks. I’m sorry, but I hate this man with a passion.
Cheryllou, you aren’t the only one who can’t stand the lying flip flopper. I wasn’t crazy about John McCain either, but you at least had alittle bit of respect for McCain. Mitt Romney, there is nothing about the man that I like or respect. NOTHING!!!!!
Hope EAS-FF-PL Myth Robme will make the same mistake McCain made and select a horrible VP pick that will put a final nail in this presidential asperations.
Ok people shit is about to hit the fan. Mitt Romney, according to Buzzfeed is Selling Inauguration Access, Nine Months Early. Read more here
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-sells-inauguration-access-nine-months-earl
Looks like bribing to me! He better realize that he is the PRESUMPTIVE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE to RUN for President, not the PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENT. What a douche. I hope this lands him in a shit load of trouble.
Naw, he,ll have to pay back the money in November.
Chips
Thanks for the wonderful coverage of his trip. Without you I would have no idea what the president is doing. Thanks.
Guys remember the campaign season has begun and we should look at a jaundiced eye in everything as the GOP will do everything to manifacture and try too discredit PBO.
Bed time for me. Thank you for your tremendous coverage this weekend, Chips. You’re amazing…and we all appreciate all you do. You’re the BEST! Night all.
Chips!! Thank you so much for this wonderful coverage. I cried throughout PBO’s wonderful speech to the Afro-Colombians. I only wish it would have been broadcast here live. Thank you for all that you do to tell the true story of the Obama Presidency.
Lady Chipsticks, one in a million. I add my appreciation to all you do, if it wasn’t for this site……
Dear TODers,
I remember the day I purchased the LP of this most wonderful album shortly after it was released – yep, I’m that old 🙂
It is a treasure and hope any of you who don’t know will find it as special as it is … and still is for me every time I listen to it 45 years later.
#PRESSON
Hi Everyone…not sure if this has already been posted, but it looks legit…https://twitter.com/#!/MittRmoney/status/191796576077881344
Thanks for posting this Bob. I remember this brilliant album the Moody Blues made. I loved it, too, IMO this was their best album. I would play it over and over again.
NBC News is reporting that Ann Romney said during a closed-door fund raiser in Florida that Hilary Rosen’s comment was “an early birthday present”. “It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother, and that was really a defining moment, and I loved it.” She told the audience the “slam” was a boon to her and her husband’s campaign.
So. it is all about the campaign with Mrs. Willard.
This is great. She is confirming what everyone knew from junpstreet. The Romney campaign led the news media around by the nose and they knew they were being led around by the nose. They still chose to be a willing accomplice to the charade. That’s what passes for journalism these days. I bet this admission from Ann Romney won’t give the news media pause the next time. They are probably anxiously awaiting the next poutrage incident to cover. Because reporting on poutrage is easy, reporting on real news and facts is so hard.
Ladyhawke, you are so true. The sorry media knew that was alot of bull crap, but yet over and over and over again they talked about it, just like the media were in bed with the Romney Camp. And now look at how they acted with this Secret Services scandal, mention sex, prostitutes to the media and they act like a bunch of horny teens. If when the first question were asked of Jay Carney and he said they would have to speak to so and so, why not leave it alone and speak to so and so. But they kept asking the same old stupid question.
Yes it’s just about the campaign, AnnRomney is just like her husband, willing to say or do anything to win. Even lie. Like Mitt she don’t give a dam about stay at homes Moms, unless it’s rich stay at home Moms, the 1%. Like her.
everything you guys just said!
Robney will be at Fenway today to watch the Sox game!
Pandering?
The Draperizing of Mitt Romney is under way.
He may not drink or cheat, and he lacks the fictional ad-maker’s charisma, but Democrats, despite the potential perils of such a strategy, remain determined to paint Romney as a throwback to the “Mad Men” era — a hopelessly retro figure who, on policy and in his personal life, is living in the past.
President Barack Obama has noted the presumptive GOP nominee uses archaic turns of phrase such as “marvelous” and warned in an email to donors Thursday that his rival would usher in “a social agenda from the 1950s.”
The president’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, has gone further, quipping that the former Massachusetts governor “must watch ‘Mad Men’ and think it’s the evening news” while jabbing that Romney’s views are out of a time when “bosses could dictate on women’s health.”
http://m.lvsun.com/news/2012/apr/16/obama-campaign-tries-paint-mitt-romney-don-draper-/
Their goes Mika talking about Ann Robney, again. I really really love Ann Robney, I do I do I do!
Yawn!
I cannot watch Morning Joe any longer. They are completely in the tank for Romney. But, thanks for keeping us posted what they are babbling about.
Bill I don’t know how it took you this long to get fed up of Mika and morning Joke.
Mika wrote a book titled ” Knowing your value ” about the role of women in the workplace.
Maybe she should read it.
Watch Bill Press and Stephanie Miller in the morning instead.
HEY!!!!
These are good numbers right?
Yes! Notice they go up every month!
For comparison, they raised $29 million in January and $45 million in February. PBO’s total from the outset is $350 million.
