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10:15: The President will deliver remarks at the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security at the Ronald Reagan Building, DC
11:00: Holds a bilateral meeting with President Francois Hollande of France
12:30: VP Biden attends a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware
6:00: PBO departs the White House en route Camp David
6:30: Arrives at Camp David
7:30: Greets G8 leaders
7:50: Hosts a welcome reception for G8 leaders
8:00: Hosts a working dinner for G8 leaders
Saturday: PBO will remain at Camp David for the G-8 Summit. Later on Saturday, he will travel to Chicago, Illinois, where he will welcome NATO allies and partners to his hometown for the NATO Summit on May 20-21. The First Lady will travel to Chicago with the President.
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USA Today: President Obama will announce a new initiative Friday morning designed to lift up to 50 million African people from poverty through private investments in agricultural projects on the nation’s poorest continent.
The effort, to be unveiled as leaders of the world’s most powerful nations convene at Camp David for a two-day summit, follows an earlier Obama initiative to generate $22 billion in government assistance for undernourished Africans that was announced at the 2009 Group of 8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy.
Obama plans to announce his plan at an all-day event on African food security in Washington, then travel to Camp David where he will host the G8 summit later Friday and Saturday.
More here
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Glenn Kessler (Washington Post): “We were able to help create over 100,000 jobs. On the president’s watch, about 100,000 jobs were lost in the auto industry and auto dealers and auto manufacturers, so he’s hardly one to point a finger.” — Mitt Romney, interview on Hot Air, May 16, 2011
The 100,000 jobs is back! The presumptive GOP nominee all but stopped mentioning he created 100,000 in the private sector after we declared in January that claim was untenable and unproven…..
….. The logic there escapes us. Romney appears to be saying it is okay to count jobs created after he left Bain, but it’s not okay to count jobs lost after he left Bain.
…. So Romney gets a “repeat offender” award …. But let’s also look at his claim that 100,000 jobs were lost in the auto industry “on the president’s watch.” That’s a new one.
….. Romney’s remarks make little sense …. his assertion that 100,000 jobs have been lost in the auto industry “on the president’s watch” does not add up.
Yes, there were some painful cuts in the auto industry at the start of Obama’s presidency, largely because tough choices had to be made. One could argue whether those choices were necessary or effective, but the bottom line is clear: No matter how you slice it, jobs overall have grown substantially in the auto industry under Obama….
Full article here
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ThinkProgress
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Morning everyone 😉
The Obama Diary 
Morning, peoples.
Sara! Is this your first first?! Morning everyone!
No, this is not my first, but it’s a sweet thing. Thank you for the picture, Chips.
This is a miracle we got growing here. Sooooooooooooo good for us. xoxoxxo
On the Early Show when Gayle King were interviewing the First Lady , Gayle King said that she loved this picture, she wanted to know what POTUS was saying. Of course FLOTUS didn’t tell. This is one of my favorite Obamas pictures also.
I have got to make me a copy of this and put it in my Obamas photo book.
You’ll find the bigger version here Anniebella:
Yay, Sara!
Hey, Sara, you’re number 1 today. Good for you.
Cool!
GM folks. My weekend has already started. Ha.
** loud raspberry noise **
Raspberry with gin and tonic ???
Why the heck not ?
Yes! Why not! Enjoy your weekend, amk 🙂
I would love to have Joe Biden come to PA every week between now and Nov., giving common sense speeches in central PA. He knows how to speak the middle and lower middle class language and he would nail the state for PBO. Philadelphia will be crawling with campaign workers, as will Pittsburgh. The heart of the state needs the kind of love that Biden gives so well. The red carpet will be out for you, Mr. VPOTUS. Please come.
Something tells me that VP Biden will be deployed to those very areas that you speak of at some point closer to the election when more folks are paying attention and the areas of relative weakness for PBO will be clearer to the campaign 🙂
jackiegrumbacher, he might not be there every week, but he will be there plenty you can count on that. I love and respect our VP Biden too. I’m not from PA, I’m African American, and I love the way he speaks to all of us.
