Surprise!

The World We Share

* Visitors to the blog in the last 30 days *

I always smile when I get beautiful messages/emails from ‘non-Americans’ who visit here and apologize for their English – more often than not, their English is considerably better than mine.

I’ve got a whole bunch of these emails the last few days – and I promise I will get around to replying to them all when this craziness is over.

Almost all say they just lurk here and don’t comment, mainly because they think their English isn’t good enough. Now, that’s crazy.

But they all say the same: they are wishing President Obama all the very best, and are praying – to whatever higher power they worship – for his success tonight.

I’m not, for a minute, claiming everyone on the list above is a PBO supporter, but I suspect most of them are – because they know how catastrophic a Romney presidency would be for the world we share.

So, to all those citizens of the world who have got in touch: thank you so much.

Your good wishes are hugely appreciated.

happy new year tod world!

Where TOD’s 2011 visitors came from.

From ‘The Obama Diary Annual Report’ WordPress emailed me tonight …. jeez, they make the blog sound like Bain Capital 😕

In order of visitors: 1 USA, 2 Canada, 3 UK

And the most popular post: so, you love the first lady? hey, you’re not the only one….. (link)

Thank you everyone for your support, I’d still be talking to myself if it wasn’t for you (although, I do that quite a bit any way).

*****

Wooooooooooot! What a way to end 2011 and start 2012 ….. you ridiculously good people pushed us past our $10,000 target.

Love ya!!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone, thank you for your company on this beautiful journey.

See you next year – ie tomorrow 😉

‘a place of profound sadness’

The UK Independent: The ocean views are stunning, but it’s the tragic past of Ghana’s rugged coast that is also drawing in visitors, thanks in part to America’s first black president.

Perched on the windswept edge of West Africa, the imposing whitewashed former slave trading fort known as Cape Coast Castle has seen a steady increase in visitors since US President Barack Obama and his family toured here in 2009.

The dark dungeons where untold numbers of people were kept before being shipped off as slaves serve as stark reminders of the brutality they endured – a point of view perhaps too often overlooked in the Western world.

….Obama, whose wife Michelle traces her ancestry to slaves, chose Ghana for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president in July 2009, and he and his family made sure to stop at Cape Coast Castle … A tour of the fort was “a moving moment”, Obama said then.

He added that “there is a special sense that on one hand this place was a place of profound sadness, on the other hand it is where the journey of much of African-American experience began.”

“Following President Obama’s visit we are seeing a consistent increase in international arrivals,” deputy Tourism Minister Kobby Akyeampong told AFP. Current arrivals are averaging 748,000 per year from 587,000 two years before and the aim is to hit a million thanks in part to the so-called “Obama effect”.

Full article here

tour-guide-in-chief

President Barack Obama surprises a tour group outside the Oval Office, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

More new White House photos here

omg …. it’s michelle!

First Lady Michelle Obama surprises visitors on a public tour in the Blue Room of the White House, Jan. 20, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Video in this post

the host with the most

Full video:

The First Lady & Bo surprise people touring the White House on the second anniversary of President Obama’s Inauguration

A couple of clips:

This clip cracks me up. Watch the young woman reading the map – she starts out in the video frame on the right.

“Nice to know that you’re focused.” 🙂

a year ago today…. ‘gee, i wonder if the president’s at home?’

Visitors on the 2009 Fall Garden Tour pass by the Oval Office as President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Oct. 17, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Mrs Obama's Washington

Nice interview with Michelle Obama on Concierge.com – and there’s a very, very nice video of Michelle and the one and only Bo on the website too

cheeky

First Lady Michelle Obama greets a young visitor touring the White House during a surprise visit in the Blue Room with family dog Bo on the anniversary of the inauguration, Jan. 20, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)