****
Click ↓ to see your Photo of the Year choices – then vote!
January
President Obama waits with Sergeants at Arms and Members of Congress before entering the House Chamber to deliver the State of the Union address. Standing with the President are, from left: Paul Irving, House Sergeant at Arms; House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.; Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.; and Terrance Gainer, Senate Sergeant at Arms (Photo by Pete Souza)
****
February
****
March
****
April
****
May (joint winners)
****
June
WWII veterans greet President Obama following the 70th French-American Commemoration D-Day Ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France (Photo by Pete Souza)
****
July
****
August
President Obama makes a statement on the situation in Ferguson, Missouri and Iraq (Photo by Doug Mills)
****
September
President Obama hugs Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. who is resigning from his post (Photo by Doug Mills)
****
October
President Obama greets Nina Pham, a Dallas nurse diagnosed with Ebola after caring for an infected patient in Texas, in the Oval Office (Photo by Pete Souza)
****
November (joint winners)
President Obama holds a koala prior to the G20 Welcome to Country Ceremony at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Center (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama turns to the press pool after seeing Chuck Todd’s new book on him (Photo by Pete Souza)
****
December
The First Family at ‘Christmas in Washington’ (Photo by Theo Wargo)
****
Wildcard 1 (joint winners)
President Obama attends a border and immigration meeting with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other local officials (Photo by Doug Mills)
Pete Souza: “Following the outcry over the shooting of Michael Brown by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, the President invited young civil rights leaders to a meeting in the Oval Office. Many of them had protested in Ferguson. A 30-minute scheduled meeting last more than an hour. As the meeting broke up, the President continued the conversation for a few minutes and I then managed to frame the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the foreground.”
****
Wildcard 2
Pete Souza: This is from the annual White House Science Fair. The kids from Girl Scout Troop 2612 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, convinced the President to wear a tiara with them for their group photo.
****
****
Right then, the poll closes at 6.0 EST tomorrow (January 1), so get voting!
PS You’ll notice the sneaky new development ….. you can’t see how the voting is going 😎
Hello
hey nclb – hope you’re having a nice day congrats on first
Enjoying myself at my sister’s in FL.
Happy New Year TODVille!
May everyone be blessed with happiness, good health, good fortune, and good humor.
You too No Child. Have a wonderful year.
Morning No Child, morning again everyone!
GM Chips! How is my friend, Danny-the-Boy?
He is outstanding, No Child, although highly puzzled by his white grass!!
Voted! It was hard though!
I know we’re meant to respect the privacy of the ballot box …. but which one did you vote for Alice?!
Do you really want to know? wouldn’t that ruin the surprise? Which one did you vote for?
OK I voted for PBO and the Pope 🙂
Ah ha, nice choice!
Methinks you’re right Alice, I need to stop asking everyone how they voted, the surprise would be ruined!!
Correct! Besides the right to vote, a person has the right to keep their vote secret.
Ouch, this is gonna be tough!
Really tough. I mean really, really tough. I mean really, really, really tough. I mean impossible tough. Eeeney, meeney, miney moe.
Okay, voted, which is the kiss of death for that one winning. And surprisingly, perhaps astonishing to some of you, Flotus was not in the photo I picked.
🙂 Come on, spill, which did ya vote for?
Not gonna say, but Alice and I think alike.
(That makes three of us 🙂 )
Voted!
I see Chips called in Price & Waterhouse!
😆
OMG, you should see which one is winning!1!1!
Tell us NOW!!
🙂 I actually don’t know! I’d have to change the settings on the poll, but then ye’d all find out and we can’t be having that!
ok… I had to go with the Pope….all the others are great, but I believe the Pope will be a great political ally to PBO in his final 2 years in office.
One of the reasons I like that one is because of the absolute difference in the Pope’s expression when talking to PBO as to when he was meeting with Putin. Maybe Chips can find that photo. Striking the difference. The two are truly kindred spirits (Pope and PBO).
The contrast was quite spectacular, Japa!
It looks like Putin is being scolded and he probably was.
“Thank you, we have already counted your vote.”
Ooooooh, these polling people are quite sharp when you try to vote twice 🙄
ha!
🙄 Have you *no* shame, Chips Chica?
None! 😆
/shrugging resignedly/ Yeah, that’s what I thought.
I had to laugh at this one. I just finished watching The Wire Marathon.
Hi TerriD! 🙂 🙂 Our blog goddess makes me laugh all the time – no mean feat.
I see that some people are trying to vote and they’re not even registered. That’s voter fraud! For a nominal fee, I will register you and allow to vote safely. Call me now for a quote…
🙂
😆 We’ve been infiltrated by ACORN!1!1!1!
hahahahahaha….
