President Barack Obama speaks at US Central Command (CentCom) at MacDill Air Force Base
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President Barack Obama sits next to Commander of Central Command Gen. Lloyd Austin III during in a briefing from top military leaders while at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida
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"Osama bin Laden is no more. Because of you, the core al Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan & Pakistan has been decimated" —Obama to our troops
President Barack Obama participates in a briefing from top military leaders while visiting U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base. From L-R are: United States Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco, National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Obama, Commander of Central Command Gen. Lloyd Austin III and U.S. Special Operations Commander Joseph Votel.
President Barack Obama greets members of the military upon his arrival at MacDill Air Force Base
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"In three months, our combat mission will be over in Afghanistan & our war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end." —President Obama
President Barack Obama touches the spiked hair style of a child while visiting the Clarence Tinker elementary school children while at MacDill Air Force Base
Steve Benen: …. As recently as two weeks ago, Romney had a fairly specific number in mind when it came to the jobs created by his vulture-capitalist firm: “I’m very happy in my former life; we helped create over 100,000 new jobs.”
A few days ago, the total dropped: “[we] …. created tens of thousands jobs.”
This morning, the Romney campaign unveiled a new ad, which moved the goal post again. Greg Sargent picked up on the new message: “The ad claims Romney only created “thousands of jobs,” which is the latest shift in his campaign’s claims.”
So, over the course of two weeks, Romney has gone from “over 100,000 jobs” to “tens of thousands” to “thousands.”
By next week, I expect Romney to tell us, “I probably created a handful of jobs.
Members of the audience cheer as President Obama delivers remarks on the American Jobs Act at Manchester Central High School, N.H., Nov. 22
President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with First Lady Michelle Obama in the Oval Office, Nov. 21
President Obama greets people following a ceremony to honor the French and American Alliance, at a World War I Memorial at the Hotel de Ville in Cannes, France, Nov. 4
President Obama says goodbye to students after a visit to the Yeadon Regional Head Start Center in Yeadon, Pa., Nov. 8
President Obama talks with Chief of Staff Bill Daley before the APEC CEO business summit in Honolulu, Hawaii, Saturday, Nov. 12
President Obama has his picture taken with a member of the U.S. Navy on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson, Nov. 11
President Obama looks out a window of Air Force One during the flight from Canberra to Darwin, Australia, Nov. 17
Members of the Townson University football team take pictures of President Obama during halftime of the Oregon State vs Towson University basketball game in Towson, Md., Nov. 26
And from Lawrence Jackson:
First Lady Michelle Obama walks with children past the official White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room, Nov. 30. Mrs. Obama welcomed military families to the White House for for the first viewing of the 2011 holiday decorations.
President Obama walks toward Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Oct. 24. The President is heading on a three-day trip to the West Coast
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Reuters: President Barack Obama this week will announce a series of actions to help the economy that will not require congressional approval, including an initiative to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages, according to a White House official.
…. The first of the initiatives will be unveiled during Obama’s three-day trip to western states beginning Monday. He will discuss the changes in mortgage rules at a stop in Nevada, which has one of the hardest-hit housing markets in the country.
The Obama administration has been working with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to find ways to make it easier for borrowers to switch to cheaper loans even if they have little to no equity in their homes.
…. In Denver Wednesday, Obama will announce a student loan initiative.
“The only way we can truly attack our economic challenges is with bold, bipartisan action in Congress,” White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told The New York Times. “The president will continue to pressure Congressional Republicans to put country before party and pass the American Jobs Act, but he believes we cannot wait, so he will act where they won’t.”
Steve Benen: It’s been about five months since the White House took the extraordinary step of unveiling President Obama’s long-form birth certificate, ending the “Birther” conspiracy theory once and for all. With the questions answered, unhinged conservatives were forced to move on to other areas of nonsense.
Well, most of them, anyway:
New comments by Rick Perry in Parade magazine have revived the issue of whether the Texas governor believes that President Obama was born in the United States.
…..I suspect all of this should, in fact, be taken at face value – he had dinner with a nutty conspiracy theorist; they chatted about Trump’s silly ideas; Perry found the nonsense persuasive; and when asked about it, the governor said what he was thinking.
There’s no 11-dimensional chess here; Perry just isn’t terribly bright.
