Early Bird Chat

The President’s Thinking Hours

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Michael D. Shear: Obama After Dark: The Precious Hours Alone

“Are you up?” The emails arrive late, often after 1 a.m., tapped out on a secure BlackBerry from an email address known only to a few. The weary recipients know that once again, the boss has not yet gone to bed. The late-night interruptions from President Obama might be sharply worded questions about memos he has read. Sometimes they are taunts because the recipient’s sports team just lost. Last month it was a 12:30 a.m. email to Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, and Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff, telling them he had finished reworking a speechwriter’s draft of presidential remarks for later that morning. Mr. Obama had spent three hours scrawling in longhand on a yellow legal pad an angry condemnation of Donald J. Trump’s response to the attack in Orlando, Fla., and told his aides they could pick up his rewrite at the White House usher’s office when they came in for work. Mr. Obama calls himself a “night guy,” and as president, he has come to consider the long, solitary hours after dark as essential as his time in the Oval Office.

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He works on speeches. He reads the stack of briefing papers delivered at 8 p.m. by the National Security Council staff secretary. He reads 10 letters from Americans chosen each day by his staff. “He is thoroughly predictable in having gone through every piece of paper that he gets,” said Tom Donilon, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser from 2010 to 2013. “You’ll come in in the morning, it will be there: questions, notes, decisions.”  One night last June, Cody Keenan, the president’s chief speechwriter, had just returned home from work at 9 p.m. and ordered pizza when he heard from the president: “Can you come back tonight?” Mr. Keenan met the president in the usher’s office on the first floor of the residence, where the two worked until nearly 11 p.m. on the president’s eulogy for nine African-Americans fatally shot during Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Three months earlier, Mr. Keenan had had to return to the White House when the president summoned him — at midnight — to go over changes to a speech Mr. Obama was to deliver in Selma, Ala., on the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when protesters were brutally beaten by the police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. “There’s something about the night,” Mr. Keenan said, reflecting on his boss’s use of the time. “It’s smaller. It lets you think.”

More here

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Early Bird Chat

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All Times Eastern

10:15AM: President Obama meets with the Dalai Lama

12:30PM: Daily Briefing with Press Secretary Josh Earnest

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First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey speak at the White House Summit on the United State of Women

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President Barack Obama speaks on the Orlando shooting at the Treasury Department while Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper look on. President Obama rebuked Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States

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President Barack Obama speaks during the White House Summit on the United State Of Women

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Chat Away

when you bump into your ex with his new bae https://t.co/9lC241rMOS

—
Sarah M (@sazza_jay) April 04, 2016

The President’s Day

President Barack Obama speaks during the White House Precision Medicine Initiative Summit. President Obama announced the precision medicine initiative last year to accelerate research efforts into new treatments that are tailored to individual patients

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moderator Dr. James Hamblin, Sonia Vallabh, Ph.D. student at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Howard Look, president and founder of Tidepool, and Dr. W. Marston Linehan, chief of the urologic oncology branch at the National Cancer Institute

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Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL Brett McGurk, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford stand alongside President Barack Obama as he makes a statement after meeting with his National Security Council at the State Department

GOP? Don’t Play Chess With The Master

 President Barack Obama signs H.R. 240, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015. The president signed a law funding the Homeland Security Department through the end of the budget year.

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Keystone oil pipeline veto override fails in the Senate 62-37. 👏👏👏👏 #NoKXL

—
  (@KickAssLiberal) March 04, 2015

Senate sustains President Obama's veto of the Keystone XL oil pipeline; vote was 62-37 (not two thirds)

—
Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) March 04, 2015

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Republicans fail to override Obama veto of Keystone XL measure bloom.bg/1zYE1Jh http://t.co/rNrg5F1JqQ

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Bloomberg Business (@business) March 04, 2015

NEW: Senate votes 62-37, fails to override Pres. Obama's Keystone XL pipeline bill veto

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CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 04, 2015

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Senate Fails In Bid To Override Obama's Veto On Keystone XL Pipeline n.pr/1GTKM3K

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NPR News (@nprnews) March 04, 2015

BREAKING: Republican-led Senate fails to overturn Obama's veto of bill approving Keystone XL pipeline.

