President Barack Obama is greeted by Filipino President Benigno Aquino III as he arrives for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting in Manila, Philippines
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President Barack Obama and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, talk during a bilateral meeting
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Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama
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President Barack Obama answers a reporter’s question
Peru President Ollanta Humala and President Barack Obama talk as they arrive to participate in the APEC Summit retreat session on regional economic integration
President Barack Obama walks with Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they arrive for a group photo with leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit
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President Barack Obama shakes hands with Peru’s President Ollanta Humala as they wait for a group family photo. Pictured from top left, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive is Leung Chun-ying, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , South Korea President Park Geun-hye, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. front row from left, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Sultan of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala, Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang, U.S. President Barack Obama, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Taiwan envoy Vincent Siew
On This Day: President Obama greets graduating Joplin High School seniors before their commencement ceremony at Missouri Southern State University’s Leggett & Platt Athletic Center in Joplin, Mo., May 21, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Today (All Times Eastern)
10:45: President Obama makes a statement in the briefing room after a meeting with Sec. Eric Shinseki
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11:35: The President participates in an ambassador credentialing ceremony
12:45: Jay Carney briefs the press
2:10: The President honors the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, East Room
4:10: The President delivers remarks on the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument Designation, Department of Interior
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Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more Americans don't have to worry about lifetime caps. pic.twitter.com/EfXDgTKfMB
Washington Post: Obama: ‘In Five Years It Will No Longer Be Called Obamacare.’
Just about everyone calls the Affordable Care Act “Obamacare” — even the White House. But is President Obama returning to his old stance that the health-care law should not have his name attached to it?
At a fundraiser in Potomac, Md., Monday night, Obama backed off the term that his administration shunned, and then embraced.
“First of all, in five years it will no longer be called Obamacare, because when something is working, they’re definitely not going to — there will be a whole renaming process similar to National. (Laughter.) I don’t know if it will be “Reagancare,” but it will definitely be — it will be something different,” Obama told the crowd.
(For those of you outside the Washington area, Obama was referring to Washington National Airport, which was renamed Reagan National Airport in 1998).
NYT: Memo Approving Targeted Killing Of U.S. Citizen To Be Released
Facing the potential defeat of an appeals court nominee, the Obama administration decided Tuesday to publicly release much of a classified memo written by the nominee that signed off on the targeted killing an American accused of being a terrorist. The solicitor general, Donald B. Verrilli Jr., made the call to release the secret memo — and not appeal a court order requiring its disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act — and informed Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. of his decision this week, according to two administration officials. The White House was informed Tuesday. But the memo will not be released right away because officials said they needed time to redact it and to prepare an appeal asking the court not to reveal classified sections of a federal appeals court ruling last month requiring that most of the memo be made public. The memo was written by David J. Barron, a Harvard Law professor and former acting chief of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who is Mr. Obama’s choice to fill a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston.
"To the Americans here today, let me say..you are the greatest generation of warriors" -VP to U.S. troops in #Romaniapic.twitter.com/jrQFO3aAhD
As a Justice Department lawyer, Mr. Barron wrote two memos concluding that it would be lawful to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, a United States citizen living in Yemen, based on intelligence agencies’ conclusion that he was a senior operational terrorist plotting attacks against the United States and that his capture was not feasible. The lawsuit focused on the second and longer of those memos. Mr. Awlaki was killed by an American drone strike in September 2011. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, had promised to slow down Mr. Barron’s confirmation if the administration did not allow senators to view all of Mr. Barron’s memos or release redacted versions to the public. Libertarian-leaning senators in both parties had expressed reservations about the nomination, and some conservatives also argued that he was too liberal on other issues. A spokesman for Mr. Paul said the senator would still take the Senate floor on Wednesday for a filibuster-style protest of Mr. Barron’s nomination. Last year, Mr. Paul used the nomination of John O. Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency to stage a nearly 13-hour filibuster.
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) May 20, 2014
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Philly.com: U.S. Judge Strikes Down Same-Sex Marriage Ban In Pa.
A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriages, a landmark ruling that appeared to clear the way for the Commonwealth to become the latest state to legalize gay marriage. The decision by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III marked the first and most significant to date in a series of court challenges to the state’s 1996 ban. “We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them onto the ash heap of history,” Jones wrote in the 39-page opinion. “By virtue of this, ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth.”
“What a great day!” said Mark Aronchick, one of the plantiffs lawyers in the case. “The court, in a bell-ringing opinion, has explained in crystal clear language why the promises of our Constitution extend to all Pennsylvanians. We urge the commonwealth to take whatever steps are necessary to allow marriages to proceed and the celebrations to begin immediately.” In Philadelphia, Register of Wills Ron Donatucci’s office immediately began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Guy Sabelli, the city’s marriage license supervisor, said 12 female couples and 6 male couples had obtained licenses by the time the office closed at 5:30 p.m. The office reopens at 8 a.m. Wednesday with extended hours until 7 p.m.
I’m not sure why this isn’t a bigger deal. I hadn’t heard about it other than in this brief passage tucked away in a Politico article about the House GOP agriculture bill. But it takes a small program intended provide meals to children in the school lunch program during the summer months and says it can now only be used to benefit kids in “rural areas”.
In other words, “urban” kids are now out of luck.
Here’s the passage in question ..
And in a surprising twist, the bill language specifies that only rural areas are to benefit in the future from funding requested by the administration this year to continue a modest summer demonstration program to help children from low-income households — both urban and rural — during those months when school meals are not available.
ThinkProgress: President Obama Is Set To Create His Largest National Monument So Far
On Wednesday, President Obama will create his second national monument of the year, designating the Organ Mountains in New Mexico a protected area. The Organ Mountains, located at the southern end of New Mexico, will be the 11th and largest national monument of Obama’s presidency. The White House says that the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument will create $7.4 million in new annual economic activity in the region, a finding that first appeared in a 2013 report.