I voted for January – to me, it sums up the core of this presidency in tone and body language.
GM Sandy….
Thinking that as well…hmmmmmmm
Me too Sandy!
Oops, I just spilled the beans on which one I voted for:)
Pope was my close second and Tiaras would have been my third.
Bottom line, they’re all winners!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE his posture and knowing demeanor while surrounded by self-serving obstructors and traitors. STAND TALL, POTUS!!
You know how there’s so many photos of POTUS standing tall with his chin elevated? Sometimes I wonder if that’s the voice of his mother telling him to stand up and be proud……I really love those photos.
MINE WILL ALWAYS BE THE BLUE DRESS…OUR FIRST COUPLE…SO IN LOVE…AND THAT DRESS IS AMAZING…I HOPE ALL OF YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL NEW YEAR…I AM GOING TO MAKE A BED TENT AND STAY IN IT WITH MY REMOTE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
AWESOME final packaging, Chips Chica!
You, lady, Diva of Blogdom, Empress of TODsylvania, Universal Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Wet POTUSia, Queen Bee Prima-Bloggah-Diva,* have blog presentation Class, with a capital ‘C’!
Thank you so very much for all you have done to make our final days of 2014 tremendous fun, while still highlighting what a great WH we do have! Blessings, Gurl!
*© Dudette
🙂 Thank yooooooooooooooooooou for coming up with the idea and starting it all off, you gorgeous goose, you!
She may be a gorgeous goose, but I didn’t realize she also had a sadistic streak in her. Hmmm, kind of like that.
A sadistic gorgeous goose, the mind is boggling!
Alright now, what’s going on here? I thought this was a Photo of the Year contest?
😀 😀 Morning, Meta! Happy to see you; holiday hugs to you! > {{{meta}}} Don’t pay any attention to the on-again, off-again twosome. 🙂
Morning to you, vc, and hugs right back atcha!!
Thanks.
Ooooooo /shivers/, so incredibly thrilled to be acknowledged publicly as ‘gorgeous’!
.
.
Still checking the barometer on the ‘goose’ part.
That is a staggering number of titles, let the Coronation close now, and let the Par-Tay begin!! Happy New Year, well, for some of us the New Year is Chinese New Year, and for some of us it is the Equinox, when the Sun moves into Aries. So, take your pick! Something to please everyone!
Good Morning.. Ms Chipssssssss…GM NW…..GM to all of the TOD Village
I have so enjoyed TODers momentous moments of 2014….i have soooooo loved to look at these beautiful and poignant moments brought to us from our beloved President…moments the has FLOTUS says…”Reveals the Man”
Picking one moment is truly a task…but an enjoyable one….
thanking VC…for this gifted Idea…
Thanking MsChips and NW for bringing it to life…..
Thanking TODers…for just being here…smilin….
What prettyfoot58 said, with eloquence. Tapping my plain foot in time with her Pretty one, nodding with a big grateful smile. I loved the idea when VC put it out there (thank you thank you thank you VCprezofan2!!!!) , and I carried around a scrap of paper with A’s and B’s and C’s on it, but never got it together to put in my votes. Distraction, incompetnece, holiday tasks, too much bourbon in the eggnog? Wasn’t happening. And then ta-DAH!!!! The polls opened and I have loved every moment of this process, even with the struggle of choosing, deciding, narrowing, and letting go. Now I can just revel in the winning ones, until I remember: one more vote. Okay, I can do this. LOVE the mini-pix on the ballot, helps so much. Perhaps we could create a calendar of the winning ones and sell it to make donation to My Brother’s Keeper, or FLOTUS’s military family programs, or some such. Or give big sacks of gold and jewels to Chips, NerdyWonka, and the mighty BT’s? Okay, going back in, anxiously but gratefully.
Perhaps we could create a calendar of the winning ones and sell it to make donation to My Brother’s Keeper, or FLOTUS’s military family programs, or some such..
******************************
Absolutely LOVE this idea….((HUGGS))
do you peeps even know the concept of polls?
#privacy. / smh
Privacy of the vote means no one can force you to say who or what you voted for, nothing against volunteering the info however, perhaps in an effort to sway the undecided who respect your opinion so much that they will follow your lead. (Pope) sometimes this is done subliminally (Pope) in fact that is often the way (Pope). But I would never stoop to that level (Pope).
(rrring, rrring)
Yes,
Mr japa
Yes.
We are calling from pox news. We have an anchor slot opening. yeah, yeah, bill o racist is dead. Would you like his job?
Sure, as long as you pay me what you were paying him.
