more pete souza genius

Members of the audience cheer as President Obama delivers remarks on the American Jobs Act at Manchester Central High School, N.H., Nov. 22

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with First Lady Michelle Obama in the Oval Office, Nov. 21

President Obama greets people following a ceremony to honor the French and American Alliance, at a World War I Memorial at the Hotel de Ville in Cannes, France, Nov. 4

President Obama says goodbye to students after a visit to the Yeadon Regional Head Start Center in Yeadon, Pa., Nov. 8

President Obama talks with Chief of Staff Bill Daley before the APEC CEO business summit in Honolulu, Hawaii, Saturday, Nov. 12

President Obama has his picture taken with a member of the U.S. Navy on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson, Nov. 11

President Obama looks out a window of Air Force One during the flight from Canberra to Darwin, Australia, Nov. 17

Members of the Townson University football team take pictures of President Obama during halftime of the Oregon State vs Towson University basketball game in Towson, Md., Nov. 26

And from Lawrence Jackson:

First Lady Michelle Obama walks with children past the official White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room, Nov. 30. Mrs. Obama welcomed military families to the White House for for the first viewing of the 2011 holiday decorations.

See all the photos at Flickr

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And here’s Oliver Willis with the Obamas:

evening all

President Barack Obama says goodbye to students lining a second floor hallway at the Yeadon Regional Head Start Center in Yeadon, Pa., Nov. 8, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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ABC: President Obama holds leads over the top three Republican presidential candidates in a new national poll conducted by Latino Decisions for Univision, with the president enjoying far wider advantages among Latino voters, an area of strength that could ultimately prove crucial come next year’s election.

…. Among registered voters nationwide, Obama holds the largest lead over Perry at 10 percent, with his edge over Romney at 9 percent. Cain, meanwhile, is within 6 percent of the president.

Among registered Latino voters in the 21 most Latino-heavy states, Obama’s advantage is far greater, exceeding two-to-one margins in every case. The president is up 65 percent to 22 percent on Cain, 67 percent to 24 percent on Romney and 68 percent to 21 percent on Perry…..

More here

Thanks Hopefruit

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Pete Souza

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Greg Sargent: As you may have heard, Republicans on the supercommittee are privately offering Dems what they’re calling a big concession: They will agree to hundreds of billions in new revenues through an overhaul of the tax code in exchange for making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

A senior Senate Democratic aide directly familiar with the discussions tells me that as part of that tax rate overhaul, Republicans are also pushing to drop the highest end tax rate down to 28 percent.

Full post here

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ABC: Michelle Obama told high school students taking part in a mentoring program at Georgetown University on Tuesday that being married to the president can be scary at times, because he makes the family get out of its comfort zone.

The first lady urged students not to let fear guide them after a student asked about being worried about going away to college.

“I mean this is scary,” she said. “Shoot, being married to Barack Obama? He’s got big plans. He’s always pushing us beyond our comfort zones, and I’m dragged along going, ‘What’s he doing now? No, not this.'”

More here

Video of the First Lady’s speech here – thanks P and Lisa

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Marketwatch: Job openings at U.S. workplaces rose to 3.35 million in September – the highest level since August 2008 – from 3.13 million in August, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

Overall job openings rose 22% from the prior year, with private openings up 23% to 2.99 million. Meanwhile, government openings rose to 366,000 from 326,000.

More here

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Happiness is ….. when the very great Steve Benen links to a photo on TOD: woot! I know, I’m sad.

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More soon

afternoon all

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Steve Benen: Every bit as interesting as the Obama administration’s big win today in a case challenging the Affordable Care Act are the judges who agreed with the White House’s reasoning:

    A conservative-leaning panel of federal appellate judges on Tuesday upheld President Barack Obama’s health care law as constitutional, helping set up a Supreme Court fight.

    A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a split opinion upholding the law. The court agreed to dismiss a Christian legal group’s lawsuit claiming the requirement that all Americans get health insurance is unconstitutional and violates religious freedom.

Full post here

More at the WH site here

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Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt sent this to reporters after Mitt Romney said in an interview that President Obama shouldn’t have written “a check first” to the auto industry:

“If Mitt Romney was President, there would not be an American auto industry. Industry experts have been clear: our auto companies would have faced liquidation if Mitt Romney had his way and more than 1 million Americans would have lost their jobs. Mitt Romney must explain to Michigan voters this week why he would have let Detroit go bankrupt. The loan package the President extended to the auto industry – combined with a restructuring plan – was essential to ensuring that the auto companies return to profitability and produce cars that will keep them competitive in the future.”