That report also found the monument would double the number of outdoor recreation and tourism jobs in the region and contribute $560,000 in state and local tax revenue. The monument encompasses a total of 496,000 acres, land which contains Native American petroglyphs in its canyons and is one of the most botanically diverse mountain ranges in New Mexico, home to about 870 vascular (i.e. plants with roots, stems, and leaves) plant species and a recorded 210 species of birds.
Brentin Mock: EPA Takes On Three Villains At Once: Pollution, Climate Change, And Racism
You may have read something recently about the air being racist, which is of course ridiculous. It is true that if you are white in America you will tend to breathe air of a more premium quality. A recent study from the University of Minnesota found that black and brown Americans are more often trapped in neighborhoods laden with nitrogen dioxide than their white fellow Americans. This is not news to us. Our abnormally high asthma and cancer rates testify to this. President Obama’s first Environmental Protection Agency chief, Lisa Jackson, promoted environmental justice to top priority status in the agency’s overall mission in 2009. The resulting strategy, which the EPA began rolling out in March, is called Plan EJ 2014, and its primary goal is to end the culture of entitlement among polluters that dump toxic byproducts into the air, soil, and water of marginalized communities. Why is this a big deal?
We can't get to the reckoning about America's racialized political economy when one of the parties suppresses vote/denies health insurance.
Because if you believe that the health and lives of people of color are no less precious than white people’s, this plan helps bring environmental laws in harmony with those values. If you think that clean air is Don Sterling (I like black people. I feed them with oxygen and give them wind. I just don’t want them breathing me.), then you want to know who the Adam Silver is who can commission a smack down. Because civil rights protections in America have been taking a beating lately. Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, we now have weakened voting rights protections, weakened affirmative action policies, and we were this close to losing valuable housing discrimination protections (which would have had negative implications for environmentalists).
While civil rights have been getting pushed backwards, environmental justice is been slowly rolling along progressively. That’s no small feat, especially for an agenda that was attacked almost immediately upon Obama claiming the White House in 2009.
ABC News: Biden: Punish Russia If It Meddles In Ukraine
Russia must be punished if it seeks to derail Ukraine’s presidential election this weekend, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday. Speaking during a tour of Eastern European nations, Biden urged European allies to use their influence and “promote a stable and positive environment” so Ukrainians can vote unhindered on Sunday. “If Russia undermines these elections … we must remain resolute and impose greater costs to Russia and (be) equally resolute to invest in the NATO alliance,” Biden said after talks with Romanian President Traian Basescu. The U.S. and the EU have imposed travel bans and asset freezes on President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and have threatened to target entire sectors of the Russian economy if Russia tries to grab more land from Ukraine.
"Where the rule of law is strong...this is where companies around the world invest." -VP in #Romania on anti-corruption efforts
Biden urged Romania to develop its natural gas resources, which analysts say could be exported it to other countries in the region, including neighboring Moldova, which is 100 percent dependent on Russian gas. Romania imports about one-fifth of its natural gas from Russia and has its own supplies in the northwest Transylvania region. “We need to ensure that Russia can no longer use its energy resources as a weapon against anyone in the region,” Biden said. “The development of a secure, diverse and inter-connected energy market is the next great step for our European colleagues.”
ThinkProgress: Chipotle Asks Customers To Keep Guns Away From Its Stores
On Monday, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. formally requested that customers refrain from bringing guns into its restaurants. The announcement came after gun rights advocates entered a Texas restaurant with “military-style assault rifles.”
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America distributed a petition calling for firearms bans in stores like Chipotle after “open-carry gun activists” entered a Chipotle in Dallas.
According to Chipotle, “the display of firearms in our restaurants has now created an environment that is potentially intimidating or uncomfortable for many of our customers.” It remains unclear whether or not the chain is implementing a complete ban on all firearms, but the official statement also claims that the company has previously adhered to local gun rights laws.
Caroline F. Pearson: Avalere Analysis: Exchange Enrollment Outpaces Expectations In 22 States
A new analysis from Avalere Health finds that exchange enrollment meets or exceeds expectations in 22 states (44%), even after accounting for any attrition due to nonpayment of premiums. Assuming 15 percent of enrollees do not take the final enrollment step and pay their premiums, over 6.8 million people who enrolled through April 19 will have coverage effective as of May 1.
“The large uptick in enrollment in March and early April brought many states over the finish line in terms of projected enrollment for 2014,” said Caroline Pearson, Vice President at Avalere. “Even after accounting for potential non-payment, enrollment exceeds 100 percent of projections in nearly half of states.”
President Obama has gotten much attention from a single extended response he gave to a question about his foreign policy from Ed Henry of Fox News in a press conference in Manila. The apparently strongly felt need, on the part of some of the president’s hardline critics, to strike back at his remarks and to try to discredit them indicates that he spoke some embarrassing truths. Garden-variety disagreement with the substance of the president’s policies and what he has said to support them would never have stimulated this kind of response. The president made several perceptive observations about the less productive aspects of current discourse in Washington about Ukraine, Syria, and other difficult issues, but if there was a single “ouch” line that made the critics most uncomfortable it may have been Mr. Obama’s comment that “for some reason many who were proponents of what I consider to be a disastrous decision to go into Iraq haven’t really learned the lesson of the last decade, and they keep on just playing the same note over and over again.”
