Rise and Shine

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Today:

9:0: The President and First Lady host a breakfast with veterans; the Vice President and Dr Biden also attend

11:0: The President participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery; the First Lady, Vice President and Dr Biden also attend

11:15: The President delivers remarks at Arlington National Cemetery

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Mike Thompson

Thank you Relellit – I ADORE this!

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There’s a surprise, Gallup the least accurate polling company during the campaign 🙄

Read Nate Silver’s article here

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NYT Editorial: The millionaires and billionaires who gave nearly $500 million to independent groups in the race to elect Mitt Romney and other Republicans not only bet on the wrong party, they bet on the wrong tactic. They believed that an endless drumbeat of television advertisements would be enough to drive voters away from President Obama and Democratic policies.

It did not work…..

…. the biggest-spending conservative groups were trounced. American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by Karl Rove, spent $104 million in the general election, but none of its candidates won. The United States Chamber of Commerce spent $24 million backing Republicans in 15 Senate races; only two of them won. Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul, spent $53 million on nine Republican candidates, eight of whom lost.

… A backlash against the damaging power of big money cannot come too soon.

Full editorial here

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Steve Benen: First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the 2012 presidential election, and the differences along religious lines….

….. the results among Roman Catholic voters are arguably the most electorally significant. In every recent cycle, Catholics have been considered a key swing constituency and President Obama narrowly won their support, 50% to 48%. It suggests Republicans’ efforts to focus on contraception and reproductive rights had limited success, and the Bishops’ lobbying largely fell on deaf ears.

Also note, while many on the right hoped 2012 would be the year that Jewish voters abandoned Democrats, that didn’t come close to happening. Though Obama fared slightly worse among Jewish voters as compared to 2008, he still enjoyed overwhelming support.

Read full post here

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Deaniac (The People’s View): The Impact of A President: A Personal Reflection on Equality

Four years ago, on election day 2008, I was a poll-captain for the No on 8 campaign in California. After working day and night trying to beat back California’s attempt to ban marriage equality, election day was finally upon us, and my job was to lead my team of volunteers to speak to voters in the parking lot of the polling place about voting No on 8. The team of volunteers rotated throughout the day, in 2, 3 or 4 hour shifts. Some stayed even half a day. I was there all day. From the break of dawn before the polls opened till they closed…..

Read full post here

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Oooooh, cruel!

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Yahoo: It was an intimate snapshot of a sweet celebration: Minutes after the networks called the 2012 presidential election for Barack Obama on Tuesday night, the Obama for America campaign posted a picture of him hugging his wife along with a simple message: “Four more years.” Within minutes, it became the most popular post in the history of Twitter and the most-liked image in the history of Facebook….

…. no one was more surprised than the woman who took the photo back in August, Scout Tufankjian….

…. The President is “so much happier and more relaxed” when he’s with his family … he and the first lady are so focused on each other. The way that they play off each other and get energy from each other… when I was shooting the president during the 2008 campaign I would watch them greet each other on stage and I used to text-message my boyfriend, now my husband: ‘Do you love me as much as Barack loves Michelle?’ and he’d be like, ‘Probably not, no’.”

More here

Thanks BWD

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Cool bag – and shoes!

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Morning everyone 😉

Rise and Shine

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President Obama puts his shoes back on after meeting wrestlers on the mat at the U.S. Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, August 9

….President Obama, visiting the Olympic training center here, had slipped his shoes off to greet athletes on a wrestling mat.

When he went to retrieve them, he plunked right down to put them on, with a gaggle of cameras rolling and reporters standing in front of him.

One reporter, CBS’s Peter Maer, remarked, “Very presidential, sir,” according to a pool report.

“Thanks. No holes in my socks,” the president joked. “My grandmother would be proud.”

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Cagle

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Cagle

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The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, August 9

Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pa, Aug. 9

Montgomery County, Pa, August 9

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Grand Junction, Colorado, August 8 (Flickr)

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Morning everyone 😉

‘walk a day in my shoes’

Today Pauline Beck will be at the White House to watch as President Obama announces proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that will affect home healthcare workers like herself. Today’s event has special significance for Pauline, because it was the day then-Senator Obama spent “in her shoes” that informed him of the important work these Americans do and the need to level the playing field so they are fairly compensated for their efforts. Take a minute to watch the video and learn her story..

The original video:

Today:

home

President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn of the White House with his daughter, Sasha followed by first lady Michelle Obama with daughter Malia, March 23, as they return form Latin America

President Obama points to the shoes of his daughter Sasha

President Barack Obama gives a thumbs up for the shoes worn by his daughter Sasha

one who drops his shoes & socks throughout the land

December 16, 2010

Bunky Echo-Hawk, a Native American artist, created a work of art entitled “Barack Black Eagle: He Who Helps People Throughout the Land,” which was displayed during the inaugural festivities. Obama was given the name by a Crow family who adopted him into the tribe when he visited the Crow Nation in May 2008.

picture perfect: no 25

by Callie Shell: “This picture went – what’s the word? – viral. It was everywhere. And of course when the cost of Sarah Palin’s wardrobe came out, a lot was made of it. The funny thing was that I was in the holding room and one of his advisers left. I was thinking, ‘What on earth am I going to take a picture of? Another photo of him in a holding room?’ And then he put his feet up and I thought, ‘Ah!’. Afterwards, when we were about to go on stage, he said to me, ‘You liked my shoes, didn’t you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘You know, they’ve already been resoled once since I started campaigning but I’m not giving them up. Reggie [his PA] is dying to get hold of them but I’m not giving them up. I like them.'” Providence, R.I., 3/1/2008.

See all the ‘Picture Perfect’ photos here

flashback … ooooh, the pain

soleless

Senator Obama was doing press interviews by telephone in a holding room between events. Sometime later as he was getting ready to begin his event, he asked me if I was photographing his shoes. When I said yes, he told me that he had already had them resoled once since he entered the race a year earlier. Providence, R.I., 3/1/2008. Callie Shell.