Mornin’, Jackie! You are right and, quite frankly, I could not be happier – not just for us, but for Joe Biden himself – that he is stronger than ever on the campaign trail. Nobody can say he’s used up his worth and is “too old” or – ridiculous – that President Obama chose the wrong man. Vice President Biden has found all of the right words, especially to deliver to the middle class, and if he’s competing with himself and his previous speeches, he’s won! The Irish storytellin’, even yesterday’s sign of the cross (Ha!), all of that will work with many of the voters in the areas you mention.
Genius!
hahahahaha…love that cartoon…
Goooooooooooood Morning….everyoneeee…..sipping my coffee…
i celebrate my Birthday tomorrow…..59 yrs on the planet….my granddaughter asked me if i was excited about being 59…then she says….wowwwww…grandma…you are 50 years older than me…her expression was priceless.i must say…i have thought that myself…
FORWARD>>>>>>>>>>>>>…
Advanced b’day wishes pf. How come only one foot is pretty ? 🙂
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
hahahahaha,,,,,i get asked that alot…
thank you for the wishes…
and ps…..they are both pretty…~wink…hahaha
Not.Good.Enough. We need pictorial proof. And show us your birth certificate. Also. Too.
lawddd…AMK…….
well i have pics of my feet on my FB page…..hahaha
my name is what else……prettyfoot…….hehehe
It has to be the LONG FORM VERSION….not that it would matter one way or the other! Can you walk on water?
Happy early birthday:)
hahahaha…walking on water is hard in Stilettossss…..
happy birthday prettyfoot58 + 1
hahahaha……smiling big time
I better get baking, Prettyfoot 🙂
lololol…yup…
Happy Birthday tomorrow Prettyfoot. Just kick it the whole weekend.
indeedddd….a bit of pampering along with champagne and chocolates
Wow! That my dream birthday.
hahahaha…..
Happy birthday, prettyfoot! You just scraped into the Taurus club – have a lovely day tomorrow! 🙂
Thank You…:-)
Fabulous!!LOL
this is pretty funny. lol
All we need is mitt with a picture of him, paul ryan, and mitch mcconnell holding down “uncle sam” with scissors.
Any good news? Or is it All- Robney the victim, this Morning?
Yeah, it’s all a bit negative Jovie – but we gotta unmask this creep!!! Morning 😉
Hey there. I agree.
😆
GOOOOOOOOOOOOO AMK…YOU ARE ON IT …THIS MORNING….RE-TWEETING….
Ooooh, this man:
During the course of the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney has proudly claimed his roots as native Michigander, a Bostonian (who is unfailingly loyal to the Red Sox), a summer resident of New Hampshire and, of course, a part-time Californian when he escapes to his beachfront home in La Jolla.
But he surprised some members of his audience Thursday at a brewery in Jacksonville when he mentioned that they had considered putting a new coastal destination on that list: the mighty swing state of Florida. “You know my wife – I wish she were here today. … She has said someday, who knows, we might move to Florida. You never know. Someday, way down the road.”
“We had the chance during the primaries to be able to go all over the country and see a lot of places, and she said ‘You know what? If we are going to move, one place I love [is] Jacksonville, Florida,’” Romney told the crowd, which cheered. “She knows a good thing when she sees it.”
Later, on his charter flight from Jacksonville to West Palm Beach, a reporter asked Romney what he and his wife found most appealing about Jacksonville. “We love California,” he replied. “But there are attractions to Florida. It has the right tax rates, among others.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romneys-considered-a-home-in-florida-20120517,0,3982640.story?track=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=56325
Pandering…pandering…just pandering. Stupid fool. Where next are you and Ms. Ann are gonna move? San Francisco, CA? Stupid donkey.
Great minds and all that. 🙂
Hopefully the Cayman Islands is his next permanent stop Hopefruit, I wish he’d **** off there soon.