It must be painful for Mr. Obama’s opponents to be reminded how right he was about this issue while so many others—Democrats as well as Republicans—were wrong. If subsequent commentary by the critics were to be believed, the main takeaway from the president’s remarks was that he was accusing his political opponents of being warmongers. But the president explicitly acknowledged, in referring to debates over Syria and Ukraine, that the opponents he has in mind have disavowed wanting to send U.S. troops into such conflicts. Mr. Obama’s main point was instead that after making such disavowals, the critics either (1) fail to spell out what other action they have in mind, beyond what the administration already is doing; or (2) to the extent they do mention an alternative, fail to assess carefully the likely consequences both good and bad, and instead just make unsupported assertions that acting more boldly or aggressively will somehow help to solve the problem at hand.
WPRI: 91% In RI Pay First Premiums For Obamacare Plans
The vast majority of individuals who signed up for private insurance plans through Rhode Island’s new Obamacare marketplace finished the process by paying their first premiums, the agency’s leader confirmed Friday. Christine Ferguson, executive director of HealthSource RI, said 91% of the 27,968 individuals who signed up for private plans during the open enrollment period from Oct. 1 to March 31 paid their first premiums by the April 23 deadline. Analysts have pointed to that percentage as a key test of whether the enrollment figures were as strong as they looked. A total of 25,879 individuals had signed up for a private plan through HealthSource RI and paid their first premiums as of April 30, the agency said. In addition, more than 70,000 people have now used the marketplace to sign up for Medicaid, the government insurance plan for low-income Americans, far more than were expected to do so.
Ferguson also confirmed that HealthSource RI is “in very serious discussions” with executives at UnitedHealth Group Inc. to have United start selling plans for individuals on the Rhode Island marketplace this fall. “I will say that there’s a very good chance that United will,” she said. Executives at United, the nation’s largest health insurer, have signaled in recent weeks that they plan to start selling Obamacare plans in more states during the next open enrollment period this fall. While United is already selling plans to small businesses through HealthSource RI, the marketplace currently has only Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Neighborhood Health Plan offering individual plans.
Amy Lynn Smith: Obamacare Success Stories Keep Coming, With A Rosy Forecast For 2015
So much good news, it’s hard to know where to begin. In Michigan, 272,539 people signed up for coverage through Healthcare.gov, in addition to thousands more who have enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan, the state’s Medicaid expansion program that launched April 1. Numbers don’t lie, but even more compelling are the stories of people like Karen Marshall of Oak Park, Mich. Until about four years ago, she’d always had health insurance through work. But when she lost her job, she couldn’t get even the most expensive private insurance because the insurance company claimed she had a pre-existing condition.
Marshall has always considered herself fortunate to be healthy, but she never felt luckier than she did after getting health insurance that kicked in on January 1, 2014. On a trip the week before, she slipped on the ice and fell, breaking her wrist in three places. She saw an orthopedic surgeon on January 3 and had surgery the following week. Everything was covered by her insurance, leaving her only having to pay her deductible and her $6,000 out-of-pocket maximum for the year. She’s now had two surgeries, one hospitalization, and has physical therapy and follow-up visits ahead.
Sen. Barack Obama greets supporters during a campaign rally at the St. Pete Times Forum, May 21, 2008 in Tampa, Florida
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President Obama and the Pittsburgh Steelers pack care packages for distribution by the USO during an event on the South Lawn of the White House May 21, 2009 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
President Obama meets with Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the Oval Office on May 21, 2009. The President nominated Judge Sotomayer to the U.S. Supreme Court on May 26, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (left) and Senior Advisor David Axelrod review President Obama’s address on national security outside the Oval Office on May 21, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama delivers an address on national security at the National Archives May 21, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama prepares to take a group photo with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the East Room of the White House, May 21, 2009 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
President Obama meets with Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete in the Oval Office Thursday, May 21, 2009. This was the President’s first meeting with an African Head of State. A bust of Martin Luther King is at far left (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama chats with journalists in a dining room located in the in the White House Navy Mess, May 21, 2009. (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama’s personal secretary, Katie Johnson, tries on a Pittsburgh Steelers football helmet outside the Oval Office, May 21, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama is reflected in a mirror during a impromptu drop-by visit with speechwriters in David Axelrod’s office in the West Wing of the White House on May 21, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama surprises members of the Office of the Staff Secretary in the West Wing of the White House during an impromptu drop-by visit on May 21, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama shares a laugh with Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., left, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., right, and others during a meeting in the Oval Office, May 21, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama disembarks Air Force One upon his arrival at Joplin Regional Airport in Joplin, Mo., May 21, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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@PeteSouza: ‘POTUS receives update this am on Oklahoma tornado aftermath from Sec Napolitano et al’ May 21, 2013
Children help President Barack Obama to his feet after he sat on the floor to have a group photo with them during a U.S. Embassy meet and greet at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Manila, Philippines, April 28, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Mrs. Akie Abe present President Barack Obama with a Bo golf club cover at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, April 24, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama gives a fist bump to a baby during a U.S. Embassy meet and greet at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 27, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama and President Park Geun-hye exit for a walk in the Little Garden to view a tree she planted on her Inauguration Day, at the Blue House in Seoul, Republic of Korea, April 25, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama is kissed by 94-year-old Carolina Garcia Delfin, a Filipina nurse who fought in the resistance against Japanese forces during World War II. The President mentioned her in his remarks to American and Philippine troops at Fort Bonifacio in Manila, Philippines, April 29, 2014 (Photo by Pete Souza)
Students So Jung Kim and Chi Hyun Lee present President Barack Obama with a bouquet of flowers as he arrives for a tour of Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Republic of Korea, April 25, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama is kissed by 94-year-old Carolina Garcia Delfin, a Filipina nurse who fought in the resistance against Japanese forces during World War II. The President mentioned her in his remarks to American and Philippine troops at Fort Bonifacio in Manila, Philippines, April 29, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Sara Kliff: Republican Replacement For Obamacare Is Fauxobamacare
Scott Brown, who’s now running for Senate in New Hampshire, has found the perfect position on Obamacare. He’s for it. He’s just not for calling it Obamacare. In an interview with WBUR, he called Obamacare a “disaster.” Then he was asked what he’s for — and he went on to describe Obamacare. “I’ve always felt that people should either get some type of health care options, or pay for it with a nice competitive fee,” he said. “That’s all great. I believe it in my heart. In terms of preexisting conditions, catastrophic coverages, covering kids, whatever we want to do.”