GOPolitico: President Barack Obama has a few very funny people on his side. Will Ferrell was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night, and many of the comedians on the red carpet had nothing but good things to say about the president.
Ferrell said that he “most definitely” wants Obama to win another term …. he told POLITICO that Obama has faced some unprecedented challenges. “Every president has a hard job but I think his is times ten,” Ferrell said, adding that he likes that Obama “thinks before he speaks.”
…. Obama is doing a “great job,” said Tim Meadows, another former “SNL” cast member. “It’s easy for white liberals to turn their backs on Obama,” he said, complaining that many people who used to support the president have jumped ship. “I don’t like how people are so wishy-washy,” he said.
Not in the wishy-washy category: Comedian Jack Black. “There’s a lot of haters out there, but I’m not one of them,” he said, declaring: “Obama all the way.”
Thanks Tulips & Donna Dem
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Irish Central: I think now would be an appropriate time to say thank you to President Barack Obama.
In comparison to his immediate predecessor his success in bringing the world’s most wanted terrorists and dictators to justice has been nothing short of remarkable.
….. Obama has rid the world of the scourge of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi. And all of this was accomplished within six months: if Obama were a Republican, they’d be commissioning bronze statues by now.
You know they won’t say it now or ever, so let’s say it for them: thank you President Obama for making the world and the United States safer.
Dallas News: As Mitt Romney campaigns for the White House, his Mexican cousins and supporters in this Mormon community would like to weigh in on some of the most contentious issues of the campaign: immigration, border security and religion.
Romney has more than 20 distant relatives going back three generations and a legion of supporters living in this region where his father, George, was born – a sanctuary colony in the northern state of Chihuahua originally established by polygamists from Utah led by Mitt Romney’s great-grandfather Miles Park Romney. Mitt Romney has never set foot in the region, his relatives say, but they are closely following the campaign for the Republican nomination, sometimes a bit uncomfortably.
For one thing, Romney has said that, if elected, he’d deport illegal immigrants within 90 days, build a border fence and have enough guards to secure it … These are positions with which the Romneys south of the border don’t entirely agree.
“Let’s get real. Sealing the border is a joke, it’s senseless,” said Brandon Romney, 33, a chili farmer and the local football coach….
…. Cousin Michael Romney … is “pretty sure” he will support Mitt Romney but wants to first understand his economic plan and vision for Mexico. “I don’t really understand what his policy is,” he said. “Addressing illegal immigration and Mexico have to be top priorities.”
….Mitt Romney, as the son of an American born in Mexico, is entitled to dual citizenship under Mexican law.
…. “I certainly hope his father’s Mexican background would be a positive sign for better relations and a deeper understanding of issues between the United States and Mexico,” said Jeffrey Jones, a Mormon and former Mexican senator. “I’m disappointed that we haven’t seen that side of Mitt Romney. We need solutions by working together because the United States needs Mexico very seriously and Mexico needs the United States badly.”
A comment left on the blog today, in response to that Texas interview with the President, by a Linda Van de Riet from Missouri.
There’s also, coincidentally, a Linda Van de Riet on the Missouri Jefferson County Republican Central Committee. A relation, maybe?
You know, these people will be consumed by their own hate one day. Hopefully.
PS Another coincidence! There’s a Linda Van de Riet from Missouri on Facebook:
I see she’s ‘interested’ in God. But not in His teachings, it seems.
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Blackman reminded me of this rally in the comments – wow, that day must really have pained Ms Van de Riet:
Sen. Barack Obama waves as he arrives at a rally of 100,000 supporters in St. Louis, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
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Theo67: I’m grateful to see this nonsense from these types, because it reminds me how desperate this fight is for those who seek goodness and light. There are many who are wallowing in darkness, consumed by hate, and deceiving themselves that they are somehow fighting a “godly” fight – yet, as evidenced by this woman, the hate just spews forth from them – telling us the real story. We can never let these creatures win. This is not just a political fight. It’s much more than that, and I think it’s a battle that’s been raging for a long time.
I’m encouraged when I think of those who had to put their very lives in harm’s way, and those who still do in places far away, simply to gain the rights of being treated like human beings. Watching clips from the Civil Rights struggle, the clips from those fighting for their freedom now in the Middle East… if all we have to do is read nasty words from these lost individuals, then we have it so much easier. It does take a little away from your spirit each time you’re confronted with this stuff, but we can replenish our spirits quite easily because of … the many billions of people around the world who are not consumed by hate.
