The President’s Day

 Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi looks on as President Barack Obama shakes hands after a roundtable with members of parliament and civil society to discuss Myanmar’s reform process in Naypyitaw, Myanmar

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President Barack Obama with Myanmar President Thein Sein ahead of the 9th East Asia summit plenary session at Myanmar International Convention Center in Naypyitaw, Myanmar

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President Barack Obama speaks with Aung San Suu Kyi

President Barack Obama speaks at a U.S.-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations East Asia) session at the Myanmar International Convention Center

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President Barack Obama talks to members of his delegation as he attends an East Asia Summit Plenary at the Myanmar International Convention Center in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. With President Obama are Nina Hachigian, U.S. Ambassador to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek J. Mitchell

President Barack Obama and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hold a bilateral meeting. President Obama says he sees opportunities for deeper engagement and cooperation with Vietnam despite the difficult history between the two nations

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From left, South Korea President Park Geun Hye, U.S. President Barack Obama, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, arrive for group photo session during the East Asia summit

Myanmar university students walk past a graffiti of President Barack Obama on a roadside in Yangon, Myanmar

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Newspapers in #Burma highlight @BarackObama visit to the country http://t.co/GU5xCy8hT3

—
IRI (@IRIglobal) November 13, 2014

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President Barack Obama smiles as he joins hands with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at a group photo session during the 2nd ASEAN-U.S Summit at Myanmar International Convention Center in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. They are from left: Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Obama, Myanmar President Thein Sein, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen

Greg Mitchell: ‘When Crybaby Interviewed the President’

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Greg Mitchell: A lot of outrage, and not-so-gentle mockery, this morning over a classic Politico piece by editor Jim VandeHei and chief reporter Mike Allen complaining about President Obama manipulating the press….

So John Cook, editor of Gawker, just performed a public service by posting on Twitter every question Allen chose to ask President Bush when he did get full access back in 2008. You may remember 2008 – the economy was about to collapse and we were still in a full shooting war in Iraq …. these below catch the spirit. Keep in mind that Allen wrote today that Obama avoids Politico reporters in part because they “ask tough, unpredictable questions.”

Q: Now, Mr. President, you and the First Lady appeared on American Idol’s charity show, “Idol Gives Back.” And I wonder who do you think is going to win? Syesha, David Cook, or David Archuleta?

See the full unmissable post here

And read Charles Pierce here

Chris Matthews v Andrea Mitchell

MSNBC

‏@allanbrauer

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First lady Michelle Obama tours the stage a day before her speech to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, September 3

… with actor and Obama administration official Kal Penn, the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement

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wisconsin, wednesday

President Obama talks with Joyce Fowler during his visit to Master Lock in Milwaukee

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker presents President Obama with a Milwaukee Brewers baseball jersey upon his arrival at General Mitchell International Airport

…. speaking with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Left: Rep. Gwen Moore and Scott Walker

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President Obama tours Master Lock with Senior Vice President Bob Rice

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President Barack Obama shakes hands with DiAndre Jackson after Jackson introduced him at the Master Lock Company in Milwaukee

perry’s painful popover …. “it’s like george w bush on steroids”

Protesters stand outside Popovers on the Square as Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry campaigns inside August 18, 2011 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

ABC: …. What Perry may not have loved, however, is the treatment he received just 24-hours later at a meet-and-greet stop in this picturesque Seacoast town where he encountered about two-dozen protesters who shouted at him, held signs with slogans like “Another Texas idiot for sale,” and followed him into a cafe to yell some more.

The protesters, some of whom were senior citizens and members of the New Hampshire Alliance For Retired American gathered on a sidewalk more than an hour before Perry arrived at the event….

As the presidential candidate from Texas walked into a local restaurant, Popovers on the Square, he was forced to shake hands with voters amid shouts of “Hands off Social Security and Medicare!” and “You’re a threat to America” from the anti-Perry forces who gathered just a few feet away from him….

Inside the café, Gail Mitchell (a small-business owner from Barrington) and a companion grilled him: “You said Social Security was unconstitutional.”