He even said it could “include the Medicaid expansion [for] folks who need that care and coverage.” Oh, he also promises his plan won’t raise taxes, cut spending on Medicare, or make people drive very far to go to the hospital. So his plan will have more generous insurance options and no way to pay for them. In other words, his plan will be like Obamacare, but even better! Call it Fauxbamacare.
Brian Beutler: Buzzfeed Chronicles Paul Ryan’s Metamorphosis, Ignores His Frightening Budget
If I had to draw one conclusion from McKay Coppins’ latest Paul Ryan bildungsroman in Buzzfeed, it would be that Ryan wants public documentation of his metamorphosis from tough-love austerian into a tribune for the poor. But that he doesn’t want it captured in the context of everything else he’s done for his entire career.
…. House Republicans passed his budget on April 10. It proposes monumental cuts to social programs for the poor.
But most of that context is invisible in the profile, as is any indication that Ryan’s actually changed his thinking about how to reduce poverty. And it’s thus silent on the basic question of whether Ryan’s serious at all, or playing us for fools.
Amy Worden: Pa. Judge Won’t Reconsider Voter ID Ruling
A Commonwealth Court judge on Monday denied the Corbett administration’s request to reconsider his ruling overturning the state’s two-year-old voter identification law. In a 29-page decision, Judge Bernard L. McGinley said the law requiring Pennsylvania voters to produce photo ID at the polls failed “to provide liberal access to compliant photo ID” and, as a result, disenfranchised voters. “The evidence showed the voter ID provisions at issue deprive numerous electors of their fundamental right to vote, so vital to our democracy,” wrote McGinley, who struck down the law in January. The Corbett administration has 30 days to file an appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Joshua Maus, spokesman for the Office of General Counsel, said the office was reviewing the ruling. Lawyers representing plaintiffs in the case praised the ruling. “The court confirmed that the photo ID law is unnecessary and disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of people,” said Jennifer Clarke, executive director of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia. “We call on the governor, the attorney general, and the secretary of state to stop spending our precious state dollars on defending this law, so dangerous to our democratic system.”
If it seems every few months brings us another installment in the “Paul Ryan cares about poor people” series, it’s not your imagination. In November, the Washington Post helped get the ball rolling with a front-page article on the House Budget Committee chairman, celebrating the congressman for his efforts “fighting poverty and winning minds.”
The gist of the piece was that the far-right congressman is entirely sincere about using conservative ideas to combat poverty.
In December, BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins ran a related piece, and today Coppins published another: Ryan is “trying to challenge the notion that his party is out of touch with poor people the old-fashioned way: by talking to some.”
Mark Berman: Why The World Finally Noticed Donald Sterling’s Appalling History
The Donald Sterling who is dominating headlines and drawing widespread condemnation for allegedly saying a metric ton of racist things is the same Donald Sterling who has a long, long, long history of being accused of saying or doing offensive things. So why is this time — and why are these particular remarks — different? Why has the world suddenly discovered Donald Sterling?
Consider that Bomani Jones wrote a story headlined “Sterling’s racism should be news” in 2006. Again: 2006. Eight years and 351 losses by the Clippers ago. Jones wrote this after Sterling was sued for housing discrimination. In the lawsuit, Sterling was accused of refusing to rent apartments to black people.
Yet, it took an audio recording allegedly capturing Sterling saying astonishingly bigoted things for the world to finally notice. This incident is clearly different, owing to a combination of what he said, the fact that people can hear it for themselves and the era in which he said it. In the past, Sterling’s comments were delivered through testimonies and depositions. Offensive statements made during a deposition and reprinted later can spark an outcry, as Paula Deen can attest to, but the Deen episode occurred with someone who was much more famous than Sterling. This episode with the audio recording combines offensive comments with an easy way for people to hear a real human being say these things.
Ishaan Tharoor: U.S.-Philippines Security Deal Shows That America Still Has Its Fans
The new 10-year defense agreement is perhaps the most significant achievement of Obama’s four-country tour of Asia, where the Philippines was the final destination. U.S. troops now have expanded access to Philippine facilities and will participate in an increased number of joint military exercises with the archipelago nation. There’s no plan at present for a permanent American troop presence nor a clear indication that the U.S. would come to the Philippines’ defense in the face of an external threat. But the pact represents something an about-face for Manila: more than two decades ago, the last U.S. naval base in the country at Subic Bay — a legacy of nearly half a century of American colonial rule — was shut down. (At the time, Aquino’s mother, Corazon, was the country’s President.)
Manila’s alliance with Washington has strengthened under Aquino.Aquino’s stance perceptibly hardened and he has become perhaps the most forthright statesman in Southeast Asia when it comes to confronting perceived Chinese aggression. Obama, meanwhile, reiterated that the new defense deal with the Philippines was not about containing China. But it’s hard not to view it in the context of a larger geopolitical chess match in the Pacific. The U.S. now has greater operational flexibility when contemplating maneuvers and actions in the South China Sea.