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
Which did ya vote for?
I don’t
kiss</del vote and tell.Good Morning BFF and TOD.
LIVE NOW: Snow in Los Angeles!! http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
What?!?!?! Only one choice?
No back up or second choice?!?!?!
Plus no way to see how the vote is going?!?!?
Hmmmfff
Good Morning Chips and TODers! Happy New Year to you all..This was the hardest choice of all of them. I love looking at the President and The Pope and also with Holder and the Koala Bear and His Family. But I voted for the male veteran kissing his hand because the MSM & RWNJ’s are always pretending Veterans do not like The President. We need to make a calender of the best 12 😉
Also I would like to second what Swbluega said. I really appreciate all the effort that all of you put into this post everyday.You are the absolute BEST people to hang with each day. I really stay so busy, especially this time of year that I can’t spend as much time as I would like here. And I am not a blogger, nor a clever writer, I’m most a math, science type person so I feel a bit inferior when posting here. So many of you are excellent writers.
I went back yesterday looking at the first post. stealing the photo’s and reading post. I have saved every TOD since I started viewing them in my email box. Not sure how many or how long but its a Ton. I can see its at least 4400. Still I wish there were a way to get all the old ones I missed. My house looks like an Obama Museum, Pictures, Clocks, Watches, Christmas cards, Tons of Buttons, lol. Yep I’m obsessed. I just don’t think there will ever be another President like President Obama. Ive been around a long time and always involved in politics as was my family before me and I have never seem another President so perfect in every way. I know he cant be perfect, except in my eyes.
Better quit rambling now, just wanted to thank everyone who contributes here.
I felt the same way about the photo you picked and it was a difficult choice between that one and the one I picked.
{{{{{{Terri}}}}}! I adored that photo too, a complete gem. I noticed that seven of the photos (if you include the Koala) feature hugs/kisses/embraces – you’re all very affectionate people!
Happy New Year to you Terri!
Happy New Year to everyone here. Thanks Chips for a wonderful year; I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have this place to come to to keep my sanity. I didn’t vote for any picture; I tried to vote for them all but couldn’t. This year I am going to start my Scrapbook. I have the newspapers from January 21 of his first year. That Scrapbook will remain in my family so my grand-kids can show their grand-kids what I experienced watching this great man being president. Peace and Blessings to you all!
Thank yooooooou Miss Pat and a very, very, very happy new year to you! That scrapbook is a beautiful idea, your grand-kids will treasure it!
Terri – that is a great read! Thanks so much for coming out of your shyness to talk with us. You expressed yourself Puuuurfectly ❤
Good Morning and Happy New Year to all……voted for the “Tiara”….loved them all but felt this showed the essence of the man…….knows who he is and comfortable in his own skin, not afraid of anything, willing to try new ideas, a gentle giant who respects females and delights in pleasing them……
To clarify again re: meta and AMK. 5 Guantanamo detainees were freed yesterday and went to Kazahkstan. Confusion came from plane trouble which delayed the flight by a few hours.
127 detainees remain. 62 have been cleared for release so as soon as host countries agree, they will be wheels up as well.
Big problem is that most of the 62 are Yemeni and we are at war with Yemen so they can’t simply be sent home.
Thanks, Vicki!
thanks for the info..Vicki..
i think by the time PBO leaves office…Gitmo will be closed….
I really hope so. But there is one problem with about 5, I think. They are proven terrorists but they can never stand trial because W and his criminal crew effed up the process beyond all legal recourse. But if there’s a way to do it, PBO WILL most certainly do it. I know it eats at his sense of law and the principles of the constitution. It will be interesting to see what finally happens.
In the upcoming DEM primary debates .it will be interesting to see.what Hillary Clinton and O’Malley and others will say about Gitmo…it has taken the President 6 years to do what he has done…
Awesome Post, Chips.
Good Morning Friends.
It’s New’s Eve for most Part of the world.
Happy New Year to those who have already entered 2015.
Au ⭐ ⭐ for NCLB and a4alice. Congratulations.
❤ ❤ ❤ the Miniature Pictorials…….Genius!
WTG Gov O’Malley, Fantastic.
i am so looking forward to his campaign for President….
I read on twitter yesterday that he has pulled his people from Iowa and is rethinking. OH GAWD, I really hope that’s not true. I wonder what’s going on behind the scene with Clinton’s people, how bad the campaign of intimidation is……We really need people to step up.
DAMN. DAMN!
