Early Bird Chat

President Barack Obama returns to the White House after visiting the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

President Obama Honors Wounded Warriors

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President Barack Obama, flanked by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, and Vice President Joe Biden, welcome the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride to the South Lawn of the White House in celebration of the seventh annual Soldier Ride.

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USA Today: Obama To Wounded Warriors: “You Inspire Us”

President Obama paid tribute Thursday to once-maimed veterans who are now racing bikes. “You inspire us,” Obama said. “You inspire the country.” The president spoke at the seventh annual Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride to the White House. The event is designed to help the injured recover and to raise awareness of the challenges they face.

Some of the bikers were so badly injured they had to re-learn “the basics,” Obama said — “how to stand again, how to walk again, how to run again.” “You inspire me with your courage, your resolve, your resilience, your tenacity, your optimism,” Obama said. “It makes me proud to be your Commander-in-Chief.”

More here

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The Coolest President EVER!

President Barack Obama makes a face as Nancy Loubin takes a picture of him at the seventh annual Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride.

First Lady Michelle Obama Visits Fisher House At Walter Reed

First Lady Michelle Obama visits with families working on crafts at Maryland Fisher House IV at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., April 14, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

First Lady Michelle Obama meets with six-month-old Kyleigh Garmon, and her mother Megan Garmon, from Alabama, during her visit to the Wounded Warriors being cared for at the Fisher House at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

First Lady Michelle Obama has stickers placed on her face by 20-month-old Lily Oppelt, as her parents Amy and Sgt. Lucas Oppelt, far right, from Indiana, watch during her visit with Wounded Warriors being cared for at the Fisher House at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., The First Lady is participating in a pre-Easter celebration with military families and their children. The Fisher House provides extend stay housing program for family members while their loved ones receiving specialized medical care at Walter Reed.

Pres. Obama Welcomes the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride

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LIVE NOW: WhiteHouse   CNN

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rise and shine

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Wow, these two charts say so much….

BuzzFeed

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President Obama sent a videotaped message today to the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan, urging them to stop fighting and negotiate a settlement to their dispute:

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OFA

Thanks Hopefruit

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A Wounded Warrior walks out of the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House to participate in the sixth annual Soldier Ride, a cycling event to help them restore their physical and emotional well-being, April 20, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Morning everyone 😉

wounded warriors

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President Obama speaks during the sixth annual Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride around the South Lawn of the White House

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President Obama signs a proclamation designating Fort Ord, on Monterey Bay, California, a national monument

heads up: ‘wounded warriors’

White House live

CNN live streaming

evening all

…… looking out the window of Marine One as he departs the White House South Lawn en route to Joint Base Andrews, Md., for a trip to Vermont, March 30

…… working on his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) with Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, in the Oval Office, Saturday, March 3

….. signing the prosthetic arm of Sgt. Carlos Evans, USMC, after greeting wounded warriors in the East Room during their tour of the White House, March 6

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host a Passover Seder Dinner for family, staff and friends, in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, April 6

….. visiting the Dubliner bar with Henry Healy and Ollie Hayes from Moneygall on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17

….. meeting with, from left: John Prendergast, activist and Enough Project co-founder; Ambassador Princeton N. Lyman, the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan; and George Clooney, in the Oval Office, March 15

….. with Prime Minister David Cameron and Samantha Cameron during a State Dinner reception on the Truman Balcony of the White House, March 14

….. listening as PM David Cameron offers a toast during the State Dinner on the South Lawn of the White House, March 14. Samantha Cameron is seated at right

…… with Clark Kellogg before an interview for the CBS “Final Four Show”, March 29

…… reflected in sunglasses as he greets people on the tarmac following his arrival at Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine, March 30

….. boarding Air Force One in Roswell, N.M., March 21

All photos by Pete Souza

More photos here

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rise and shine

President Barack Obama signs the prosthetic arm of Sgt. Carlos Evans, USMC, after greeting wounded warriors in the East Room during their tour of the White House, March 6, 2012. First Lady Michelle Obama first met Evans, who was injured in Afghanistan while on his fourth combat deployment, during a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Supporters of Mitt Romney wait for his “Super Tuesday” primary election night rally to begin in Boston, Massachusetts, March 6

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Washington Post

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Washington Post: Super Tuesday confirmed anew that Mitt Romney remains the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, but his slow, unsteady march is coming at a steep price. As he advances toward victory in the primaries, he is losing ground in the general election.

