wrap-up

President Barack Obama talks with staff in Senior Advisor David Plouffe’s West Wing office at the White House, Oct. 6, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Jonathan Cohn (The New Republic): Remember when President Obama wouldn’t even utter the word “Republican”? Those days are long gone. And maybe, just maybe, the change in rhetoric is starting to pay off.

We’re now into week four of the administration’s campaign to promote its jobs proposal. And instead of dialing down the pressure, Obama has been dialing it up….

…. A new ABC-Washington Post poll suggests that, so far, Obama’s campaign is working …. public support for the elements of his jobs bill is high. And, more important, Obama has opened up a substantial gap with the Republicans over which party voters trust more to handle “job creation.”

… whether or not the Democrats have every single member in line is less important than whether they have 50 votes to pass it – because if they have the 50 votes, then the obstacle to enactment won’t be Democrats. It will be Republicans….

And that ought to matter to the voters. Everybody assumes Obama is campaigning hard for his jobs plan primarily to make a point to the voters about who stands for what, in advance of the 2012 elections. That’s probably true. But he’s adopted this posture because Republicans refuse to compromise. And if Republicans start to pay a political price for holding up popular legislation, there’s still a chance they will relent – and pass legislation before the year is done….

Full post here

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Based on Symmetry’s brilliant twitpic here (Thanks Meta)

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Business Week: Railroads shipments are the highest in almost three years, helping to defy concerns about a double-dip recession.

Total rail volumes averaged 381,831 carloads in August, the most since October 2008 … these shipments represent the bulk of materials for industrial production, so rising volumes show the economy is still growing…

… since reporting quarterly earnings in July, the three largest U.S. railroads haven’t given any indication of a sharp decline in demand similar to 2008 and 2009, when volumes fell as much as 24 percent on an annual basis.

…. Earlier this month, CSX’s Chief Financial Officer Oscar Munoz said he isn’t concerned about “any kind of overarching sort of dire circumstances around the corner,” as there is still a “general level of optimism” among customers and suppliers.

“Sure, things have moderated, but there is no one in that near state of panic that we saw certainly in late ‘08 and ‘09,” Munoz said….

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Greg Sargent (Washington Post): John Boehner has a new line he’s trying out to justify the Republican House’s rejection of Barack Obama’s jobs bill: “We’re legislating. He’s campaigning. It’s very disappointing.”

Huh? Really?

… legislating? The House of Representatives? The 112th Congress? Hard to believe that Boehner could say that one without bursting out laughing. The current House has done hardly any legislating at all. They could barely pass a bill to keep the government’s lights on back in the spring, and they almost send the nation into default in the summer…..

And outside of that there’s … well, almost nothing. As Obama pointed out today, there is no Republican initiative that can meaningfully be called a jobs bill…

…. The key here is that real legislating requires compromise, especially during times of divided government. And House Republicans have no intention of compromising with either the Senate or with Barack Obama … Even now, if Boehner really offered to deal on jobs, I don’t think anyone doubts that Obama would hop off the campaign trail and try to work something out. But there will be no legislating, because the House isn’t going to do it.

No matter what talking points John Boehner might trot out.

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About one thousand people gather and form a large ‘99%’ in the middle of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, October 6

Thanks nintendowii10

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Perry and Bachmann finally talk some, err, sense:

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GOPolitico’s race-baiter supreme, Julie Mason – get over it Julie, your President is black 😉 – had yet another pitiful dig at the President today for not mentioning, when he hosted the Texas A&M University women’s championship basketball team at the White House, that her beloved Rick Perry attended the college. Maybe Julie missed her buddy Knoller’s tweet…..

The President invited Perry to the White House?! See, that’s what you call class, Julie – you should try and acquire some one day 😉

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Captain Mark Kelly hugs his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, after receiving the Legion of Merit from Vice President Joe Biden during a retirement ceremony in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2011. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

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The photo I love more than any:

Forty years after their silent protest at the 1968 Olympics, Gold Medalist Tommie Smith hugs Bronze Medalist John Carlos, and their wives Delois Smith and Charlene Carlos after Barack Obama is officially sworn in as the President of the United States. (Boston Globe/Stan Grossfeld)

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Night everyone 😉

“the lip’s fine, but mary landrieu had me in stitches…again”

President Barack Obama shows stitches on his lip to a guest at a meeting with the President’s Export Council, December 9

west wing week: “sharp elbows”

lip gloss

White House, December 2

the, eh, healing has begun

Stitches on the bottom lip of President Barack Obama are seen as he speaks about wage freezes in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House in Washington, November 29

back on court

President Barack Obama returns from playing basketball with his daughters and some of their friends to the White House in Washington, November 28

hugs help

President Barack Obama looks at first lady Michelle Obama and smiles as he gets a hug from his youngest daughter Sasha during an NCAA basketball game between Oregon State and Howard University on Saturday, Nov. 27

sadness is … being on the injured list

President Barack Obama watches a game between the Oregon State University Beavers and the Howard University Bison on November 27, at Howard University in Washington

read my lips …. well, yep, it stings a bit

President Obama and his family, along with first mother-in-law Marian Robinson, showed up at Howard University on Saturday to watch the Bisons play Oregon State University in basketball. Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, is Oregon State’s head coach.

stiff upper lip

President Barack Obama walks to his car with Secret Service Agents after a game of basketball with friends and aides on November 26,  at Fort McNair in Washington, DC

If someone elbowed the President in the mouth they should be forced to listen to the audio version of Sarah ‘North Korea’s Best Buddy’ Failin’s new book 😐

Several times

Newsflash: He needed 12 stitches on that wound 😦

President Obama had his lip treated with 12 stitches after he was hit by the elbow of one of the players joining him in a post-Thanksgiving basketball game.

” After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the President received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement. “They were done in the doctor’s office located on the ground floor of the White House.”

 The pool adds: “The medical unit that treated Obama used a smaller filament than typically used, which increases the number of stitches but makes a tighter stitch and results in a smaller scar. Obama was given a local anesthetic while receiving the stitches.”

Just wait til America’s North Korean ‘allies’ hear about this, they’ll nuke that elbow

President Barack Obama, with an ice pack over his mouth, looks out the second floor window of the White House during the arrival of the official White House Christmas tree

The culprit unveiled!

Politico: The player who elbowed President Obama in the lip during a basketball game on Friday was Rey Decerega, the director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the White House said.

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport,” Decerega said in a statement. “I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.”

Obama’s upper lip was treated with 12 stitches after he was hit in the fifth of five games he was playing with family and friends, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Reggie Love and Obama’s nephew Avery Robinson.

Decerega “turned into POTUS, who was playing defense, to take a shot when the elbow hit the President in the mouth,” the White House said.

Hey, where were “the guys with guns”?

(May 2010)

😐