West Wing Week – and Friday’s schedule

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Friday:

EST

10:0: President Obama meets with President Giorgio Napolitano of Italy

11:10: Welcomes the 18 recipients of the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal

12:10: Departs the White House

CT

1:10: Arrives Chicago

2:45: Delivers remarks at Hyde Park Academy

4:30: Departs Chicago

EST

8:0: Arrives West Palm Beach, Florida

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And the WH video of the Fireside Hangout:

My President

President Obama gets a hug from a child at College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, in Decatur, Ga., Feb 14

President Obama’s Fireside Hangout

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“If Momma’s happy, everybody’s happy””

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Earlier in Decatur:

Heads Up: President Obama’s ‘Fireside Hangout’

See what I did? Fireside? 😕

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4:50 EST: President Obama participates in a “Fireside Hangout” with Google+ to discuss his State of the Union Address

White House live

Child’s Play

Photo by Pete Souza

College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, Deactur, Feb 14

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Next:

4:50: President Obama participates in a “Fireside Hangout” with Google+ to discuss his State of the Union Address

Heads Up: President Obama in Decatur, Georgia

12:10: President Obama visits a pre-kindergarten classroom at College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center

Streaming of the visit has started at Decatur11 * Another link (thank you JER!) * CBS Atlanta * WSBTV

1:20: Delivers remarks at Decatur Community Recreation Center

White House live * C-Span * CBS * CNN

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Rise and Shine

Hey, what other photo would I use on this date?!

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Today:

9:35: President Obama departs the White House

11:30: Arrives in Decatur, Ga.

12:10: Visits a pre-kindergarten classroom at College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center

1:20: Delivers remarks at Decatur Community Recreation Center

2:40: Departs Decatur

4:25: Arrives at the White House

4:50: Participates in a “Fireside Hangout” with Google+ to discuss his State of the Union Address

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More here: Steve Benen

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Love this:

Michael Tomasky: …. A lot of commentators are amusing themselves by pointing out that very few of Obama’s long list of State of the Union goals are likely to make it into law while he’s in office. I say that seeing as how he’s a pretty smart man, he knows this. But he’s doing it anyway. Because he’s thinking more about history than his story, and because he understands that if he wants to be a transformational president, the change he initiates is going to have to continue well past his time – and yes, the great presidents have all thought this way.

…. Obama knows that fighting climate change and getting universal pre-school and doing something to help the working poor are big jobs, long jobs. They’re certainly not going to happen under the current legislative configuration, and they’re probably not going to happen while he’s in office ….. his play is to inch us toward those goals however he can …. He might not be the guy who’s there to sign the bill. But he’s okay with that, too.

…. If three or four of these things pass in the next four years, great, all the better. But if they pass in the eight years after he’s done, everyone will know who put them in motion. And I have little doubt Obama will be happy to share the credit with the then-sitting president, whoever she may be.

Full post here

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President Obama’s post-SOTU OFA call – thanks a million Pamela!

The sound is pretty low, so turn it up!

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NYT: President Obama’s call in his State of the Union address to “make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America” rallied advocates across the country who have long argued that inequity in education begins at a very young age.

In details that emerged early Thursday, the administration proposed that the federal government work with states to provide preschool for every 4-year-old from low- and moderate-income families. The president’s plan also calls for expanding Early Head Start, the federal program designed to prepare children from low-income families for school, to broaden quality childcare for infants and toddlers.

More here

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I’m not an Andrew Sullivan fan, but he has a pretty spectacular take-down of Rubio’s SOTU response if you’d like to read it – here

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Oh go on then, more romance:

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MoooOOOooOOOoooorning! More in a while, that was severely rushed!