Reacting to a series of highly publicized rapes on college campuses, the White House on Monday released guidelines that increase the pressure on universities to more aggressively combat sexual assaults on campus. The recommendations urge colleges, among other measures, to conduct anonymous surveys about sexual assault cases, adopt anti-assault policies that have been considered successful at other universities and to better ensure that the reports of such crimes remain confidential. The guidelines are contained in a report by a White House task force that President Obama formed early this year, and
the administration is likely to ask Congress to pass measures that would enforce the recommendations and levy penalties for failing to do so. The government will also open a website, NotAlone.gov, to track enforcement and provide victims with information. “Colleges and universities need to face the facts about sexual assault,” Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said. “No more turning a blind eye or pretending it doesn’t exist. We need to give victims the support they need, like a confidential place to go, and we need to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
IN WASHINGTON, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) peddles one line on immigration reform that is transparently false. In his district in Ohio, he becomes a truth-teller. For months, Mr. Boehner has tried to justify the intransigence of his fellow House Republicans, who have refused to consider a Senate measure to overhaul the broken immigration system. His stated reason was that they could not trust President Obama to enforce any law passed by Congress. But on Thursday, at a meeting at a rotary club lunch in southwestern Ohio, an area Mr. Boehner has represented for more than two decades, he gave it to ’em straight. Asked about immigration reform, the speaker squarely blamed his GOP caucus, with more than a hint of derision.
“Here’s the attitude,” he said, scrunching up his face and delivering the real Republican excuse in a toddler’s whine: “ ‘Ohhhh, don’t make me do this! Ohhhh, this is too hard!’ ” The trouble is that this bracing shot of honesty from Mr. Boehner probably will not fix the underlying problem, which is a Republican Party that cannot see a future for itself, or for the nation, beyond its own predominantly white, aging electorate. House Republicans, rooted in parts of the country demographically distinct from an increasingly diverse nation, are loath to embrace the nation’s Hispanics in part because relatively few of them live or vote in their districts. As they cling to an older America, a new America is rising fast.
LA Times: White House Will Announce New Measures To Combat Sexual Assault On Campus
The White House will announce new measures Tuesday to deal with campus sexual assault, an issue that in recent years has inflamed college campuses from Yale to UC Berkeley. The recommendations from a task force of federal officials headed by Vice President Joe Biden include publicizing enforcement data, issuing guidelines about confidentiality, and requiring colleges and universities to survey students on their experiences with sexual assault. Colleges and universities will be asked to survey students next year to determine the prevalence of sexual assault on campus and may be required to conduct such a survey in 2016. A website, NotAlone.gov, will be unveiled to make each school’s enforcement data public, and to publish information about student rights and resources.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release recommendations on how to prevent sexual violence, particularly on how to get bystanders to step in when students are at risk of assault. The federal government will also address the touchy issue of confidentiality. Often victims ask that their names not be revealed to their attackers or the police, putting campus authorities in a bind in conducting investigations. The government will clarify that students can talk to certain guidance counselors in confidence and will issue guidelines on how to deal with confidentiality in resolving reports of violence. Schools will be asked to improve their investigative and adjudicative procedures under guidance from the Justice Department. New guidance will be issued making clear that questions about a victim’s sexual history should not be permitted during school hearings and that a previous sexual relationship does not imply consent.
Ben Armbruster: Like Kerry, Seniors Israeli Officials Have Warned Of Israel Becoming ‘An Apartheid State’
he Daily Beast reported on Sunday that Secretary of State John Kerry said that Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state” should the Israelis and Palestinians fail to reach a two-state solution to their decades old conflict, a warning that many top Israeli officials themselves have issued. “A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens—or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry reportedly said in a private meeting with world leaders. “Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state solution, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to.”
Abbas calls Holocaust "the ugliest crime known to man in the modern era." Netanyahu welcomes this… oh wait. http://t.co/HQShW9hjMZ
A number of very senior Israeli officials have also warned that Israel risks becoming an apartheid-like state absent a two-state solution: 2007 — then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: “If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished.” 2010 — then-Israeli Defense Minister and Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak: “The simple truth is, if there is one state” including Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, “it will have to be either binational or undemocratic. … if this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state.”
Zack Ford: United Church Of Christ Sues North Carolina For Right To Marry Same-Sex Couples
The United Church of Christ (UCC), joined by a group of LGBT-friendly clergy and same-sex couples, has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of North Carolina’s laws and constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Not only does the ban inhibit same-sex couples’ equal protection under the law, the complaint argues, but it also violates the religious liberty of these religious leaders.
That is because North Carolina has a separate law that prohibits ministers from solemnizing a marriage without a license for that marriage. If charged, a minister would be found guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and charged a fee of $200. Thus, a religious organization like the UCC, which celebrates same-sex marriages, can not even honor that religious ceremony without violating the law. The complaint explains how this hurts both the UCC, as well as the other clergy and couples party to the suit
Kyle Roerink: Las Vegas Helping Lead Charge In Fight To Reform Minimum Wage
Dalven McClain, a 19-year-old fast-food worker, wants to make more money. McClain works at a Las Vegas McDonald’s to save up for classes at UNLV. He earns $8.79 an hour, 54 cents more than the state minimum wage and $1.54 more than the federal minimum. But he says it’s still not enough. He’s stuck living with his parents and hasn’t been able to afford college. McClain has helped make Las Vegas a hotbed in the national campaign to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. The battle pits retail and restaurant workers against the businesses that employ them, and congressional Democrats against Republicans.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced the Minimum Wage Fairness Act in November. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the bill would hit the chamber’s floor for a vote this week. The bill is part of the Democrats’ 2014 midterm election campaign that also includes immigration reform and pay equity between men and women. While workers rallied for bigger paychecks, partisan politics has so far stalled the bill in Washington. President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders say the bill would lift 900,000 Americans out of poverty, citing a February report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. To become law, the bill will have to pass the Republican-controlled House, where both mainstream conservatives and Tea Party backers assail the legislation.