I am NOT Voting for Hillary Clinton…NOT! even if she is the nominee…
Please don’t say that. 😦
This is how we ended up with 2 gawd awful wars. The worse Democrat is better than any Republican. Work to defeat her in the primary but steer clear of refusing to vote for a Dem in 2016. The consequences of a Republican in the WH, Congress & Senate would be devastating for this country.
I respect you Donna…you are a warrior that has walked the walked…I do not know if i can vote for her…but i hear all that you are saying…
Hi, prettyfoot58, am so glad that I do not stand alone in my feelings about Hillary Clinton. I will not donate monies for her campaign if she runs, nor will I vote for her in the Primaries; however, I will vote for the nominated Democrat in the General. We must do everything possible to elect a Democrat as POTUS even if the nominee is not our choice.
This is definitely not the news I was hoping for, meta.
I will hold on to my hope until the very last second that we will have a better choice than Lady Walmart.
Martin O’Malley speaks the same language as TOD, so I hope he doesn’t disappear. Losing the race to continue the Democratic leadership in Md via Anthony Brown had to be a terrible blow to Gov. O’Malley.
“Lady Walmart”
🙂
No worries. Martin will run. I am about 90% sure he will throw his hat in the ring. AB’s loss was dismal for this state and Martin felt the pain of that loss but he is probably the most progressive candidate out there. He has a strong liberal record to run on. What does she have???? Insiders here in MD say once HRC announces early in 2015 he will announce shortly after.
Donna I’m SOOO hoping you are right! He is a good progressive Democrat and I suspect that the GOPers are more likely to view him than they are to view HRC as their biggest threat.
Great news! I do love this man.
Another Great News……Goodbye Boggs.
Good morning everyone! Last day of a momentous year…..and crime in Italy!! have to vote on these and choose ONE???? OMG. My head hurts. Each one shows a different part of a complex man…each being an important piece of who he is, what he stands for, his compassion, his respect for others…..I need more coffee.Or wine. I love them all for different reasons….this is so haaaaarrrrrrddddd!!!!!!! Hell, REAL voting isn’t this hard:) It will be done…just not yet. I need to ponder more…..
Here I go again.
Continuing my endless discussion about what propaganda is in the USA, circa 2014-2015.
NY Times, page 12 has a seemingly positive ACA headline. If you read the piece what you get is something way less than accurate.
Times gives numbers of some folks who are benefitting from the ACA but ignores others. . So overall takeaway is underwhelming.
Here it is in plain talk:
A tulip farmer and a reporter look out over a field of the farmers tulips containing 1,000 flowers in bloom.
Next day the reporter writes in his newspaper column that he saw 670 tulips blooming.
When the farmer objects, he is told that only the red tulips were counted that day.
So, the pink, yellow and white flowers remain unnoticed.
And 670 blooming where there were none before is good, but not as good as the truth would be.
Lies of Omission. Half the story.
Okay. Have to go on the road and don’t want to be out there when folks get early release from work, so going now. BBL
The NYPD has been able to legally violate the human and civil right of the blk and brown citizens because of STOP & FRISK…It will take much WILL to turn that around…Their anger at De Blasio has to do with his trying to rein in and control their behavior…
Needless to say, it was a difficult choice. I finally decided on March – PBO and the Pope. This represents the hope for humanity that these two men embody, embrace and inspire. And I say that as a nice Jewish girl.
So glad to see all the media reporting PBO’s vastly improving poll numbers. Yesterday Gallup had him at 48/48 and today Rasmussen has him at 49/49. And since both lean GOP, we know the numbers are even higher. Just good to see the media making a big deal about it.
And if people had shown the common sense that God gave an ant, they would have voted in droves in November because really this popularity isn’t coming out of nowhere. How is he that different from two months ago??
Thank you maryl1. His numbers were not any lower two months ago – they were artificially manipulated by the pollsters to fool certain Dem candidates and Dem voters.
And of course, disbelieving the evidence of their own senses, they fell for it. At their lowest, his numbers were higher than JFK’s lowest.
New post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/12/31/2014-vcs-most-memorable-moments/
May he get a Visit that his evilness calls from……Drone
OMG, what a friggin’ fool!!!!
Wishing everyone at the OD a really great 2015….this place has been my rock thru the good times and the not so good times….we must all continue surround our President, Vice President and their families with Love and Support….they have given this country their all…and for that I am grateful…HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
20 plus released in 2014.
127 left.
Thanks President Obama.
2015…….Climate Change is The Main Issue……it has many links:
Food Scarcity, Conflicts, Water, etc.
Good Bye Keystone Pipe line.
Who would select Putin as the 10th most admired man? Russians and Right wing Republicans.