“Social Security’s going to be there for those folks,” Perry answered his inquisitors, making reference to the elderly.

“But you said Social Security is unconstitutional,” Mitchell repeated.

“I don’t think I – I’m sorry, you must have,” Perry said before stopping himself.

Instead of elaborating, Perry stuffed a generous piece of popover in his mouth. (Perry called them “pop ups.”)

“I’ve got a big mouthful,” Perry said and then ordering a glass of water. He later tripped over one of the women standing at his side pressing him on Social Security.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Perry said to her.

In an interview with Newsweek last year, Perry was asked about his opinion on the constitutionality of programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“I don’t think our founding fathers when they were putting the term ‘general welfare’ in there were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care,” Perry said in the interview. “What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. From my perspective, the states could substantially better operate those programs if that’s what those states decided to do.”

At a house party in New Hampshire last Saturday, Perry referred to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme.

More here

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Steve Benen: When a candidate would rather stuff food in his mouth than answer an important question, it’s safe to say he considers the issue politically problematic.

Later, Ray Sullivan a Perry campaign spokesperson, told reporters he’s “never heard” the governor question the constitutionality of Social Security.

Sullivan may be the only one.

As for Perry’s reluctance to stand by his own positions, what happened to the swagger, Rick? Folks want to know if you stand by what you said about Social Security. You’re not going to let polls and a bunch of aides tell you what to think, are you?

Full post here

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Washington Post: Newly-minted presidential candidate Rick Perry got a taste Thursday of the rough-and-tumble nature of presidential politics, with protesters dogging him on the campaign trail, demanding to know whether he thinks Social Security is unconstitutional and begging him to follow through on threats of Texas seceding.

Nearly two dozen hecklers greeted the Texas governor with signs saying, “Ricky Go Home” and “Seniors Say NO to Ricky.” As Perry prepared for a meet-and-greet at a cafe downtown, they began chanting, “Hands off Social Security and Medicare.”

“He’s appealing to the tea party,” said Larry Drake, a retired federal worker and Democrat who said he came Thursday to show his opposition to the Republican governor. “It’s like George W. Bush on steroids.”

…A man shouted, “Please secede,” referring to comments Perry has made about Texas leaving the United States because of what he considered encroachment by the federal government. Perry ignored them with a tight smile.

an extraordinary life

President John F. Kennedy hands a pen to his brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, after signing a bill giving the Peace Corps permanent status in this September 22, 1961 file photo. Shriver was appointed the Peace Corps’ first director

Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger and other loved ones carry the casket of Sargent Shriver into Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church

Caroline Kennedy escorts first lady Michelle Obama into Our Lady of Mercy Catholic church

Former President Bill Clinton, Senator John Kerry, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden attend the funeral mass for Sargent Shriver at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac, January 22. Shriver died January 18 at the age of 95

Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul

Bono of U2 sings “Psalms 98”

Wyclef Jean sings “Psalms 98”

Anthony Shriver holds up a photograph of his father, R. Sargent Shriver

Bill Clinton comforts Anthony Shriver during the funeral Mass for his father

Andrea Mitchell

Former Democratic presidential nominee Senator George McGovern

Chris Matthews

Lynda Johnson Robb, right, daughter of former President Lyndon Johnson

William Kennedy Smith speaks with Ethel Kennedy, widow of the late Robert F. Kennedy

Cokie Roberts

Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (L), Bobby Shriver (2L), Timothy Perry Shriver (3R), Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and other mourners carry the casket of Sargent Shriver

Glen Hansard and Stevie Wonder

More on the funeral here – Read Joe Biden’s remarks here

holiday reading

NYT: Can you judge a president by what he is reading? As has been reported, President Obama’s vacation reading includes a Lou Cannon biography of Ronald Reagan, another president who was confronted with a divided Congress. But the White House said today Mr. Obama also brought two novels: “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet” by David Mitchell, a well-reviewed historical romance about a Dutchman in Edo-era Japan; and “Our Kind of Traitor,” by the spy novelist John Le Carre.

eye to eye

President Barack Obama at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

back-up

President Barack Obama walks back to the Oval Office with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell after making remarks in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington September 1