YANNO..I THINK THAT MSM HAS GIVEN ROMNEY A PASS REGARDING HIS INVESTMENTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES…WHY NOT ASK FOR DISCLOSURE….THEY HAVE ALLOWED ROMNEY TO GET AWAY WITH NOT SHOWING HIS TAX RETUNS OR HIS INVESTMENTS…
Since he doesn’t have a job, he can’t reside in Grand Cayman….the island has 100% employment.:) I wouldn’t want that jackass messing up that beautiful island with lovely people…..no way!
Good point Desertflower!! 😆
I bet we’ll soon be hearing how he and Miz Ann have talked about moving “some day” to all the toss-up states. I can’t wait to hear the pander in Iowa, how he and Miz Ann have always talked about how they wanted to one day settle down on a hog farm just outside of Des Moines.
ROTFLMAO!
We think alike:) I was thinking that he’s reside in ALL 50 states 🙂
No, HF, SF would actually make sense. He’s going to tell the people in Carbondale, PA that he and his wife have always wanted to live in a depressed coal town. Then, he’ll visit a down-at-the-heels place in WV and say he’s always dreamed of living where the mountains are just the right size. There are some pretty dusty border towns in TX that he’ll say the Romney’s have dreamed of moving to. Oh, and there are some choice spots in the oil refinery areas of NJ that would be ideal for a 20th home. Pretty soon, there won’t be a state in the country that doesn’t have just the right something that the Romney’s would love to share in. Oh, probably not MA, though, because he already said he can’t win there. The lies and pandering are already hip deep. Pretty soon he’ll be drowning in them.
I hope he doesn’t make CA a permanate home so he can run for governor. The folks in San Diego might like him but as long as I have breathe in my body I will campaign against another republican governor.
jeebus. panderer-in-chief.
🙂
🙂 Love his wicked sense of humor…
Wonder what genius came up with the idea to have the non-drinking Mormon Willard campaign at a high end yuppie brewery? There are many veterans organizations, low income schools, or hospitals in Jacksonville where he could have campaigned.
I have to say Bill, I’m severely enjoying the comical decisions his campaign continues to make.
Heh, willard can pull a drunkard act if it gets him a coupla votes. The guy is serious about this prezinenting stuff.
Why not the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island in that area? That would have been the perfect fit.
Because everybody knows Mitt Romney needs another tax break.
Way down the road? he’s in his mid 60’s and is building a house in CA. Is he planning on getting buried in FL?
I hope he gets buried in FL in November, GB 😉
Niiice.
Oh yes!
Congrats Sara!
Great stuff AMK! You’re setting them up and I’m re-tweeting 🙂
:). Thanks.
The guy keeps on doing what is right. The thugs can suck on a rotten egg. Collectively.
But what about Tavis and Cornell and…
They can join the rethugs in the egg sucking.
I am in my way to Macdill AFB to go to Commissary. What do you Guys need?
Two bottles of Bombay Sapphire, thank you.
Party?
weekend jovie, weekend.
Look out, prettyfoot! Bombay sapphire and cheesy puffs, what a celebration!
Mmmm, the perfect combination!!!
hahahaha….
well i have my Champagne and chocolates……..along with a lil pampering…
tonic and limes!
Cheesy Puffs!
Cheesy Puffs ? Really ?
But then, no accounting for taste of man u fans.
Back away from my Cheesy Puffs, right now.
Cheesy puffs are good if your High
Well…..
or for cheeseheads aka man u fans.
I was reading about cornell west’s send off at Princeton….don’t know why because I do not respect the man.
In attendance was fellow President Obama hater Harry Belafonte, he said: “I didn’t come to say much, I just wanted to be a witness,” said Belafonte, who like West, has expressed dismay with the Obama administration’s policies, particularly as they relate to people of color and the poor.
“I’ve heard about you not being invited to the White House,” noted Belafonte. “I’ve been to the White House these days and you haven’t missed much,” he added.
Comments like these make my skin crawl. I don’t even have words for how much they anger me.
I remember seeing here in TOD a vid Belafonte singing praises of PBO. What happened to him ?
