Chat Away

President Barack Obama surprises Military Aide Major Barrett Bernard with a birthday cake aboard Air Force One during the flight from Seattle, Wash., to Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 17, 2010. Photo by Pete Souza

Rise and Shine

@BarackObama

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All times ET

11:50: President Obama departs Williamsburg, Va.

12:00: VP Biden travels to Penn Valley, Pa., to attend the funeral services for Senator Arlen Specter

12:55: President Obama arrives in New York

2:50: Michelle Obama speaks to grassroots supporters in Chapel Hill, N.C.

9:00: The Debate

11:05: President Obama departs New York

12:15: Arrives at the White House

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Greatest website ever:

RomneyTaxPlan

Thank you Bill!

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Washington Post: Romney’s 12-million job promise has garnered a lot of attention. We became interested in this ad after a reader asked whether the campaign had provided much detail on how he would reach this total …

…. the candidate’s personal accounting for this figure in this campaign ad is based on different figures and long-range timelines stretching as long as a decade — which in two cases are based on studies that did not even evaluate Romney’s economic plan. The numbers may still add up to 12 million, but they aren’t the same thing — not by a long shot.

… Clearly, some clever campaign staffer thought it would be nice to match up poll-tested themes such as “energy independence,” “tax reform” and “cracking down on China” with actual job numbers. We just find it puzzling that Romney agreed to personally utter these words without asking more questions about the math behind them.

Read the full article here

Greg Sargent: …. Let’s recap what Kessler has discovered here. The plan that is central to Romney’s candidacy on the most important issue of this election — jobs — is a complete sham. This is every bit as bad — or worse — than Romney’s claim to have created 100,000 jobs at Bain, or his vow to cut spending by eliminating whole agencies without saying which ones, or his refusal to say how he’ll pay for his tax cuts.

This could not have come at a better time for Obama. Here is the evidence he needs to spell out as clearly as possible that Romney is peddling economic hokum to the American people. Any fair reading of the backup the Romney campaign itself supplied for his plan reveals that it is nothing but a bill of goods. Obama needs to seize on this in a big way. This should be a big story.

Oh, and by the way: Economists have evaluated Obama’s jobs plan. And they concluded it would create one to two million jobs. The bottom line is simple: One candidate has a jobs plan, and the other doesn’t.

More here

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A Little Bit More of This and That

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NYT: A longtime aide to George W. Romney issued a harshly worded critique of Mitt Romney, accusing him of shifting political positions in “erratic and startling ways” and failing to live up to the distinguished record of his father, the former governor of Michigan.

Walter De Vries, who worked for the senior Mr. Romney throughout the 1960s, wrote that Mitt Romney’s bid for the White House was “a far cry from the kind of campaign and conduct, as a public servant, I saw during the seven years I worked in George Romney’s campaigns and served him as governor.”

“While it seems that Mitt would say and do anything to close a deal – or an election,” he wrote, “George Romney’s strength as a politician and public officeholder was his ability and determination to develop and hold consistent policy positions over his life.”

… “George would never have been seen with the likes of Sheldon Adelson or Donald Trump.”

… Mr. De Vries, who said he wished to the see the Republican Party return to its moderate roots, said he intended to vote for Mr. Obama on Election Day.

More here

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More at Business Insider

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Reuters: Retail sales rose in September as Americans stepped up purchases of everything from cars to electronics, a sign that consumer spending is driving faster economic growth.

…. expectations for third-quarter economic growth improved after the Commerce Department reported a 1.1 percent increase in retail sales during September.

The reading, which beat analysts’ forecasts, builds on other signs of growing economic momentum, including a drop in the jobless rate last month and a rise in consumer confidence.

“The news flow on the U.S. economy keeps getting better,” said Chris Williamson, an economist at Markit in London.

More here

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pam

The Arizona Republic: Smiling and grateful to be alive, Pam Simon, one of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ wounded staffers, returned to the office Friday to heal in the company of her colleagues.

“It was really important to see the rest of my Giffords family. We are like a family,” said Simon, 63. “I think it’s part of the healing to circle back and to have the energy of friends and people who love us.”

Simon, who works as a community-outreach coordinator for Giffords, survived two gunshots, one to the wrist and another in the chest that traversed her body and lodged in her buttocks.

Full article here

Pam Simon sits with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in her hospital room at University Medical Center before Wednesday’s Memorial Service on Jan. 12

court in session

… attempting to block a shot by personal aide Reggie Love during a game at Fort McNair, May 16, 2010. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, left, watches the play

….shooting hoops on the White House basketball court during a break between meetings, May 7, 2010. (Official White House Photos by Pete Souza)

“sir? Boehner’s been waiting an hour now.” “oh dear.”

President Barack Obama, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Senior Advisor David Axelrod, and personal aide Reggie Love, check on the score of a NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament game in the Outer Oval Office, March 20, 2010