Howdy, President Obama!

President Barack Obama tries on a cowboy hat from a member of the crowd after speaking at a private Democratic National Convention event at Gilley’s Club in Dallas, Texas

hawaii hosts

Tim Mathieson, partner of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, shows the First Lady his cowboy boots. The First Lady is hosting a luncheon, serving all organic food from MA’O organic farm, for spouses of the APEC leaders at Kualoa Ranch, Hawaii

 …. greeting Vietnam’s First Lady Mai Thi Hanh

…. greeting Indonesia’s first lady Kristiani Herawati

…. greeting Korean first lady Kim Yoon-ok

…. with Laureen Harper, spouse of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

First Lady Michelle Obama with the Honolulu Boys Choir

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper walks with President Obama following the first plenary session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Kapolei, Hawaii

‘the dangerous cowboy’

American Bridge on YouTube

Glenn Kessler (Washington Post): …. “It is a monstrous lie. It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years today you’re paying into a program that’s going to be there.” – Gov. Perry

Perhaps the governor does not know the dictionary definition of a Ponzi scheme. Here’s what Merriam-Webster says: “An investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks.”

This is a frequent mistake politicians make when talking about Social Security. It is not an investment vehicle; it is intended to provide income security as well disability and life insurance. Just more than 60 percent of the 54 million beneficiaries are retired workers; the rest are disabled workers, dependents or survivors.

Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system, which means that payments collected today are immediately used to pay benefits. Until recently, more payments were collected than were needed for benefits. So Social Security loaned the money to the U.S. government, which used it for other things. In exchange, Social Security received interest-bearing Treasury securities. The value of those bonds is now about $2.6 trillion.

In any case, Perry is wrong to label Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Ponzi schemes ultimately go bust and everyone (except possibly early investors) generally loses their money. Social Security faces a long-term funding issue, but one that most experts say is manageable. After all, the Social Security actuary says that Social Security’s shortfall is 0.7 percent of the gross domestic product over the next 75 years.

More here

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Jonathan Chait: …. Perry, stylistically, ruled the roost. The media seems to consider Romney the winner. Pardon the condescension, but they’re not thinking like Republican base voters. Romney approaches every question as if he is in an actual debate …. Perry treats questions as interruptions …. His total liberation from the constraints of reason give Perry a chance to represent the Republican in in a way Romney simply cannot match.

In this way Perry eerily apes the style of George W. Bush….

More here

51% …… in texas!

Politicususa: A new poll released by the non-profit non-partisan group Texas Lyceum found that President Obama is almost as popular as Gov. Rick Perry in the Lone Star State. The poll found that President Barack Obama’s 51% Texas approval rating is only 3 points behind that of Governor Rick Perry (54%).

…In 2008 McCain beat Obama by 10 points in Texas, but where the Obama campaign sees hope for 2012 is in the fact that the President got 63% of the Latino vote in 2008, and 1.5 million more Spanish speaking voters will be eligible to go to the polls in 2012.

As Politico reported, “The spike in voting-eligible Hispanics offers a tantalizing prospect for Democratic strategists who have yearned to flip Texas ever since John Judis and Ruy Teixeira published their landmark book, “The Emerging Democratic Majority,” which predicted just such a shift nine years ago.”

Republicans counter with the argument that five Hispanic Republicans were elected to the Texas House in 2010, and there is no evidence that Texas will be in play in 2012 …. A lot can change between now and next fall, but the long predicted bluing of Texas could take its next step towards becoming a reality in 2012.

Full post here

Thank you Loriah