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Freep.com: Long lines of people wait on the outdoor football field outside the Glick Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Michigan hours before President Obama was to deliver his speech about education to over 3,000 people inside today
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9:45 ETÂ PBO delivers remarks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
11:00: Departs Michigan en route to Joint Base Andrews
12:25: Arrives at Joint Base Andrews
12:30: Departs Joint Base Andrews en route to Cambridge, Md.
1:15 PBO address House Democrats at their annual retreat (Listed for live coverage by C-Span 2 and CNN streaming)
3:00: Arrives at the White House
3:30: PBO and VP Biden meet with Secretary of State Clinton
4:30: PBO delivers remarks at a campaign event
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Jonathan Cohn (TNR): President Obama visits the Detroit area on Friday, and his timing couldn’t be better: Today’s Detroit Free Press brings more good news from the auto industry:
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all plan to add jobs in Michigan, which stands to benefit more than any other state. Nissan, BMW, Honda, Toyota, Kia and Mercedes-Benz also are hiring. Suppliers are looking to add engineers and technical people, but at a more gradual pace.
About 15,000 auto-related Michigan jobs could be created this yearâŚ.
President Barack Obama greets people following his remarks at Buckley Air Force Base in Denver, Colo., Jan. 26, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Nation: It is hard to read Remedy and Reaction, Paul Starrâs remarkable chronicle of the hundred-year effort to legislate universal health insurance in the United States, without recalling Robert Gibbsâs tortured quip that Democrats whoâve denounced the Obama White House for having knuckled under to Republican principles or intimidation âought to be drug-tested.â Nobody with a sense of history – that is, nobody who reads Starrâs book – could doubt how sensible and brave was the presidentâs effort to drive the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 through Congress. Nobody with a feel for the present moment should doubt how imminent is the threat to the act, how urgent it is for progressive Democrats to rally around Obama – and without all the condescending qualifications that âindependents,â who flock away from allegedly weak or incompetent leaders, interpret as contempt.
Greg Sargent: âŚ. At an event in Las Vegas (yesterday), Obama offered his most extensive rebuttal by far to the bogus GOP charge that the push for higher taxes on the wealthy is about âclass warfareâ and âenvyâ. The whole thing is worth a watch – the tone was not one of outrage, but one laced with a good deal of mockery and derision:
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Washington Post: The Obama administration finalized a rule Thursday governing the management of 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands, establishing a new blueprint to guide everything from logging to recreation and renewable energy development.
The guidelines – which will take effect in early March and apply to all 155 national forests, 20 grasslands and one prairie – represent the first meaningful overhaul of forest rules in 30 yearsâŚ.
Several environmentalists and scientists praised the guidelines ⌠âThe vision is laudable, and this is no small shift in how the national forests will be managed, from one of commodity extraction into a vision of protection, restoration and water preservation,â said Dominick DellaSala, president and chief scientist for the Oregon-based Geos Institute.
ThinkProgress: Following Barack Obamaâs historic election in 2008, comedian Stephen Colbert declared that because our nation had just elected its first black president, âracism is over.â âWe did it!â celebrated the comedian with a chyron reading âRacism: 1776-2008âł.
Despite Colbertâs obvious satire, the âracism is overâ meme has caught on with at least one Republican presidential candidate: former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.
ThinkProgress spoke with Johnson at a stop in West Palm Beach, FL. During a question about the Fair Labor Standards Act, Johnson abruptly shifted gears and declared that because âwe elected a black president,â this shows that âwe are colorblindâ and âweâre not a discriminate (sic) nationâ:
Unfortunately, racism is far from a historical relic in our society. A poll this month found that nearly half of Republicans in Mississippi want to ban interracial marriage ⌠even this week, a Republican official in southern California circulated an email depicting President Obama as an ape. And Johnsonâs assertion that âwe clearly have shownâ we donât discriminate would be news to the nationâs 2.5 million Muslims who learned last month that they would be unwelcome in a Herman Cain presidency.
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Out.com: One of (Glenn Greenwald’s) hopes for 2012 is that candidates will emerge to take on the red and the blue teams – he is keeping an eye on Gary Johnson, a two-term Republican governor of New Mexico….
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So, Johnson’s ignorance (if that’s what it is) of people’s continuing experience of racism (including, needless to say, the President) isn’t a problem for Greenwald? He’s still the guy he wants elected to the White House? Interesting. Most real progressives, you would imagine, would be offended by the comments. Johnson, though, is on the same side as Greenwald in his latest pet project (Bradley Manning), so that’s okay.
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Rooted Cosmopolitan: According to the 2002 edition of the Almanac of American Politics, as governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson cut taxes on the rich while cutting social services for the poor. He tried to pluck money out of public schools and funnel it in to private school vouchers. He vetoed a minimum wage bill. He signed in to law a late-term abortion ban. He wonât affirm a belief in global warming, and says even if it is happening that the effects are exaggerated and too much money is being wasted on it. And he vetoed a bill that would have continued the collective bargaining rights of public employees. Thatâs right, without the bluster but apparently to the same intended effect he did the same thing to public employees in New Mexico that Scott Walker did in Wisconsin.
The Obama Diary 
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