My take. It’s the old guard. So to speak. When the Presudent distanced Himself from Wright, in 08, support amongst the Ok’d guard dwindled.
Just saying!
Omg, this remark by Belafonte is so catty. Even a HS sophomore would find this childish. Why even mention the WH at all? And it’s clear that their dislike for PBO is based on perceived personal slights, jealousy and their own unresolved feelings of inferiority where PBO is concerned.
PBO is making these fools IRRELEVANT because while they built their careers on the backs of the Black underclass and did very little to actually change things despite endless posturing and public displays of “caring”, PBO doesn’t subscribe to their outdated and regressive ideas of what it means to be a Black person in America He’s about walking the talk and they can’t stand it!!
You have a point Jovie. And some of these folks were never quite supportive of PBO (note Tavis Smiley for e.g.) even before the Wright issue, because they felt truly threatened by his new fresh approach and his removal of artificial and outdated boundaries for African-Americans – particularly males.
HOWEVER….
the icons like Rep John Lewis, Rep Cummings, and Rev Lowery…along with Rev Sharpton have no problem supporting the President…
Exactly – and these civil rights heroes and community activists have not wavered in their support.
That should tell us something….
You are exactly right.
What I want to know is..when was HB at the White House? Was he invited? And, did he go when invited? Or was he on one of those tours?
Good questions!
Ooooooooooh, sorry to hear about Harry Belafonte. Wonder what happened that he used as an
excuse for going cynical and resigned.
Very strange:
http://theobamadiary.com/2011/10/18/harry-hammers-herb/
egg.sack.lee. Is belafonte a panderer like mittbot ?
If the man has as much animosity towards PBO as he had towards Herb Cain in that clip …. I dunno, he needs some fresh air.
I thought Harry Belafonte was a big supporter. This surprises me because the Civil Rights Movement should have taught Harry that change takes time.
I don’t think Belafonte’s problem with PBO is about slow change. It’s a lot more personal.
Oh, then it was a very childish, catty remark.
Is there a link?
Celebrities Help Cornel West Bid Princeton Farewell
http://diverseeducation.com/article/17080c1/celebrities-help-cornel-west-bid-princeton-farewell.html
The quote is on page 2. Sorry I didn’t post it with the first message.
I wish I could tell Harry Belafonte that I’ve haven’t heard much of his singing, and I know I haven’t miss much, because Belafonte never could sing in my opinion. Now he’s just a dried up old bitter man who doesn’t have the spotlight anymore, and honestly I don’t give a dam what Belafonte thinks.
In old age some people get alittle senile and mean, some nasty. How old id Belafonte, 85?
Hey, regardless of that one statement Belafonte made, he opened doors for AAs. I respect him for that. His music is still sung and played today.
That statement was mild and I think fair. It is alright to have some disappointments. That is completely different from Cornel West going full monte with is ODS.
Those are the types of ground-game statistics we should follow! Who needs polls?
Good mornin’
Exactly…Willard has been campaigning for over 5 years and he just broke the 500K mark. He won’t reach 1M before the election unless he pays Twitter to give him artificial followers (which is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility). The only people interested in Willard are Wall Street, American MSM, conservative evangelicals & Mormons, racist American voters, Netanyahu. That’s it.
And Netanyahu can’t vote. So, we’re good. 🙂
Good morning!
I read these stats every day and they are very impressive. They also list the most retweeted from PBO’s account.
Good morning, meta! I have 6 more minutes of a Friday morning here in the CST to wish you that. Enjoy your day!
He has over 15 million followers. If everyone of them votes and brings another another person with them to vote, just imagine blowout.
Gooooodmorning! It’s Friday!
Yet Ricketts had actual contact with Mitt who had made a reference to the same Rev Wright just a few months ago.
