On This Day: Iraq, April 7, 2009
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Today:
11:15 President Obama visits Bladensburg High School, Maryland
11:35: Delivers remarks
2:0: Meets with the Commander-in-Chief and Executive Director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
3:25: Attends the ceremonial swearing in of Maria Contreras-Sweet as Administrator of the Small Business Administration, South Court Auditorium
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The Week Ahead
Tuesday: The President will host an event on the economy at the White House.
Wednesday: The President and the First Lady will travel to Houston, TX. The President will attend a memorial service at Fort Hood. He will attend DCCC and DSCC events. More details regarding the President and First Lady’s travel to Houston will be forthcoming.
Thursday: The President and the First Lady will travel to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, TX. The President will deliver remarks at a Civil Rights Summit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. The President and the First Lady will return to Washington, DC, in the afternoon.
Friday: The President will travel to New York, NY to deliver remarks at the National Action Network’s 16th Annual Convention.
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TPM: GOP Grapples With The Unsettling Fear That Obamacare May Succeed
In light of Obamacare achieving its goal of 7 million initial insurance sign-ups, William Kristol’s 1993 memo urging his party to block health care reform at all costs seems prescient. In it, the then-GOP operative’s message was remarkably candid: it’s a “serious political threat to the Republican Party.”
Kristol argued that it would cast Democrats as protectors of the middle class and “strike a punishing blow” to GOP ideals about the evils of government.
…. Two decades later, Democrats have achieved their century-long dream, defeating the GOP’s revived Kristol-esque strategy to destroy health care reform at all costs. Obamacare unexpectedly crossed its first big milestone last week with 7 million sign-ups on the exchanges. While the law still faces many challenges, conservatives who broadly predicted it would collapse under its own weight are forced to reckon with the unsettling fear that health care reform might succeed.
More here
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Michael Tomasky: The House GOP’s Down-Low, Backhanded Endorsement of Obamacare
Even as they publicly decry the president’s health care law, the moves they’re making behind closed doors reveal they may be resigned to its existence.
It’s not all that often that the lead piece on the Drudge Report attacks Republicans, so it’s worth a little savoring when it happens, and this one is especially delectable. The link was to an AP story reporting that two weeks ago, House Republicans stealthily voted for a measure that changed an aspect of the Affordable Care Act.
What? I know. In other words, Congress amends bill it passed a few years ago. In a normal moral universe, this would scarcely qualify as news. But when we speak of the House of Representatives, we are in the modern Republican Party’s moral universe, and there, the rules are different.
You see, by agreeing to amend Obamacare, Republicans are acknowledging the law’s existence and legitimacy. The only things they’re supposed to be doing with Obamacare are burning copies of it on the Capitol steps and voting to repeal it. But here they’ve done the exact opposite.
More here
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Sahil Kapur: The Opposition To ObamaCare Is Strangely Familiar
The intense conservative ire for Obamacare may seem like an anomaly in American history. But it’s eerily reminiscent of two other large — and now widely popular — expansions of the safety net: Social Security and Medicare.
The two programs are now a staple of American political culture. But a backward glance at the political environment during their inception reveals equally fierce, ugly antipathy from conservatives — including screaming warnings that they’d be ruinous to freedom.
….. Half a century later, Republicans loudly and proudly proclaim their support for both programs, and are loathe to admit their party ever opposed them.
But history repeats itself….
More here
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ThinkProgress: The Ethics Of NBC Letting George W. Bush Be Interviewed By His Daughter
Last February, the world caught a glimpse George W. Bush’s paintings through work of a hacker named Guccifier. The paintings were amateurish and charming and slightly embarrassing for a former president. They famously included self-portraits of him bathing.
On Friday, Bush decided to show off a series of paintings of world leaders in a more controlled fashion — in an exclusive interview with his daughter, NBC News special correspondent Jenna Bush Hager…..
….as a journalistic outlet, what are the ethical implications of turning over an interview with a former President to his own daughter?
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics states that journalists should “avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.” Three experts in ethics and journalism contacted by ThinkProgress all raised substantial concerns with the segment.
More here
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ThinkProgress: Why Obama Is Ending Pay Secrecy For Federal Contractors
President Obama will announce this week that he is directing all federal contractors to lift ‘gag rules’ that discourage or outright ban workers from discussing their salaries, the AP reported on Sunday. The move, which he will announce on April 8, is part of an effort to eliminate the pay gap between male and female employees who hold the same jobs or do the same work.
April 8 is 2014′s Pay Equity Day, which marks the number of extra days into 2014 that the average woman has to work to earn as much as her male counterpart did in 2013. Obama will also announce that he is directing all contractors to provide data on the pay of employees by race and gender.
Obama has long said that pay fairness by gender is one of his policy priorities, and these directives are consistent with his general approach of circumventing Congress where he can to make the changes for a fraction of the population that he’d like to see enacted in law for everyone.
More here
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WH.gov: America’s PrepareAthon!
Here at the White House, we’re getting ready for the first America’s PrepareAthon!, a national day of action that will take place April 30, 2014.
Join us this Monday, April 7 at 1:00 p.m. ET to discuss America’s PrepareAthon!, a community-based campaign to build a more secure and resilient nation by getting people to understand what disasters could happen in their communities and to take action to increase their preparedness. Actions include signing up for mobile alerts and warnings, holding a preparedness discussion to emphasize the steps people should take to be ready should a disaster occur, and conducting a drill so people are familiar with what to do beforehand.
Join us for a Google+ Hangout to hear from the head of FEMA, an award-winning meteorologist, and leaders from across the nation who share a passion for getting prepared.
More here
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On This Day
President Obama addresses U.S. troops during his visit to Baghdad, Iraq, April 7, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama receives a fist-bump from a U.S. soldier as he greets hundreds of U.S. troops during his visit to Iraq, April 7, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama reaches behind a pillar to shake hands with U.S. troops in Baghdad, Iraq, April 7, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama meets with General Raymond T. Odierno, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, during the President’s visit with U.S. troops in Baghdad, Iraq, April 7, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama removes his shoes as he prepares to visit the Blue Mosque April 7, 2009, in Istanbul, Turkey (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama signs a bill in the Oval Office, April 7, 2010 ( Photo by Pete Souza)
During a phone call from the Oval Office, April 7, 2010, President Obama talks with the family of workers who were killed in a West Virginia coal mine explosion on Monday (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama listens during a secure conference call and meeting on Libya in the Situation Room of the White House, April 7, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama waits with 2012 National Teacher of the Year, Rebecca Mieliwocki, 7th-grade English teacher at Luther Burbank High School, Burbank, Calif., and Education Secretary Arne Duncan in the Green Room of the White House before the start of a ceremony to honor the 2012 National and State Teachers of the Year in the East Room, April 24, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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MoooOOOooorning everyone – ran out of time again, will catch up with more newsie stuff later. Happy Monday!
The Obama Diary 
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