…. Romney is in worse shape at this point in the campaign than virtually all recent previous nominees …. Demographically, his image among independent voters, the most critical swing group, is more negative now than it was when the primary battle began. He could be hurt among women. He is in trouble with Latinos, a growing part of the electorate that is tilting even more Democratic than it was four years ago….

Geographically, the numbers from several key states have been discouraging for the former Massachusetts governor. Pre-primary polls in Ohio, Virginia and Michigan showed him running behind Obama by low double digits. Ohio is a must-win for the Republican nominee in the fall, and Virginia is a state the GOP is determined to take back from the president. Republicans once thought Michigan would be a possible battleground, but at this point it isn’t.

More here

The Week

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NYT Editorial: Long before Super Tuesday, the Republican Party had cemented itself on the distant right of American politics, with a primary campaign that has been relentlessly nasty, divisive and vapid. Barbara Bush, the former first lady, was so repelled that on Tuesday she called it the worst she’d ever seen. We feel the same way ….. the Republican candidates are so deep in the trenches of cultural and religious warfare that they aren’t offering any solutions.

The results Tuesday night did not settle the race. Republican voters will have to go on for some time choosing between a candidate, Mitt Romney, who stands for nothing except country-club capitalism, and a candidate, Rick Santorum, so blinkered by his ideology that it’s hard to imagine him considering any alternative ideas or listening to any dissenting voice.

….. There is also no space between Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum in the way they distort reality to attack Mr. Obama for everything he says, no matter how sensible, and oppose everything he wants, no matter how necessary…..

More here

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Cagle

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Washington Post: Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), the two-time presidential candidate and icon of the antiwar left, suffered a bruising primary defeat Tuesday as a new Republican-drawn congressional map threatened to end the career of one of the most colorful figures in Congress.

With most attention focused on the state’s GOP presidential primary battle, and no Democratic primary for president, Kucinich was left in a low-turnout race in a newly drawn district against his once-close ally, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). With about 90 percent of the vote in, Kaptur led 60 to 36 percent….

More here

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Charles Pierce: ….. there remains a substantial amount of Republican voters who would rather remove their spleens with a melon baller than vote for Willard Romney for anything.

…. Is there anything else he can do to pander sufficiently to the crazoid elements in his party’s base short of immolating himself on Sarah Palin’s lawn? ….. And when, oh, when will they finally see that, even though Willard is struggling to beat the colossal dick Rick Santorum, he is still The Only Man Who Can Beat Obama? ‘Ees a puzzlement, no question.

…. As he spoke, you could see the people stealing away, huddling around the TV sets. It will go on. This time next week, Romney will be telling voters in Alabama and Mississippi what a hellhole that state was where he used to be the governor. The rubes will find this very funny. And he will know in the unsold part of his soul that he’s going to be running for president for a very long time.

Full post here

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TPM: Rush Limbaugh may be steering the GOP into another Democratic-friendly trap with his consistent bashing of the Chevy Volt.

America’s attempt to to one-up the Prius …became an important symbol for the administration, and thus an immediate whipping boy for Limbaugh. Right-wing pundits and Republicans have followed suit, putting them in the bewildering position of rooting against a product of American engineering and manufacturing.

….. “As for the Volt, it is emblematic of a larger problem the GOP has: the sense that they are rooting for America to fail,” Paul Begala, Democratic strategist and adviser to President Obama’s super PAC told TPM. “When a good jobs report comes out, Mitt Romney looks sad. When Clint Eastwood makes an unapologetic, patriotic Super Bowl ad for Chrysler, Karl Rove says it makes him sick. They booed a gay soldier at a GOP debate, and didn’t even want to give the President his due for ordering the mission that killed bin Laden. One wonders if they will be rooting for communist China during the summer Olympics.”

More here

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Boston.com: First Lady Michelle Obama will headline two Democratic National Committee events in Boston on Friday evening, the White House has announced …. Earlier Friday she will be in Concord, N.H., as part of her “Let’s Move!” initiative to foster healthy eating and active living. She will visit the Penacook Community Center to highlight an example of a collaborative community effort to promote health and wellness, good nutrition, and physical activity.

More here

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Morning everyone 😉

joining forces

First lady Michelle Obama greets RyAnne Noss at the Labor Department, Jan. 30, where she announced proposed rules to help caregivers of wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans, giving them the ability to provide care for their loved ones need without fear of losing their jobs. RyAnne Noss left school to take care of her husband SFC Scot Noss, who was injured in Afghanistan in Feb. 2007 during his eighth tour of duty as an Army Ranger. Mrs. Obama was joined by Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

Read more here

Thanks Janelle

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