First Lady Michelle Obama volunteers for Feeding America with congressional spouses at the Capitol City Food Bank in northeast Washington, D.C., April 29, 2009 (Photo by Samantha Appleton)
President Obama with senior advisors in the Blue Room after a prime time press conference which was held in the East Room of the White House, April 29, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama walks down the Cross Hall towards the East Room of the White House prior to a prime time press conference, April 29, 2009 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
President Obama approaches the podium prior to a prime time press conference in the East Room of the White House, April 29, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama speaks during a prime time news conference in the East Room of the White House, April 29, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama participates in a ceremony to recognize the National Teachers of the Year in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on April 29, 2010
President Obama hugs National Teacher of the Year Sarah Brown Wessling of Johnston High School in Johnston, Iowa
First Lady Michelle Obama paints a butterfly at a Congressional Club spouses service event at the Marie Reed Learning Center in the Adams Morgan community of northwest Washington on April 29, 2010
First Lady Michelle Obama gestures to Bo, the Obama family dog, on the South Lawn of the White House, April 29, 2010 (Photo by Samantha Appleton)
President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Biden bow their heads during the funeral for Dorothy Height at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., April 29, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama returns to his seat after delivering the eulogy at the funeral for Dorothy Height at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., April 29, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama talks with participants from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike, an iconic campaign in civil rights and labor rights history, during a meeting in the Map Room of the White House, April 29, 2011 (Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama comfort people at Holt Elementary School in Holt, Ala., April 29, 2011. The President and First Lady traveled to Alabama to visit storm damaged neighborhoods and meet with families affected by deadly tornados (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama inspect tornado damage with residents of the Alberta neighborhood in Tuscaloosa, Ala., April 29, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia, left, Sasha, and Astronaut Janet Kavandi walk under the landing gear from beneath the nose of space shuttle Atlantis as they visit Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on April 29, 2011
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama meet with STS-134 space shuttle Endeavor commander Mark Kelly, right, and shuttle astronauts, from left, Andrew Feustel, European Space Agency’s Roberto Vittori, Michael Fincke, Gregory H. Johnson, and Greg Chamitoff
President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia, and Marian Robinson, stand on the viewing platform where they would have watched the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., April 29, 2011. The launch was delayed due to an electrical heating problem (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama talks with former President Bill Clinton before an event in McLean, Va., Sunday, April 29, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx delivers remarks after President Obama announced him to be his nominee as the next Transportation Secretary, during a ceremony at the White House on April 29, 2013
President Obama greets Jack Hoffman, 7, of Atkinson, Neb., in the Oval Office, April 29, 2013. Hoffman, who is battling pediatric brain cancer, gained national attention after he ran for a 69-yard touchdown during a Nebraska Cornhuskers spring football game. Hoffman holds a football that the President signed for him (Photo by Pete Souza)
More broadly – big picture – as you end this trip, I don’t think I have to remind you there have been a lot of unflattering portraits of your foreign policy right now. And rather than get into all the details or red lines, et cetera, I’d like to give you a chance to lay out what your vision is more than five years into office, what you think the Obama doctrine is in terms of what your guiding principle is on all of these crises and how you answer those critics who say they think the doctrine is weakness.
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From 31:20
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President Obama:
Well, Ed, I doubt that I’m going to have time to lay out my entire foreign policy doctrine. And there are actually some complimentary pieces as well about my foreign policy, but I’m not sure you ran them.
Here’s I think the general takeaway from this trip. Our alliances in the Asia Pacific have never been stronger; I can say that unequivocally. Our relationship with ASEAN countries in Southeast Asia has never been stronger. I don’t think that’s subject to dispute. As recently as a decade ago, there were great tensions between us and Malaysia, for example. And I think you just witnessed the incredible warmth and strength of the relationship between those two countries.
We’re here in the Philippines signing a defense agreement. Ten years ago, fifteen years ago there was enormous tensions around our defense relationship with the Philippines. And so it’s hard to square whatever it is that the critics are saying with facts on the ground, events on the ground here in the Asia Pacific region. Typically, criticism of our foreign policy has been directed at the failure to use military force. And the question I think I would have is, why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force after we’ve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget? And what is it exactly that these critics think would have been accomplished?
My job as Commander-in-Chief is to deploy military force as a last resort, and to deploy it wisely. And, frankly, most of the foreign policy commentators that have questioned our policies would go headlong into a bunch of military adventures that the American people had no interest in participating in and would not advance our core security interests.
So if you look at Syria, for example, our interest is in helping the Syrian people, but nobody suggests that us being involved in a land war in Syria would necessarily accomplish this goal. And I would note that those who criticize our foreign policy with respect to Syria, they themselves say, no, no, no, we don’t mean sending in troops. Well, what do you mean? Well, you should be assisting the opposition – well, we’re assisting the opposition. What else do you mean? Well, perhaps you should have taken a strike in Syria to get chemical weapons out of Syria. Well, it turns out we’re getting chemical weapons out of Syria without having initiated a strike. So what else are you talking about? And at that point it kind of trails off.
In Ukraine, what we’ve done is mobilize the international community. Russia has never been more isolated. A country that used to be clearly in its orbit now is looking much more towards Europe and the West, because they’ve seen that the arrangements that have existed for the last 20 years weren’t working for them. And Russia is having to engage in activities that have been rejected uniformly around the world. And we’ve been able to mobilize the international community to not only put diplomatic pressure on Russia, but also we’ve been able to organize European countries who many were skeptical would do anything to work with us in applying sanctions to Russia.