And this info is very important:
567,000 donors
$50.78 average donation
190,000 NEW donors
97% of donations $250 or less
This is excellent news!
I was pleasantly surprised this morning during the 5 AM hour of TeaNN when Peter King called in about the SS “scandal” and pretty much poured cold water on the presstitues trying to make it a big deal.
They seemed disappointed …
Linda, “presstitutes” gave me a chuckle this morning. I think you are onto something. Frankly, i felt like taking a shower listing to the press conference with Jay Carney last Saturday. I think someone said there were at least NINE TIMES that jackals asked about the SS issue. hgbbIt was as if the main event was the SS and the trip itself was an afterthougt. That’s what passes for journalism these days. Pathetic.
omg “presstitutes”! that’s perfect. I gotta remember that one! 🙂
GOOD MORNING EVERYONE…THANK YOU CHIPS FOR ALL OF THE COVERAGE OF PBO’S TRIP…I AM SO HAPPY THAT HE IS HOME!…:)
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama raised a combined $53 million for his campaign, the Democratic Party and other campaign funds in March, his campaign said Monday as it prepared to face Mitt Romney and a rejuvenated GOP in the general election.
Obama has collected nearly $350 million since the start of the campaign last year, representing a boost in campaign cash compared with recent months. He has raised about $127 million for his campaign, the Democratic National Committee and other campaign funds since the beginning of 2012.
Obama has entered a new phase in which he faces a direct challenge from Romney, who has begun raising money jointly with the Republican National Committee to overcome the president’s fundraising edge. The RNC raised $13.7 million in March, its best month of the election cycle and has $32.7 million in cash.
Romney had raised about $75 million through the end of February and ended the month with about $7.2 million in the bank.
Obama’s campaign had $84.7 million in cash-on-hand through the end of February and was expected to detail its cash position in an upcoming report with the Federal Election Commission.
In light of Darth Vader’s classless and divisive utterance ysterday tell us again how great Bush/Cheney was for the economy:
In a closed-door speech to donors at a private home in Florida on Sunday, Mitt Romney was unusually candid about his policy plans, offering details about what he expects to implement if elected president in November.
According to NBC News, the former Massachusetts governor said he may decide to eliminate several government agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was once led by his father, George Romney.
“I’m going to take a lot of departments in Washington, and agencies, and combine them. Some eliminate, but I’m probably not going to lay out just exactly which ones are going to go,” Romney said. “Things like Housing and Urban Development, which my dad was head of, that might not be around later.”
Although Romney refused to make specific calls about each agency, he did suggest that the Department of Education would see major changes under a Romney presidency.
“I will either consolidate with another agency, or perhaps make it a heck of a lot smaller,” Romney said. “I’m not going to get rid of it entirely,” explaining that to do so could be a political pitfall and would eliminate a way to push back on powerful teacher unions.
Romney also acknowledged the key role those unions will have on the election, since many of them have pledged support for President Barack Obama.
“The unions will put in hundreds of millions of dollars,” Romney said. “There’s nothing like it on our side.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Romney also outlined which tax deductions he planned to cut.
“I’m going to probably eliminate for high-income people the second-home mortgage deduction,” he said. He also expressed similar plans for the state income tax deduction and state property tax deduction. As the Wall Street Journal points out, this is the first time Romney specifically named which deductions he would cut.
Romney also took the opportunity to discuss his campaign’s efforts to win over key demographics in the general election against Obama. According to Romney, an inability to attract Hispanic voters “spells doom” for the Republican Party.
“We have to get Hispanic voters to vote for our party,” Romney said, citing a “Republican DREAM Act” as a potential way to give these voters a choice between the two parties. The version backed by Democrats offers a limited path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
He also acknowledged that in order to attract typically Democratic-leaning voters, his campaign would have to reach beyond the Fox News media sphere.
“Fox is watched by the true believers,” Romney said. “We need to get the independents and the women.”
Now there’s shared sacrifice for ya. No mortgage deduction onyour second home. What a sacrifice.
Very few 1%’s have mortgages at all. They pay cash for their home(s).
Ann and Mitt Romney the 1% couple.
So it’s nothing more than gimmick anyway. I loathe Willard.
Linda, both of your posts are futher confirmation of the fact that Mitt “Say Anyrhing” Romney has CONTEMPT FOR THE NEWS MEDIA AND THE VOTERS.
Good morning TOD. So what happened to this lying piece of scum saying that he was not for the “Dream Act? He is nothing but a con artist.
Mitt Romney really thinks people THAT stupid. So women, Hispanics and Independents are suddenly going to flock to the GOP who has been screwing them for the last four years, just because Romney says a few pandering things to get elected? Willard get a clue…you’re just digging a bigger hole for yourself.
So the pupose of the Dept of Education under Romney (God forbid) is to destroy teachers union.
OK I gotta work. Here I go falling behind again at TOD. Have a good day everyone!
Oh. PS: Thanks Chips!!!! Appreciate all you do!! 😀
OT: Did I miss something? What happened to spellcheck in the comments section? It used to highlight errors.
Morning everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/04/16/rise-and-shine-155/