My Goodness….i have never seen this pic before…hahaha
OH we (Chips) have done such a wonderful job choosing each photo! All of them so iconic of this President and his most excellent, very good, awesome year 🙂 I picked……. should we tell?
Well, surprise, surprise! I just went to my email and I received a response from President Obama to the email I wrote him about immigration reform. I mentioned the people who do our lawn and their children and friends; how they are fine, but were worried about some friends and how his order made the difference in their lives. I’ve never received a response before to my emails, so, as I told my husband, this is going in my KEEPERS file!
❤
THIS IS TOO HARD!!!
It’s like choosing Wayne Rooney’s greatest goal Tally, unpossible!!!
I was torn between the Pope and the little boy (and Eric Holder, and the koala, and the tiara, and the male and female vets, and….). I finally chose the little boy looking up so worshipfully at the president who has the future for him, and President Obama looking down at the little boy whose future he is working to improve.
I went with the First Family because it represent a family who embody American values in lifetsyle, policy, and action.
“represents”
I agree with you idon.
A family who have been trash and attack for the simple reason that they are black. POTUS have been attack like no other President, and while the left for sure went after G.W. Bush, I do not remember the left going after Laura Bush and the Bush twins like the right wing haters have done our FLOTUS and Malia and Sasha.
Definitively the photo of Barack Obama and Pope Francis. The two greatest international leaders, by far, in these difficult times. President Obama has had beautiful words about the Pope; he said that Pope Francis exhibited the true spirit of Jesus Christ (paraphrasing). And Pope Francis is very well informed about what’s going on in the world; I suspect he is also very well informed about the political landscape in the USA. The Vatican has good intel…. I’m sure the Pope recognizes in Barack Obama the wonderful qualities we ourselves see in him. Barack Obama must deal with the world as it is, but he is, fundamentally, a man of peace, who has a profound respect for life, and for the rights of every man/woman of every race on this planet.
Hi everyone, Happy New Year !
Thanks to all of you for keeping TOD functioning and informative. You make this site better and better each year. If I don’t come here one or two times a day, I feel that something is missing from my day. Thanks, again.
May 2015 be a blessed, loving, peaceful and prosperous year for you and your families.
I went with the photo of the President and the Pope, two moral and spiritual leaders for our time.
VC, thank you so much for putting this top photos of 2014 together. This was really difficult. I was torn between the picture of the President with the Pope, and the one from August when he was making his statement on Ferguson and Iraq. I went with August, because of the way the light was highlighting the President I could see the pain on his face.
Howdy TOD Fam! I’m hanging out with my folks! Popped in to wish you all a Dreamy, Brilliant, Happy New Year!!!
Thank you for keeping me sane in this insane world, the laughter, thrills, and tears, the food fot thought and food for the soul. i’m forward to our ongoing journey through 2015! Love you guys!
Happy New Year Everyone. Thank you for the superb work you’ve done. I lurk daily, and really enjoy this site. May 2015 be full of joy, laughter, and love.
Happy New Year!!! 😀
Happy New Year from the Pacific Northwest to Chips and the Wonderful People of TOD.
hi midnight missy. you’re celebrating in the wrong thread.
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/12/31/2014-more-most-memorable-moments/#comment-1228181
Happy and healthy new year to you. Now, if only you are in bed in time.
Long-time lurker & VERY late to the party. Just wanted to add my thanks for this place, and my wishes for a happy & healthy 2015 to all.
New Year’s blessings and smiles to all the TOD family!
~~ :??: ~~
Sneaking back to see who is actually kicking stones alone in the village.
~~ ❓ ~~
It’s been a while since I’ve peeked over the ledge; seems I’ve forgotten how.
This is better!
Well, off I go to do a bit of novel reading to help me I fall asleep.
~~ ❓ ~~
Anything, or anyone, ‘new’ arriving in the village yet?
VC, you need to switch posts!!!
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/01/01/happy-new-year-2/
/smiling with gritted teeth/ Grrrr. Oh…okay…thank you!
Seriously – Morning, Petal + DannyO – desk!
🙂 Haaaaappy New Year VC!!!!
Thanks! {{{CC, DannyO, and MommaC}}} – May all of you enjoy a …
“Merry, Bright and Healthy 2015!”
Happy New Year Ms. Chips and ALL TODers! May we all have a peaceful, healthy and prosperous new year. May President Obama continue to provide America with his wisdom. May he and his family continue to be healthy and the wonderfully loving people they have always been.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to my TOD family. We are going to have a great year because PBO is at the helm and he’s got a great family, a great smile and many many pens 🙂
Haaaaaaaappy New Year Idon!!!!
Happy New Year All! Okay, I voted but they’re all winners. Lawd, that was tough!