Well, what else should we be doing? Well, we shouldn’t be putting troops in, the critics will say. That’s not what we mean. Well, okay, what are you saying? Well, we should be arming the Ukrainians more. Do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into Ukraine could potentially deter the Russian army? Or are we more likely to deter them by applying the sort of international pressure, diplomatic pressure and economic pressure that we’re applying?
The point is that for some reason many who were proponents of what I consider to be a disastrous decision to go into Iraq haven’t really learned the lesson of the last decade, and they keep on just playing the same note over and over again. Why? I don’t know. But my job as Commander-in-Chief is to look at what is it that is going to advance our security interests over the long term, to keep our military in reserve for where we absolutely need it. There are going to be times where there are disasters and difficulties and challenges all around the world, and not all of those are going to be immediately solvable by us.
But we can continue to speak out clearly about what we believe. Where we can make a difference using all the tools we’ve got in the toolkit, well, we should do so. And if there are occasions where targeted, clear actions can be taken that would make a difference, then we should take them. We don’t do them because somebody sitting in an office in Washington or New York think it would look strong. That’s not how we make foreign policy.
And if you look at the results of what we’ve done over the last five years, it is fair to say that our alliances are stronger, our partnerships are stronger, and in the Asia Pacific region, just to take one example, we are much better positioned to work with the peoples here on a whole range of issues of mutual interest.
And that may not always be sexy. That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesn’t make for good argument on Sunday morning shows. But it avoids errors. You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run. But we steadily advance the interests of the American people and our partnership with folks around the world.
President Obama greets members of the audience following his remarks at the Oakley Lindsay Center in Quincy, Ill., April 28, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Philippines is 12 hours ahead of EDT
In the morning, President Obama delivers remarks at Fort Bonafacio
Later that morning, the President participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Manila American Cemetery
The President travels back to Washington, D.C.
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President Obama arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines
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Amita O. Legaspi: US, PHL Sign Agreement For Increased US Troop Presence
Philippine and United States officials on Monday signed the agreement that will allow an enlarged rotational presence of American troops in the country, hours before the arrival of US President Barack Obama. Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. The ceremony lasted for not more than 15 minutes. The two officials left did not take questions after giving short statements. Finalized after eight rounds of talks that began in August 2013, the new accord grants US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities, the right to construct facilities, and pre-position equipment, aircraft and vessels. But the pact rules out permanent basing, as the Philippine Constitution bans foreign military bases in the country unless covered by a treaty.
According to a fact sheet provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the pact has an initial term of 10 years and was signed as an executive agreement within the scope of the Visiting Forces Agreement that had been ratified by the Philippine Senate in 1999. In his speech, Goldberg stressed that the agreement will not pave the way for permanent US military presence and the reopening their military bases in the country. “The US does not intend to establish permanent military presence in the Philippines…it will not reopen US bases to enhance our defense relationship,” he said. Goldberg said the agreement will support the long-term modernization of the Armed Forces and will help it “maintain and develop additional maritime security, maritime domain awareness and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capability.”
Dean Angstadt fells trees for a living. He’s a self-employed, self-sufficient logger who has cleared his own path for most of his 57 years, never expecting help from anyone. And even though he’d been uninsured since 2009, he especially wanted nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. “I don’t read what the Democrats have to say about it because I think they’re full of it,” he told his friend Bob Leinhauser, who suggested he sign up. That refrain changed this year when a faulty aortic valve almost felled Angstadt. Suddenly, he was facing a choice: Buy a health plan, through a law he despised, that would pay the lion’s share of the cost of the life-saving surgery – or die. He chose the former. “A lot of people I talk to are so misinformed about the ACA,” Angstadt said. “I was, before Bob went through all this for me. I would recommend it to anybody and, in fact, have encouraged friends, including the one guy who hauls my logs.” Angstadt called Leinhauser. The political odd couple talked a bit before Angstadt mentioned he was having trouble breathing. Leinhauser, 55, a retired firefighter and nurse, drove him to a doctor’s office.
“Dean only saw a doctor when he needed to because it made a big difference in his finances,” Leinhauser said. From time to time, Leinhauser would urge Angstadt to buy a plan through the ACA marketplace. And each time, Angstadt refused. “We argued about it for months,” Angstadt said. “I didn’t trust this Obamacare. One of the big reasons is it sounded too good to be true.” Leinhauser went to Angstadt’s house, and in less than an hour, the duo had done the application. A day later, Angstadt signed up for the Highmark Blue Cross silver PPO plan and paid his first monthly premium: $26.11. Angstadt’s plan kicked in on March 1. It was just in time. Surgery couldn’t be put off any longer. On March 31, Angstadt had life-saving valve-replacement surgery. “I probably would have ended up falling over dead” without the surgery, Angstadt said. “Not only did it save my life, it’s going to give me a better quality of life.” “For me, this isn’t about politics,” he added. “I’m trying to help other people who are like me, stubborn and bullheaded, who refused to even look. From my own experience, the ACA is everything it’s supposed to be and, in fact, better than it’s made out to be.”
The United States froze assets and imposed visa bans on seven powerful Russians close to President Vladimir Putin on Monday and also sanctioned 17 companies in reprisal for Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. President Barack Obama said the moves, which add to measures taken when Russia annexed Crimea last month, were to stop Putin fomenting rebellion in eastern Ukraine. Obama added he was holding broader measures against Russia’s economy “in reserve”. Among those sanctioned were Igor Sechin, head of state energy firm Rosneft, and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak. A Russian deputy foreign minister was quoted as expressing “disgust” at the White House announcement. The European Union, with more to lose than Washington from sanctions against Russia, a major energy supplier and trading partner for the EU,
is also expected to announce new penalties after member governments reached a deal, diplomats said. The United States will deny export licenses for any high-technology items that could contribute to Russian military capabilities and will revoke any existing export licenses that meet these conditions, the White House said. It was the third round of sanctions that the United States has imposed over Crime and troop build-up on the border. All the sanctions have been aimed at individuals and businesses. “Russia’s involvement in the recent violence in eastern Ukraine is indisputable,” a White House statement said.
