rise and shine

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11:20: PBO delivers remarks on government reform

1:45: PBO attends a campaign event at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington.

5:30: PBO and Michelle Obama host the Tuskegee Airmen, along with cast and crew members of the movie “Red Tails,” for a screening at the White House.

* Michelle Obama this morning joins the cast of Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” at a special screening of “iMeet The First Lady” in Alexandria, Va.

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Washington Post: President Obama will ask Congress on Friday for the power to shrink the federal government, proposing a first step of combining several trade and commerce agencies under a plan that the White House said could eliminate more than 1,000 jobs and save $3 billion over 10 years.

A senior administration official cast the announcement, which Obama will make during an 11:20 a.m. White House appearance, as follow-through on the president’s promise during last year’s State of the Union address to create a leaner, more efficient bureaucracy.

More here

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CBS Philly: Vice President Joe Biden is coming to the Philadelphia area Friday morning to speak to high school students in Bucks County about the cost of college and what the Obama Administration is doing to make it more affordable.

Biden and Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller will speak to students at Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown. Even though students have finals next week, class schedules are being adjusted to give students a chance to take part in what could be a chance of a lifetime.

More here

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CBS: On the eve of a Texas meeting of prominent social conservatives and evangelical Christians to discuss the state of the Republican presidential race, one invitee is worrying that a Mitt Romney nomination would be “John McCain all over again.”

Dick Bott, founder and chairman of Christian Radio’s Bott Radio Network, says he would vote for the former Massachusetts governor against President Obama, but that “people just won’t care.”

“Why on earth give other things [like volunteering time or donations] for someone you think is a bit of sham?” says Bott, who would not confirm he will be attending this weekend’s summit. “All of a sudden there’s a conservative movement that is being spoon-fed by Republican establishment leaders.”

More here

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Steve Benen: ….. I don’t think we need any special insights to see the line Gingrich is pushing here. The disgraced former House Speaker, in advance of the South Carolina primary, wants Republican voters to think there’s something wrong with being bilingual, especially if the other language is French.

I have no idea if this will work, but the fact that “he speaks French” is considered a potentially potent attack in Republican politics in the 21st century is just sad.

Full post here

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LA Times: As Mitt Romney defends his record running a private equity firm, he frequently points to a fast-growing Indiana steel company, financed in part by Bain Capital, that now employs 6,000 workers.

What Romney doesn’t mention is that Steel Dynamics also received generous tax breaks and other subsidies provided by the state of Indiana and the residents of DeKalb County, where the company’s first mill was built.

The story of Bain and Steel Dynamics illustrates how Romney, during his business career, made avid use of public-private partnerships, something that many conservatives consider to be “corporate welfare.” It is a commitment that carried over into his term as governor of Massachusetts, when he offered similar incentives to lure businesses to his state.

Yet as he seeks the GOP presidential nomination, he emphasizes government’s adverse effects on economic growth

Full article here

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Morning everyone 😉

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PS Thanks for the reminder Pamela 😳

wrap-up

President Barack Obama greets the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal recipients in the Blue Room of the White House prior to a medal ceremony in the East Room, Oct. 20. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Friday:

9:30 AM President Obama signs the Korea, Panama, Colombia Free Trade Agreements and the renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers

10:30 The President attends a reception in the Rose Garden

2:30 The President honors recipients of the 2010 National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation

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Andrew Sullivan: To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he’d be on Mount Rushmore by now.

Ian Swanson (The Hill): Obama stands tall after the demise of Libyan strongman Gadhafi

The death of Moammar Gadhafi represents another major foreign policy victory for President Obama, who backed a months-long air campaign in Libya while facing criticism from the left and the right.

Obama stared down congressional skeptics across the political spectrum … Through it all, Obama kept his resolve.

…. On Thursday he basked in the second greatest foreign policy triumph of his administration, after the successful operation this spring that killed Osama bin Laden. Gadhafi’s death comes less than a month after the U.S. drone strike killed al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.

…. For the unwavering Obama, Thursday came the big payoff as Gadhafi’s hopes for returning to power ended in a field outside his hometown of Sirte.

…. Obama entered the Oval Office as a novice on the international stage, criticized for a naïve outlook on the world.

…. three years into his term, both the bin Laden and Libya events suggest Obama can be steely in making decisions about U.S. force, and in sticking with them.

Full article here

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Jake Tapper: Have you had any difficulty discerning Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney’s precise position on the US involvement in the NATO mission in Libya?

The one consistency has been criticism of President Obama. But beyond that, he’s seemed a bit all over the Libyan map.

To wit:

Position 1: Obama was weak in not doing this sooner

Position 2: (Nothing to say)

Position 3: Obama is being too aggressive

Position 4: After Gadhafi fell: Hooray! Now release the Lockerbie bomber

Position 5 – (Somewhat similar to position 1): It’s about time! The world is a better place without him!

See full post here

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Washington Post: Marco Rubio’s compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show

During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power.

But a review of documents – including naturalization papers and other official records – reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than 2 and a half years before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959.

The supposed flight of Rubio’s parents has been at the core of the young senator’s political identity …. he mentions his parents in the second sentence of the official biography on his Senate Web site. It says that Mario and Oriales Rubio “came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover.”….

