Barack and I are excited to share that the Water Garden at the Obama Presidential Center will be dedicated to his mother, Ann Dunham, and include a beautiful piece by Maya Lin. We are so grateful to our Obama Alumni for this incredible gift. ❤️ https://t.co/fRdDukT88G
We have updated our guide of resources for Texans who are without power, water or food.
If you are able to donate money, resources or time, you can check out these links for organizations across the state that are helping people. https://t.co/CTkJDnex6i
Encouraged to see power coming back to much of Texas. However, many still without electricity and millions still struggling to get drinking water and food. @TexasTribune has put together a helpful guide on where to get help and how to help across Texas: https://t.co/eUWudHaZQI
Texas needs our help 🙏🏾❤️. There are organizations on the ground that need our assistance in helping Texans stay warm and safe. Donate, call, share, volunteer, pray. Whatever you can do to help! I’ll continue to share info and resources. Stay tuned and stay safe ❤️ pic.twitter.com/yABLWHNEh4
If you are able, please consider making a donation to help these families in Texas. Information on how to donate below. ❤️🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/u7L0M5Dg6z
Officials announced Thursday that the First Lady Michelle Obama will host the special event on Monday, Feb. 24, at 4 p.m. ET, in the Eisenhower Office Building’s South Court Auditorium. The Eisenhower Office Building houses adjoins the White House’s West Wing and provides office space for most of the executive mansion’s staff. Obama will deliver personal remarks at the screening for the TV adaptation of the Broadway revival of Horton Foote‘s play. The Trip to Bountiful, which premieres Saturday, March 8, on the cabler, is set during the final years of the Jim Crow South. The Broadway production was nominated for four Tony Awards, winning best actress in a play for Cicely Tyson.
First Lady Michelle Obama is escorted by Rose Cameron, CEO and founder of WAT-AAH!, a line of bottled water targeted to kids and teens, as they view the “Taking Back the Streets” art exhibit at the New Museum, in New York
First Lady Michelle Obama talks with Sophia Rose Stewart-Chapman, of New York’s Little Red School House, in front of a color-by-numbers mural featuring the slogan for WAT-AAH!
Artist Trey Speegle, photographs First Lady Michelle Obama as she prepares to autograph his color-by-numbers mural featuring the slogan for WAT-AAH!, a line of bottled water targeted to kids and teens, at the New Museum, in New York
First Lady Michelle Obama meets Lola Picayo, of New York’s Little Red School House, before she autographed a color-by-numbers mural featuring the slogan for WAT-AAH!
First Lady Michelle Obama hugs teacher Sara Barlow of Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin High School
First Lady Michelle Obama stands with artist Trey Speegle the 8th grade children of Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin High School when she visits the New Museum’s “Taking Back the Streets” exhibit, sponsored by Let Water Be Water LLC’s youth bottled water brand WAT-AAH! to support the Partnership for a Healthier America’s “Drink Up” initiative in New York City
First Lady Michelle Obama and actress Eva Longoria participate in an event at Watertown High School to encourage people to drink more water in Watertown, Wisconsin.
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.@FLOTUS Thank you for your message. We'll be sure to #DrinkH2O today and everyday!
President Obama visits a pre-kindergarten classroom at College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center in Decatur, Ga., Feb. 14
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Today:
EST
10:0: President Obama meets with President Giorgio Napolitano of Italy
11:10: Welcomes the 18 recipients of the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal
12:10: Departs the White House
CT
1:10: Arrives Chicago
2:45: Delivers remarks at Hyde Park Academy
4:30: Departs Chicago
EST
8:0: Arrives West Palm Beach, Florida
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Washington Post: President Obama used his State of the Union address to launch a push for massively expanding pre-K and other early childhood education programs. But he was pretty vague about it. Not anymore. At 6 a.m. today, the administration released its detailed plan for early childhood education….
…. Upon opening the plan for the first time (while on the phone with me) Nobel laureate and early childhood education expert James Heckman exclaimed “Holy smokes!” in approval.
Eugene Robinson: In his bid to be remembered as a transformational leader, President Obama is following the playbook of an ideological opposite, Margaret Thatcher. First you win the argument, she used to say, then you win the vote.
Obama is gradually winning the argument about what government can and should do. His State of the Union address was an announcement of that fact — and a warning to conservatives that, to remain relevant, they will have to move beyond the premise that government is always the problem and never the solution…..
Steve Benen: Sen. John McCain, as recently as a few days ago, said he would not try to stop an up-or-down vote on Chuck Hagel’s Defense Secretary nomination. And then yesterday, he did the exact opposite.
I’m sure he’ll be coming soon to a Sunday show near you to explain his thinking, but in the meantime, take a look at what McCain told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto after the first-ever instance of a Senate minority blocking a vote on a cabinet nominee:
NYT Editorial: For the last four years, Senate Republicans have used the power of the filibuster to block legislation, bottle up nominees to courts and government departments, and strangle federal agencies, even though they are in the minority. On Thursday, they hit a new low. They successfully filibustered Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for defense secretary, the first time a cabinet nominee for this post has been prevented from receiving an up-or-down vote.
NYT: At a high school near his own neighborhood here, President Obama on Friday will provide new details about an initiative to select 20 communities nationwide as laboratories for better coordination of federal, local, nonprofit and private-sector investments to revitalize long-distressed areas, according to administration officials.
Mr. Obama had announced his proposal to designate the so-called Promise Zones during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, but did not provide many details. As part of the effort, he also is seeking tax breaks, for capital investments in the zones and for employers who hire unemployed residents.
Steve Benen: Two weeks from today, deep, automatic sequestration cuts will kick in, doing real damage to the nation’s economy, military, and public needs. Both Democrats and Republicans say they want to avoid that fate, but only one side seems to be doing anything about the threat.
This week, House Republican leaders, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said they would do literally nothing to resolve the problem until Senate Democrats acted. It was a bizarre posture to take — the House GOP freely admits it doesn’t want to do any work at all to clean up the mess Republican helped make.
The Obama Diary 
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