President Obama stands by a cut-out picture of First Lady Michelle Obama during a visit to Miami Central High School, Fla., March 4 (Pete Souza)
…greeting Miss Florida Memorial University Morisa Jagrup at Miami Central High School, March 4 (Pete Souza)
…in the Blue Room before greeting recipients of the 2010 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal, March 2 (Pete Souza)
…. greeting guests during the International Women’s Day reception, March 8 (Samantha Appleton)
….holding up four-month-old Alia Jawando as her father, William Jawando, Deputy Associate Director of Public Engagement, and her mother Michele look on in the Oval Office, March 9 (Pete Souza)
…. welcoming Make-A-Wish child Kennedy Alexander to the Oval Office, March 15 (Pete Souza)
…. greeting Halle Major during a Make-A-Wish visit in the Oval Office, March 29 (Pete Souza)
….greeting the daughter of a United States Secret Service agent before a departure picture in the Oval Office, March 1 (Samantha Appleton)
…. passing staff from the White House Military Office as he jogs along the Colonnade following an event that ran late, March 1. The military personnel and their families were lined up to take departure pictures with the President in the Oval Office. (Pete Souza)
…reading from his book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters,” during a visit by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and his family to the Oval Office, March 2. Joining them, from left, are Justice Breyer’s wife Joanna Breyer, grandson Eli Essiam Breyer and daughter Nell Breyer (Pete Souza)
President Obama, Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, and members of the Australian and American delegations look up at the presidential seal in the Oval Office ceiling following their bilateral meeting, March 7 (Pete Souza)
…. talking with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his wife, Fionnuala Kenny, in the Green Room before a St. Patrick’s Day reception, March 17 (Pete Souza)
…. with President Sebastián Piñera of Chile, wife Cecilia Morel, and their family for a photograph during a dinner at La Moneda Palace in Santiago, March 21 (Pete Souza)
….greeting children during the U.S. Embassy meet and greet in Santiago, Chile, March 21 (Pete Souza)
Chilean First Lady Cecilia Morel, right, talks with First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia during a cultural event at the Museo Interactivo Mirador in Santiago, Chile, March 21 (Samantha Appleton)
…. at an official dinner hosted by Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes at the National Palace in San Salvador, March 22 (Pete Souza)
The 2010 graduating class at Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan was the winner of the first “Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge”.
The Obama Diary 
what can you say?
Tags: athletic, Barack, bigot, blog, Central, club, comment, committee, county, de, hate, Jefferson, linda, missouri, Obama, party, President, racism, racist, republican, riet, right, tea, teabagger, teabaggers, van, wing
A comment left on the blog today, in response to that Texas interview with the President, by a Linda Van de Riet from Missouri.
There’s also, coincidentally, a Linda Van de Riet on the Missouri Jefferson County Republican Central Committee. A relation, maybe?
You know, these people will be consumed by their own hate one day. Hopefully.
PS Another coincidence! There’s a Linda Van de Riet from Missouri on Facebook:
I see she’s ‘interested’ in God. But not in His teachings, it seems.
****
Blackman reminded me of this rally in the comments – wow, that day must really have pained Ms Van de Riet:
Sen. Barack Obama waves as he arrives at a rally of 100,000 supporters in St. Louis, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
****
Theo67: I’m grateful to see this nonsense from these types, because it reminds me how desperate this fight is for those who seek goodness and light. There are many who are wallowing in darkness, consumed by hate, and deceiving themselves that they are somehow fighting a “godly” fight – yet, as evidenced by this woman, the hate just spews forth from them – telling us the real story. We can never let these creatures win. This is not just a political fight. It’s much more than that, and I think it’s a battle that’s been raging for a long time.
I’m encouraged when I think of those who had to put their very lives in harm’s way, and those who still do in places far away, simply to gain the rights of being treated like human beings. Watching clips from the Civil Rights struggle, the clips from those fighting for their freedom now in the Middle East… if all we have to do is read nasty words from these lost individuals, then we have it so much easier. It does take a little away from your spirit each time you’re confronted with this stuff, but we can replenish our spirits quite easily because of … the many billions of people around the world who are not consumed by hate.
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Thank you Theo