Birthday Wishes

Happy birthday, @MichelleObama. Thank you for pouring every ounce of yourself into empowering the next generation of leaders. Our country, and myself, are better off because of you. pic.twitter.com/Hlvymr2Ndq

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 17, 2021

Happy Birthday Mrs. @MichelleObama !! Thank you for inspiring me! pic.twitter.com/S4wnqTaYYq

— Tyler Gordon (@tygordonsworld) January 17, 2021

Happy birthday, @MichelleObama!

In honor of her birthday, learn more about how the Obama Presidential Center will enrich the community she grew up in at https://t.co/jIFGK7T59P pic.twitter.com/KlXDwUc1yK

— The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) January 17, 2021

Happy Birthday to “Forever First Lady,” that little girl from Southside Chicago, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama!! pic.twitter.com/wQb09UiHup

— It’s Madam Vice President Harris to YOU in 3 days (@flywithkamala) January 17, 2021

We’re wishing our co-chair @MichelleObama a happy birthday! 🎉 🎁

Celebrate Michelle Obama’s birthday with us by sharing how you’re making a positive difference on Monday’s Day of Service: https://t.co/YHcBDAyRuS pic.twitter.com/gqE0wCL1qD

— When We All Vote (@WhenWeAllVote) January 17, 2021

Happy 57th Birthday to our forever First Lady @MichelleObama 💕 pic.twitter.com/scANrggX2M

— MEFeater Magazine (@mefeater) January 17, 2021

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Former First Lady Michelle Obama celebrates her birthday today!

MICHELLE OBAMA THROUGH THE YEARS: https://t.co/R9byxuxOxK pic.twitter.com/V93lhBH6jN

— ABC News (@ABC) January 17, 2021

GALLERY: Happy Birthday Michelle Obama! We've gathered her most stunning looks to celebrate our forever First Lady. #ESSENCE https://t.co/CHugiwmyKT

— ESSENCE (@Essence) January 17, 2021

Dancing Queen

Still dancing at 110 years old—happy birthday, Virginia! https://t.co/IYuNYLJqT5

—
Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) March 12, 2019

@MichelleObama This was truly a wonderful moment to see at the White House. Love watching this. Thank you! amp.twimg.com/v/549ad94b-166…

—
Matt Leeds (@Mleeds2048) March 12, 2019

****

@MichelleObama Ms. Virginia McLaurin is enjoying her birthday and greatly appreciates your greetings. She reflects… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

—
Deborah Menkart (@dmenkart) March 12, 2019

What a great moment. Happy 110th, Virginia. twitter.com/michelleobama/…

—
Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 12, 2019

libya, monday

Around one hundred Libyans in front of the White House celebrating Libyan rebels surging into the heart of Tripoli. They sang: ‘USA, USA, Kadhafi has gone today’ ‘Kadhafi left Tripoli’, ‘Libya is free’, and ‘Merci Sarkozy, Merci Sarkozy, thank you Obama, thank you Obama’.

****

Live updates on the BBC site

****

Steve Kornaci (Salon): …if this is, in fact, it for the Libyan strongman, it should do damage to a particularly obnoxious anti-Obama talking point from hawks on the right – the idea that he’s excessively deferential, naïve and just plain weak on the world stage and that his foreign policy can only lead to failure and humiliation.

The Libyan mission was supposed to be proof of this. “Leading from behind” is actually a phrase that an Obama advisor used in a New Yorker piece this spring to describe the administration’s approach to toppling Gadhafi. The idea was that the president was seeking a sensible balance by trying to boost the rebel cause while minimizing the U.S. footprint, but the right giddily trumpeted the phrase as proof that Obama was only too willing to let America get bullied around….

…. That it (the end of Gadhafi) is now on the brink of being achieved five months after the implementation of the no fly zone would seem to suggest that, just maybe, there was actually some wisdom to “leading from behind.” At the very least, it exposes the attacks of Krauthammer, Romney and others for what they were: overheated efforts to reinforce the Obama-as-Carter caricature they’ve been pushing since the start of his presidency. Nor is it the first time Obama has defied this caricature: Remember when our “weak” and “naïve” president announced that Osama bin Laden – the man who had eluded George W. Bush for nearly eight years – had been killed?

It’s worth repeating that Gadhafi’s fall hardly would hardly guarantee that history will smile on Obama’s handling of Libya. What would come next for the country is an open question, and the possibility that the void created by Gadhafi’s departure will be filled by violence and chaos is all too real. There are plenty of people on both the right and the left who have insisted all along the U.S. had no business intervening, and the latest developments do not necessarily prove them wrong.

But they seem to be a blow to the right-wing hawks who still dominate the GOP’s foreign policy discourse. Not for the first time, they’ve spent months the past few months crowing that Obama was too incompetent to achieve a goal that he and they shared. But suddenly that goal is on the verge of being realized.

we’ve come so far …. no going back

two years ago ….

nothing’s impossible

Election Night, 2008

goooooooooaaaaaaaaaaal!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

South Africa’s Siphiwe Tshabalala scores the first goal of the World Cup against Mexico at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, June 11, 2010. The game finished 1-1.

flashback … a night to remember

a beautiful day

The signing of the health insurance reform bill in the East Room at the White House

….with Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy Pelosi

….with Vicki Kennedy

…with Rep Patrick Kennedy

….with Rep John Lewis

….with Rep Dennis Kucinich

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid

Later at the at the Interior Department….

President Barack Obama returns to the Oval Office at the White House after holding a rally celebrating the passage and signing into law of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health insurance reform bill at the Interior Department in Washington, March 23, 2010.

flashback … the day

Filmmaker Frederic Lumiere’s film on his experience at the inauguration of President Obama one year ago today (Jan 20th). Featuring Jay-Z, Beyonce, P Diddy and Denzel Washington.

Spotted on the Mutt Like Me blog