TPM: Obama Pledges Federal Help After Deadly Tornado
President Barack Obama is sending his deepest condolences to those affected by a deadly tornado that ripped through Arkansas. Obama says he wants everyone affected to know that the federal government is on the ground to help. He says the Federal Emergency Management Agency will work with local officials. Obama says, quote, “Your country will be there to help you recover and rebuild, as long as it takes.” The president is also praising the heroic efforts of first responders and neighbors. A broad tornado killed at least 11 when it sliced through suburbs in Arkansas on Sunday at the start of the U.S. tornado season. Another person died in Oklahoma.
The mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city was shot in the back and pro-Russia insurgents seized more government buildings Monday as the U.S. hit Russia with more sanctions for allegedly fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine. Armed insurgents tacitly backed by Moscow are seeking more autonomy in the region — possibly even independence or annexation with Russia. Ukraine’s acting government and the West have accused Russia of orchestrating the unrest, which they fear Moscow could use as a pretext for an invasion. Hennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, was shot in the back Monday morning, underwent surgery and “doctors are fighting for his life,” city hall said. Kernes was a staunch opponent of the pro-West Maidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February and
"Russia has only a 2.9% share of global gross domestic product. This is only 6% of NATO's GDP." http://t.co/VhFnRMk8Dp
was widely viewed as the organizer of activists sent to Kiev from eastern Ukraine to harass those demonstrators. But he has since softened his stance toward the new Kiev government. At a meeting of eastern Ukrainian leaders and acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier this month, Kernes insisted he does not support the pro-Russia insurgents and backed a united Ukraine. Kharkiv is in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia gunmen have seized government buildings and police stations, set up roadblocks or staged protests to demand greater autonomy or outright annexation by Russia. But unlike the neighboring Donetsk region, Kharkiv has been largely unaffected by the insurgency and Kernes has been credited for this. Its regional administration building was briefly seized earlier this month but promptly cleared of pro-Russia protesters.
A gauge of upcoming home sales ticked higher in March after eight straight months of declines, a sign the sector could be pulling out of its malaise. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales of existing homes rose 3.4% in March from February to 97.4. That was more than the 1% increase forecast by economists and placed the index 2.6% below its 2001 benchmark level. The report showed home sales perking up after suffering in recent months from an unusually harsh winter weather as well as declining affordability.
The spring buying and selling season is crucial for the U.S. housing market because many families prefer to make a move to a new school district by the end of the summer. Pending home sales provide a more timely gauge of market conditions than some other indicators as they tally sales at the moment contracts are signed. Sales typically close one or two months later. “After a dismal winter, more buyers got an opportunity to look at homes last month and are beginning to make contract offers,” said National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
Greg Sargent: Scott Brown’s Obamacare Repeal Follies
Here’s another sign that the stance on Obamacare held by many GOP Senate candidates — whether you call it “repeal,” or “repeal and replace with something-or-other to be specified later” — is becoming increasingly unsustainable and could get harder and harder to explain as these campaigns intensify. In a weekend interview with WMUR, Scott Brown — who is running for Senate in New Hampshire — attempted to explain his stance on health care. He endorsed the general goals of protecting people with preexisting conditions and expanding coverage to those who need it. But he then denounced Obamacare as a “disaster,” citing the usual litany of Obama tyrannies and horror stories often hawked by Republicans. So, how would Senator Scott Brown go about accomplishing the goals he says he supports? Well, he urges reform on the state level.
New Hamsphire recently moved forward with its version of the Medicaid expansion. Brown supports repeal — which would do away with the expansion — and yet to my knowledge, he has not taken a position directly on the expansion when asked. Repeal would scrap Obamacare’s consumer protections and other efforts to expand coverage. Brown (who supported Romneycare in Massachusetts) appears to think federal reform should be repealed and replaced with state level reform. Until he says otherwise, that seems to mean he doesn’t envision a federal “replace” plan.
First Lady Michelle Obama watches as students from the Ron Clark Academy perform at the unveiling of the Sojourner Truth bust at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC, April 28, 2009 (Photo by Samantha Appleton)
President Obama greets various 2009 State Teacher of the Year winners during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on April 28, 2009
President Obama speaks to employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at FBI headquarters in Washington on April 28, 2009
Students from the Ron Clark Academy perform for First Lady Michelle Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during the unveiling ceremony of abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth in the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on April 28, 2009
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President Obama greets workers and invited guests after speaking at POET Biorefining ethanol plant in Macon, Missouri on April 28, 2010
First Lady Michelle Obama jokes with participants in the Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, April 28, 2010 (Photo by Samantha Appleton)
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President Obama talks with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour about severe storms and tornados that moved across the southeast, during a phone call in the Oval Office Private Dining Room, April 28, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama greets cast members from ABC’s sitcom “Modern Family”, including Julie Bowen, center, and Sofia Vergara, right, in the Oval Office, Saturday, April 28, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
First Lady Michelle Obama arrives at the 2012 White House Correspondents Association Dinner
President Obama laughs during the 2012 White House Correspondents Association Dinner held at the Washington Hilton on April 28, 2012
A Filipino street vendor glances on television sets showing a live broadcast of U.S. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address from Washington D.C. at a shop selling imported second hand appliances in Manila, Philippines, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010.
The Obama Diary 
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