More info. Hope Ricketts blew the family’s hope for taxpayer funds for Wrigley for good. Hope Chicagoans stop going to Cubs games. Someone who has millions to support teabagger candidates around the country and to smear President Obama deserves no consideration for anything. Maybe in Utah or Mississippi, not Chicago, not Illinois where the politics are diametrically opposed to those efforts. And the rest of the Ricketts family were in on the proposal, just not daughter Laura who supports PBO.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-ricketts-emanuel-0518-20120518,0,3285917.story
How many more days left till election ? I plan to start a twitttertag of #noofdaysleftformitttoshowhistaxreturns
172 days.
Thx meta
There was a segment on RMs show last night about a lawsuit that was filed by Common Cause challenging the constitutionality of the fillibuster…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/47470338#47470338
5 reasons polls confound and confuse
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76466.html
A good read despite gopolitico covenant.
This should be retweeted all TOD’ers. Drive the narrative.
Thanks amk, I’ve happily retweeted 🙂
We should all retweet PBO, MO and JB’s tweets. Spread the truth they speak.
From the Lady
Jeebus chips. Glenn Kessler took the snarkknoller’s question seriously and answered. Poor kid. 🙂
I suspect Kessler is just playing along — all in good fun with Snark 🙂
But look at his earnestness. 🙂
I fear he took it seriously also too, amk. 😕
Congrats. Very serious persons are now taking
yousnarkknoller very seriously. 🙂 🙂 🙂LOL!! I think he took it seriously too.
Poor Snark – coming face to face with the one guy practising responsibility in journalism.
Holy Hannah, Chips! That is beyond perfect.
Just received a generic email from Sarah-Jessica Parker saying that she will be hosting PBO & FLOTUS at her home in June. Folks can donate and be entered to win a chance to attend her event 🙂
I was just getting ready to say that I got this email. Love, love, love SJP!
I also read somewhere (Buzzfeed) that if you win, you also get tickets to a Mariah Carey concert.
Oh, my! I will be donating. Husband would love that.
Chips, I hope you have some fireworks ready. 10 million hits will happen today. Can you arrange that the person who is the 10 millionth has lunch with PBO? If that’s not possible, how about Michelle and Jill? I’ll be rehitting all day long if that is the case.
Chips already knows that I am the 10th million poster, so we’ve already made all the arrangements for lunch with PBO.
Thanks japa, and I will be sure to pass on your message of admiration for FLOTUS and Jill 🙂
Please don’t forget to bring him a beautiful pie. He told me he loves pie, especially when it’s from Chips.
🙂 And you know the worst of it Japa, I’ll probably miss the historic moment …. like I missed bin Laden’s farewell – and I put the two events on a par. I’ll text Bo and see if he can set something up.
Heh, leave Bo alone.
Good morning TOD. Going out to pick red raspberries. Be back later…………
And, didn’t romney, stupid like a dumbshite, say they hadn’t decided whether they would drag Wright into their campaign against PObama yet?
Chips, have you posted this already? Romney economics??
http://www.romneyeconomics.com/gst/gst-intro
This needs to be shared widely over over again! Thanks desertflower for sharing this.
republicans rename France as freedom.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/05/18/video-trayvon-martin-at-7-11-minutes-before-being-shot-to-death/
He looks normal to me. Useless death. Useless.
FOX POLL: STRONG PLURALITY PREFER AN OBAMA SUPREME COURT TO A ROMNEY SUPREME COURT
// A Fox News poll released yesterday finds that voters would rather have President Obama pick the next Supreme Court justice than Republican candidate Mitt Romney by a 46 to 38 percent margin. Last November, Romney promised that, if elected, he would model his Supreme Court nominees after Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito, all of whom voted give wealthy corporations a nearly unlimited power to try to buy elections in Citizens United. By contrast, Justice Sotomayor, who was the only Obama appointee on the Court when Citizens United was decided, dissented from that decision. And Citizens United is far from the only example of a case where all four of Romney’s model justices voted to give corporate interest groups sweeping immunity from the law. //
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/17/486150/fox-poll-strong-plurality-prefer-an-obama-supreme-court-to-a-romney-supreme-court/
And this is a FOX poll!!!!!!