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The Associated Press (@AP) March 04, 2015

The President’s Day

President Barack Obama smiles after signing an executive order to improve security measures for government credit and debit cards during an event at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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President Barack Obama signs an executive order to strengthen credit card security after explaining his administration’s plan on safeguarding American consumers and their financial security

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"You should be able to buy the things you need without risking your identity, your credit score, or your savings." —Obama on "Buy Secure"

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 17, 2014

"We believe that this is a country where hard work should pay off, and responsibility should be rewarded." —President Obama at the @CFPB

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 17, 2014

"We know this technology works—when Britain switched to a chip-and-pin system, they cut fraud in stores by 70%." —President Obama

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 17, 2014

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President Barack Obama shakes hands with the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray

The President’s Day

President Barack Obama speaks at the Global Health Security Agenda Summit in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. The president said that in an interconnected world, outbreaks of deadly viruses like Ebola have the potential to affect every nation.

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Economic growth in the second quarter was even stronger than originally estimated: http://t.co/04yQG5W2Su

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 26, 2014

#ObamasFault #ThanksObama RT @AP: BREAKING: Economy grew at 4.6 percent rate in April-June quarter, strongest pace since late 2011.

— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) September 26, 2014

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Text of the President’s remarks here

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President Barack Obama shakes hands with Ebola survivor Dr. Melvin Korkor of Liberia at the Global Health Security Agenda Summit at the White House

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In 1 yr #ACA has reduced # of uninsured adults by 26%. 50 DAYS – the countdown to start of 2014/2015 Open Enrollment begins! #GetCovered

— Sylvia Burwell (@SecBurwell) September 26, 2014

Uninsured rate among #Latinos plummets from 36% to 23% in just 1st year of #ACA. http://t.co/7KYCk9A4R8 Even w/o FL, TX Medicaid expansion.

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) September 25, 2014

1/In 1st year of #ACA, 1/3rd of Hispanic adults w/o health insurance gain coverage. One third. In one year.

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) September 26, 2014

2/The scale of this success is extraordinary. Perhaps most important legislation for Hispanic Americans in US history.

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) September 26, 2014

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WH.gov

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The President has a plan to fight climate change—you should support it: http://t.co/AWLXVGm0y8 #ActOnClimate

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 26, 2014

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On This Day: After the first of three presidential debates at the University of Mississippi, 2008

On This Day: President Obama & the First Lady Michelle at the Congressional Black Caucus Awards Dinner, 2009.

The President’s Day

President Obama and staff watch the U.S. soccer team vs Belgium in World Cup action in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building South Court Auditorium, July 1 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Barack Obama speaks to the media during a meeting with his cabinet members in the Cabinet Room of the White House. From left are, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

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Attorney General Eric Holder

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson

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With the Key Bridge, linking Washington and Northern Virginia in the background, President Barack Obama speaks about the economy and transportation, at Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington. The President said 700,000 jobs could be at risk next year if Congress doesn’t quickly agree on how to pay for highway and transit programs.

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"If this Congress does not act by the end of the summer, the Highway Trust Fund will run out. " —President Obama #RebuildAmerica

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 01, 2014

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"Middle-class families can’t wait for Congress to do these things, and I won’t." —Obama: wh.gov/year-of-action #RebuildAmerica

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 01, 2014

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"Typically what gets reported on is just the politics...people don’t care about that. People just want to see some results." —Obama

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White House Live (@WHLive) July 01, 2014

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Obama: "If the American people put pressure on this town to actually get something done…we can grow our economy." #OpportunityForAll

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White House Live (@WHLive) July 01, 2014

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The First Lady Speaks at Naturalization Ceremony

First Lady Michelle Obama hugs an immigrant next to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson during a Naturalization Ceremony at the National Archives in Washington, June 18