On This Day: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Claire Duncan, daughter of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, watch a tennis match at Camp David, Md., Oct. 3, 2010. The President hosted cabinet members and their families for a Sunday gathering at the retreat (Photo by Pete Souza)
Senator Barack Obama walks from his plane on October 3, 2008 after arriving in Philadelphia on his way to a rally in Abington, Pennsylvania
A woman is overcome with emotion after meeting Senator Obama at a rally on October 3, 2008 in Abington, Pennsylvania
Senator Barack Obama is photographed October 3, 2008 at the airport in Philadelphia before flying to Chicago
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President Obama congratulates Google Science Fair winners, from left, Naomi Shah, Shree Bose, and Lauren Hodge in the Oval Office, Oct. 3, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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First Lady Michelle Obama in Reno, October 3, 2012
First Lady Michelle Obama sits with White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett before the Presidential Debate at the University of Denver on October 3, 2012
Income Inequality Is A Problem And President Obama Is Tackling It
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Zachary A. Goldfarb: Don’t Think Obama Has Reduced Inequality? These Numbers Prove That He Has.
Today, the average after-tax income of a member of the top 1 percent of earners is $1.12 million. The average after-tax income of someone in the bottom 20 percent is $13,300. That means the average person at the top takes home 84 times the income that the average person in the bottom takes home. Now, consider what it would be like if none of President Obama’s tax policy changes had happened: not the upper-income tax hikes negotiated at the beginning of last year, not the upper-income tax increases imposed by the Affordable Care Act, not the low-income tax credits enacted in the 2009 stimulus and later renewed.
In this alternative universe, the average member of the top 1 percent would take home $1.2 million, or 6.5 percent more in income, according to a new analysis. The average member of the bottom 20 percent would bring home $13,100, or 1.2 percent less in income. As a result, the average member of the 1 percent would take home 91 times what the average person in the bottom would bring home. If you’ve wondered whether Obama has made any headway at reducing income inequality, here’s evidence that he has. Based on tax policy alone, he has slightly increased the income of the poor and more significantly reduced the income of the rich.
11:0: VP Biden attends and delivers remarks at a Nelson Mandela service at Washington National Cathedral
12:30: Josh Earnest briefs the press
3:45: VP Biden and Cecilia Muñoz answer questions about immigration reform in an online event
5:0: VP Biden delivers remarks at the 12th Annual George McGovern Leadership Award Ceremony of World Food Program USA
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Aboard Air Force One, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes begins the editing process on the President’s speech that he will deliver at the Nelson Mandela memorial service
Hillary Clinton talks with the Obamas, Ben Rhodes and Capricia Marshall aboard Air Force One, Dec. 9
President Obama greets security personnel from South Africa as he waits to take the stage at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela
President Obama and President Bush talk as they get ready to have dinner aboard Air Force One with their wives and Valerie Jarrett, Tina Tchen and Susan Rice
USA Today: Obama applauds congressional budget deal
Don’t be surprised if President Obama addresses the proposed congressional budget deal on Wednesday, and to say good things about it.
In a written statement late Tuesday, Obama called the deal “a good first step” toward a “balanced” budget approach that combines prudent cuts with investments in job-generating programs.
“This agreement doesn’t include everything I’d like — and I know many Republicans feel the same way,” Obama said. “That’s the nature of compromise. But it’s a good sign that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to come together and break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven decision-making to get this done.”
That Congress’ budget chairs – Republican Paul Ryan and Democrat Patty Murray – were able to reach a budget agreement at all is a minor miracle. There was ample reason to believe the negotiations were a fool’s errand and that failure was an inevitability. The assumptions, however, were wrong, and the two leaders last night unveiled their deal to fund the government for the next two years.
Broadly speaking, there are two overarching questions to consider: is the budget agreement any good and can it pass Congress. Neither is easy to answer.
BBC: ‘Volcker rule’ ban on risky trades passed by regulators
All five US financial regulators have approved the Volcker rule, designed to restrict the finance industry in the wake of the 2008-09 financial collapse.
Named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, it bans banks from using their own funds for trading activities.
It is considered the centrepiece of the 2010 banking reform legislation known as Dodd-Frank. Banks will have until 21 July 2015 to comply with the rules.
…. US President Barack Obama applauded the passage of a rule proposed more than three years ago.
He said in a statement: “The Volcker Rule will make it illegal for firms to use government-insured money to make speculative bets that threaten the entire financial system, and demand a new era of accountability from CEOs who must sign off on their firm’s practices.”
Kentucky.com: Health enrollment climbs during holiday period
Enrollment through Kentucky’s health benefits website has grown by more than 11,000 in a 10-day period starting Thanksgiving week.
Gov. Steve Beshear’s office says the technology team for the state’s online health insurance marketplace was expecting an increase in traffic, applications and enrollments after Thanksgiving and increased capacity to prepare.
A news release from Beshear’s office says the site enrolls about 1,000 Kentuckians a day.
President Obama with first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha walk out from the White House to attend Sunday service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Dec 11, 2011
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MoooOOOooorning! A bit of a rush job again, I’m sure I’m missing lots of news but we’ll catch up through the day.
David Walker: Pete Souza On His Long-Term Photographic Partnership With President Barack Obama
PDN: You first met the President on his first day as senator in 2005. What was he like as a subject at that time?
Pete Souza: He had just been through a campaign in Illinois, and oftentimes had photographers tagging along with him. So I think he was used to a photographer being with him, maybe not to the extent that I wanted to try to work with him, which was to do a lot of things behind the scenes, but I think he appreciated the way I worked: leaving a small footprint, not interrupting what he was doing, and things like that.
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PDN: Can you talk about what you think about—and what you want to say about—the President when you photograph him, and how that has changed since you started as the chief White House photographer?
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PS: I used to tell people that I’m trying to make photographs so that 50 years from now, people will have a sense of what Barack Obama was like as a president and as a person. [Then] I saw, somebody had archived a presentation about the work of Yoichi Okamoto, who was LBJ’s photographer, and he essentially said the same thing, except he didn’t say 50 years—he said 500 years. And that just sort of shook me a little bit in the sense of how important it was for me to do a good job documenting visually this administration, because the reality is that: It’s 500 years from now.
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People could be going through these photographs to try to get an idea [of this administration]. So that’s sort of the way I think about things.
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PDN: What images come to mind that stand out to you because of what you know about his manner or mannerisms?
PS: I think how he interacts with his girls, for instance. I’m sensitive to giving him the necessary privacy with his girls, but at the same time, they know who I am. I know the great relationship that he has with his girls, so I think I’m able to make some photographs that show him as a father that a stranger coming in would never be able to make … That’s one example.
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PDN: And anything about your relationship with the President you want to comment on? Does he comment on your photos, for example? Has he said anything to you or anything publicly [about your work]?
PS:Yeah, we hang photos on the walls of the West Wing. He’s usually struck by the photos that he’s not in, or photos that he’s in with his family, or photos that he’s in with little kids. I think those are the three categories of photographs that he enjoys the most.
The Obama Diary 
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