As much as I would love to believe this poll, I think Fox is playing a game here. I mean, there’s no way they would have published those resuIts if they didn’t think it would serve a purpose. It’s all about rallying the base, and firing them up to donate money. The question about the SCOTUS? All about scaring the religious right into rallying behind Romney even if they have been lukewarm about his candidacy. Let’s not forget that one of the biggest objectives of the religious right is the overturn of “Roe vs Wade”.
That may very well be the case, and I’m inclined to be skeptical of anything coming from these polls.
However, I still believe that the majority of Americans would prefer a PBO supreme ct to a Romney ct, given how people already feel about justices Kagan and Sotoymayor and Ginsberg, compared to the Scalia, Roberts and Thomas.
Don’t forget Saul what’s his name! republiCONS are stupid hypocrites hoping no one will notice how damn dumb they operate.
But the MSM is more concerned about traces of weed found in Trayvon’s blood.
FACT: RICH PEOPLE DON’T CREATE JOBS – CONSUMER DEMAND DOES (Tweet This)
Was Nick Hanauer’s TED Talk on Income Inequality Too Rich for Rich People?
——————————————————
Of course, Hanauer moves from these less-than-earthshattering theses to draw a conclusion that might offend some rich people and/or Republicans.
[O]ur current policies are … upside down. When you have a tax system in which most of the exemptions and the lowest rates benefit the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer.
Since 1980, the share of income for the richest Americans has more than tripled while effective tax rates have declined by close to 50%.
If it were true that lower tax rates and more wealth for the wealthy would lead to more job creation, then today we would be drowning in jobs. And yet unemployment and under-employment is at record highs.
Whatever your stand on the issue, this is certainly a topic worth debating. You would think that TED would want to be part of the conversation.
——————————————————–
http://business.time.com/2012/05/18/was-nick-hanauers-ted-talk-on-income-inequality-too-rich-for-rich-people/
That was a great talk he gave. Common sense isn’t so common though….this needs to be seen.
Lawrence O’Donnell mentioned that TED kept his speech off their website until resently because the 1% does not what the fact that giving more money to the rich and large corporations does not create jobs. Small businesses are the backbone of job creation.
“Small businesses are the backbone of job creation.” This is true. But even small businesses can’t create jobs without consumers. The fact of the matter is that a majority of small businesses created end up failing primarily because they don’t attract large numbers of consumers to be able to sustain their businesses.
Wow! Nick Hanauer, with incredible brevity, really hit a home run! In just five minutes he completely destroyed the Republican theology at the heart of their economic policies. This is also why I find it so bizarre that Republicans are waging a war on public employees. Do they not know that teachers, firefighters, Cops, Social workers and all other government workers, buy houses, cars, groceries, computers, etc.? How can Republicans, like Romney, claim that they are for job creation when they pledge to lay off government workers? Aren’t government workers who loose their jobs counted in the unemployment statistics? I really wish Democrats would point out how Republican Governors, like that Walker guy in Wisconsin, have increased unemployment by waging a war on public employees.
From ThinkProgress:
And finally: It’s no secret that First Lady Michelle Obama loves healthy organic foods, so it’s fitting that she will appear Food Network’s “Restaurant: Impossible” on June 13 in an episode where chef Robert Irvine — the host of the reality show– will renovate the dining areas of a children’s community center in DC.
Put that on the calendar!
INTERESTING…More of the “Obama” effect, now being seen/felt globally?!?!?
Real quick here, Happy Birthday (belated) TALLY! I am so behind this week. So is PBO, wow.
I meant I was busy, so is PBO, good grief!!!
Good Morning.
🙂
MITT ROMNEY JOB DESTROYER
Lawrence O’Donnell of The Last Word takes on Mitt Romney’s job creation record and the bogus notion that the rich create jobs. Trickle down is totally debunked. He interviews Nick Hanauer. Bottom line, consumer demand rules everything.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755883/vp/47470921#47470921
We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for! WE are the job creators!!! WE drive the economy!!
Heads up everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/05/18/heads-up-pbo-speaking-in-dc/
wtf did mittbot even mean by that?