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Thanks VC

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Crooks and Liars: Multimillionaire Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told employees at a steel fabrication plant on Monday that government employees “are making a lot more money than we are”.

….. “The tax payers shouldn’t have to have money taken out of their pay checks to pay people in government who are our servants who are making a lot more money than we are.”

…. The former Massachusetts governor has a net worth estimated at up to $250 million.

More here

Thanks Loriah

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Steve Benen: We’ve been exploring for nearly a year the “sabotage” question: are Republicans trying to hurt the nation’s economy on purpose, simply to undermine the Obama presidency?

…. Pollsters, however, have shied away from the question — until very recently. Today, a new survey from Public Policy Polling, commissioned by Daily Kos and SEIU, put the question to respondents nationwide.

“Q: Do you think the Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to insure that Barack Obama is not reelected or not?”

Yes: 50%
No: 41%
Unsure: 10%

…. this is a rather striking shift.. We’re talking about the American mainstream accepting the idea that a major political party, for the first time since the Civil War, actively trying to undermine the strength of the United States in a time of economic crisis.

Full post here

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First lady Michelle Obama at the Riggs Library of Georgetown University where she delivered remarks and answered questions from students who participated in a day-long ‘immersion experience’ which included pairing with college mentors, taking campus tours, visiting classes and learning about the transition from high school to college.

philadelphia here he comes

President Obama departs the Oval Office to travel to Philadelphia, November 8

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter greets President Obama at Philadelphia International Airport

President Obama tours a classroom at the Yeadon Regional Head Start Center

President Obama prior to speaking at Yeadon Regional Head Start Center

Flat Stanley!

Back at Andrews

… and back at the White House

target: reached!

****** If you have $10 to spare, click here ******

night everyone

A very, very, very big thank you again to Henry VIII (!) for visiting us today (here) – thrilled to have you here, Mr Healy!

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Bye bye Muppets, hello the Living Dead…..

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Worried about Huntsman?

Nate Silver: …. polling worse than Mr. Gingrich was Mr. Huntsman. About half of the views Republicans expressed about Mr. Huntsman were negative, producing an Unacceptably Index of 51 percent.

Thank you Suzanne

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See you tomorrow 😉

the muppet show just lost a muppet

Huckabee has announced he isn’t running.

You know, the only thing these people are running for now is the hills.

(If God told him not to run, then my faith is renewed!)

Jon Huntsman: “It is unfortunate that we will not have his voice – or his bass guitar – in the presidential debate, as our party would have benefited from his involvement.”

😕

Obama/Biden 2012 😉

john & joe

Vice President Joe Biden talks with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., after President Barack Obama signed the New START Treaty in the Oval Office, Feb. 2, 2011. Behind them, the President talks with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

a great start

President Barack Obama signs the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, February 2. Looking on are Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator John Kerry and Senator Richard Lugar

Six short years ago ….

During the August recess of 2005, Richard Lugar and freshman Senator Barack Obama visited Russia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine  to inspect nuclear facilities there. In January 2007, President Bush signed into law the Lugar-Obama Proliferation and Threat Reduction Initiative

Check the microphones, the media didn’t seem too interested in what the freshman senator had to say then 🙂

Baku, Ajerbaijan August, 2005. Photo: Pete Souza

More photos from that 2005 trip, all by Pete Souza:

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Inside a dismantled nuclear missile. Photo: Pete Souza

it’s a starter

President Barack Obama talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a phone call in the Oval Office, Jan. 25, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

CNN: Russia’s lower house of parliament ratified Tuesday the first post-Cold War nuclear disarmament treaty with the United States, the Interfax news agency said.
The sweeping arms reduction pact, known as New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) replaces START 1, which expired in December 2009.

The treaty, considered a critical component of nuclear non-proliferation efforts, was signed by President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last April and approved by the U.S. Senate in December.

It is designed to slash the stockpile of strategic nuclear weapons in both countries to 1,550 warheads — down from a current cap of 2,200 — and 700 launchers.
The treaty also calls for a resumption of inspections of nuclear arsenals that ended when START 1 expired and helps move forward with White House efforts to “reset” U.S.-Russian relations.

Obama has called the treaty “the most significant arms control agreement in nearly two decades” and the U.S. Senate’s approval in December gave Obama a key victory on what has been considered one of his top foreign policy priorities.

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