Welcome To The Fist Bump Administration

Fist Bump: POTUS Style

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more pete souza genius…..

First Lady Michelle Obama reacts as President Obama soothes a crying baby at the Congressional Picnic, June 15

President Obama greets the family of Make-a-Wish child Diego Diaz, not pictured, before their visit to the Oval Office, June 23

President Obama fist-bumps Make-a-Wish child Diego Diaz after reading a letter he wrote, June 23

President Obama talks backstage with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett before a reception at the Hyatt at the Bellevue in Philadelphia, June 30

President Obama listens to Vice President Biden during a meeting with the Democratic leadership in the Oval Office, June 23

President Obama greets hospital workers while visiting wounded service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., June 17

President Obama talks with Puerto Rican Senator Alejandro Garcia Padilla during a lunch stop at Kasalta, a restaurant in the Ocean Park neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 14

President Obama greets patrons at Thomas Sweet Ice Cream and Chocolate in Washington, D.C., during a family outing on Father’s Day, June 19

All the photos above are by Pete Souza – here’s some Samantha Appleton and Lawrence Jackson genius:

First Lady Michelle Obama meets with former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa at Mandela’s home in Houghton, South Africa, June 21

First Lady Michelle Obama waits to be introduced during an event at the Claremont Hotel Club & Spa in Berkeley, Calif., June 14

First Lady Michelle Obama greets children at the Zandspruit Township Daycare Center at the Emthonjeni Community Center in Johannesburg, South Africa, June 21

First Lady Michelle Obama talks with young people at the U.S. Consulate meet and greet at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, June 23

First Lady Michelle Obama receives a hug while meeting with Young African Women Leaders Forum members at the Rosa Parks Library in Soweto, South Africa, June 22

More new photos here

‘it’s on: obama takes iron fist to gop’

CBS: President Obama may have been wearing a metaphorical velvet glove during his big deficit reduction speech Wednesday, but make no mistake about it: He took an iron fist to the Republicans.

… he set up the choice between his proposal and the one offered by the GOP. Mr. Obama said his plan to save $4 trillion over 12 years was grounded in staying true to the idea that “each one of us deserves some basic measure of security and dignity.”

And that, he said, means protecting the social safety net – Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and unemployment insurance – even while reforming the programs involved. Those programs, he said, are integral to America’s exceptionalism. “We would not be a great country without those commitments,” argued the president.

He then went on to question the Republican plan for reflecting an abandonment of what makes America great … it says “we can’t afford the America that I believe in and that I think you believe in”…

The Republican vision, he added, was “deeply pessimistic.” The president said that Republicans are positing that America can’t afford to fix its bridges, to care for seniors, to send its kids to college – that America, in the end, can’t afford to be great.

And then he really went after the GOP, targeting what he said were $1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans contained in the Paul Ryan Republican 2012 budget proposal.

…The Republicans, he argued, want to sell out what makes America special – its commitment to its people – in order to give the wealthiest Americans a little more spending money..

…This was the President Obama that voters rallied around in the 2008 presidential campaign – a candidate willing and able to lay down a clear vision grounded in progressive ideals….

Full post here

goodbye gibbs …. for now ;-)

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs with Vice President Joe Biden and his Communications Director Jay Carney in a photo from October, 2009. Gibbs is leaving the White House this month and will become an outside adviser to the administration – Carney will replace him in the role of Press Secretary.

President Obama with Ethan Gibbs, son of Robert

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, in his final week on the job, is beginning to share some of his thoughts on what it means to speak for the president of the United States.

Asked what advice he has given his successor, Vice President Biden’s communication director Jay Carney, Gibbs told reporters that he shared what his predecessors told him: “First and foremost, regardless of what you know and what you’re asked, your solemn obligation is to always tell the truth.”

Gibbs took his final official flight on Air Force One on Thursday.

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I’ll love this guy forever for taking on the “Professional Left” 😉

picture perfect: no 8

US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama shares a fist bump with Ethan Gibbs, the five year-old son of campaign communication director Robert Gibbs, upon disembarking from his campaign plane at Dulles airport in Chantilly, Virgina, on October 22, 2008. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

See all the Picture Perfect photos here

hand over fist

President Barack Obama fist-bumps Vice President Joe Biden, as Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett looks on, before a meeting in the Oval Office, Sept. 16, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

bumping along

President Barack Obama fist bumps Vice President Joe Biden, with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett looking on, before a meeting in the Oval Office, Sept. 16, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

hand over fist

President Barack Obama speaks during an event for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at the U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 16

raised fists

President Barack Obama fist-bumps custodian Lawrence Lipscomb in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building following the opening session of the White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, Dec. 3, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)