The real story of his parents’ migration appears to be a more conventional immigrant narrative, a couple who came to the United States seeking a better life. In the year they arrived in Florida, the future Marxist dictator was in Mexico plotting a quixotic return to Cuba.

Full article here

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Michael Tomasky (Daily Beast): The economy needs help. The Democrats’ proposals are popular. And yet they’re dying in Congress. Why? Because the GOP hates Obama more than it loves America.

Maybe as early as Thursday night, the Senate will take its first vote on one bite-size piece of President Obama’s jobs bill, a $35 billion measure to fund the hiring of 400,000 teachers and a smaller number of cops and firefighters. It will fail. As usual not a single Republican will vote for it….

…. The Republican Party’s posture to the American people is this. Your opinion on issues like teachers and taxes doesn’t matter a whit to us … if you keep that man in the White House, we will block everything he and you want. Everything. And nothing will happen in this town for those next four years. The Republicans can’t say any of this, of course, but they don’t have to. People get it. It just sort of seeps out of them, like oil from a polluted stream.

I have trouble keeping lunch down when I read these jeremiads about how sad and mysterious it is that our institutions of government are failing. It’s not a mystery. One side wants them to fail. And there’s very little the other side can do about it, besides point it out, which the president has started doing – and now he’s the one being divisive! They’ve turned the world inside out.

Full article here

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The video is glitchy, will get a better version tomorrow – but stick with it, Rachel was on fire

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Nearly there, thank you so much everyone:

Link

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Update:

LA Times: Republican-led opposition in the Senate blocked a key element of President Obama’s jobs plan – a proposal to send $35 billion to cash-strapped states to keep public school teachers, police and firefighters on the job.

The Senate voted 50-50 late Thursday, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Polls have shown the proposal is among the most popular flanks of Obama’s jobs initiative.

President Obama shakes hands with Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) after he signed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, October 8, 2010

The Hill: Democrats Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.), who voted last week to block Obama’s full jobs measure, again sided with Republicans.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, also said no, citing concerns about the legislation’s cost effectiveness.

Contact Mark Pryor here

Ben Nelson: Twitter – Email

Joe Lieberman – Twitter – Email

From two days ago:

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Joan, in case you drop in, thinking of you, hope all’s well and you’re recovering from your surgery. Take care of yourself, see you soon.

a gop candidate finally makes sense

Translation: “Perry and Bachmann are bat-shit crazy, and Romney, frankly, is a loathsome worm. And, to be honest, I’m pretty useless too. So, we have something in common, Piers.”

“the only thing that happens in an instant is destruction … everything else requires time”

Thank you Jessica

hot dog!

😆

joy

MSNBC: Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has recovered enough from a bullet to the brain to ask for toast with breakfast. Few details are available, but Pia Carusone, Giffords’ chief of staff, confirmed that the congresswoman made the verbal request on Monday when hospital workers at TIRR Memorial Hermann brought her a meal…

Though small, the request marks a milestone for the congresswoman … In a Facebook update on Tuesday, her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, said that Giffords is eating three meals a day and enjoying it, “even though it’s hospital food.”

Doctors at Giffords’ Houston rehabilitation center on Tuesday said that she’s recovering well and that they hope she can make enough progress to attend her husband’s space shuttle launch in April.

….”The doctors say she is recovering at lightning speed considering her injury but they aren’t kidding when they say this is a marathon process,” Kelly wrote on Facebook. “There are encouraging signs every day, though.”

mentor-in-chief

First lady Michelle Obama speaks during the National Mentoring Summit at Library of Congress in Washington Jan 25

Information here

speaking the same language

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama watch as President Hu Jintao of China greets daughters Sasha and Malia before the start of the State Dinner reception in the East Room of the White House, Jan. 19, 2011. Marian Robinson is pictured at right.(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

ABC: It turns out that the State Visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao had one success not mentioned in the joint statement issued at its conclusion: Sasha Obama got to practice her Chinese with President Hu.

As first disclosed by Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications in a videoconference with Chinese bloggers,  more Americans are studying about China these days.

“The president pointed out last night at the State Dinner that his daughter Sasha is a very young girl but her class is studying Chinese,” Rhodes said. “She’s under 10 years old but she’s studying Chinese and she wanted to have the chance to practice her Chinese with President Hu. You know not every 9-year-old has the opportunity to try out her first phrases in Chinese with the president of China.”

pam

The Arizona Republic: Smiling and grateful to be alive, Pam Simon, one of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ wounded staffers, returned to the office Friday to heal in the company of her colleagues.

“It was really important to see the rest of my Giffords family. We are like a family,” said Simon, 63. “I think it’s part of the healing to circle back and to have the energy of friends and people who love us.”

Simon, who works as a community-outreach coordinator for Giffords, survived two gunshots, one to the wrist and another in the chest that traversed her body and lodged in her buttocks.

Full article here

Pam Simon sits with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in her hospital room at University Medical Center before Wednesday’s Memorial Service on Jan. 12

sleep? who needs it?

President Barack Obama, just hours after returning from Afghanistan, speaks on the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement next to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington December 4

More on the deal here