new york

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visit the 9/11 memorial with George and Laura Bush

a week to remember

morning everyone

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Rachael makes the same great point as Jonathan Freedland in the UK Guardian earlier this week: “…One former foreign minister who has seen the president up close believes that Bin Laden’s scalp will lead other world leaders to conclude that, to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, “Obama may speak softly – but he carries a big stick”…”

Thank you Dorothy 😉

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Michael Tomasky (The Daily Beast): Ground Zero’s Politics Are Over – Obama’s low-key appearance at the Twin Towers site today has finally neutralized the area blatantly politicized by the GOP.

Without saying a single word, but in the simple act of showing up … silently laying a wreath, and respectfully speaking with dress-uniformed officers flanking him, Barack Obama managed to neutralize what has arguably been the most potent piece of Republican iconography of the last decade: its total political ownership of 9/11, and of Ground Zero itself.

….Starting today, they can’t use it anymore. How it must grate their cheese that it was Barack Obama – crypto-Kenyan, effete urbanite, paller-around-with-terrorists – who turned these tables! What’s been playing out in the four days since the killing of Osama bin Laden – the Republican insistence that Bush deserves credit too, the claim that torture must be given its due, and all the rest – is equivalent to, and about as charming as, a bully’s incredulity that a smaller but nimbler foe has bested him.

….Today’s appearance by Obama simply provides the symbolic capstone. It’s no wonder that Bush snappishly sees today’s event, according to a New York Daily News story, as an Obama “victory lap.” Ground Zero was his. Now it’s not. (Imagine the ceremonial orgiastics we’d probably be enduring right now if Bush or John McCain had brought OBL to justice.)

Full article here

Thank you LoriahR

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I know we’ve all had enough of yesterday’s man, Donald Chump, but LoriahR sent me a link to a really powerful piece by Etan Thomas on the CNN site:

Donald Trump’s most recent challenge to President Barack Obama took me back to my collegiate years at Syracuse University. I had studied for two weeks straight for a calculus class, harder than I had ever studied in my life. After I completed my exam, I was confident that all my hard work had paid off.

But the next day, my professor greeted me with accusations of cheating, saying three-fourths of the class had flunked. How could I possibly have managed to get a B minus without cheating?….

….The president should not have to prove anything to anyone. Yet, he has handled every unmerited insult with nothing but grace and class. He has risen above every act of insolence, and proved them all wrong….

….It is a sad situation that a man who has earned a degree from Columbia University, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, has been elected as president of the United States and received a Nobel Peace Prize has to continuously prove himself as a man worthy of respect. He simply shouldn’t have to.

Full piece here

Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic): ….What many white people fail to realize is that though Barack Obama and his family are unique to them, they are deeply familiar to black people. …we do live next door to them … We went to church and played in summer leagues with people like them. I went to college with people like them. This is not to slight Barack Obama’s truly remarkable story, nor the indispensable labor of the people who raised him…..

To see that country manifested in the White House is the sort of boon that you can’t really attach to statistics. But for those of us who are waging the fight against a crippling cynicism, who are urging our children on, who visit schools and begin our addresses with, “I remember when I was just like you,” the First Family is perhaps the greatest weapon in our arsenal.

….when broad sections of this country foolishly follow a carnival barker in the ugly tradition of attacking black citizenship rights, when pundits shriek that Obama’s successes are simply the result of the misguided largess of white people, they undermine our most intimate war. They undermine the notion that someone familiar to that kid on the corner could legitimately reach the highest levels of the country, that someone like that kid’s Aunt could be the First Lady. They undermine this country’s social contract, and the “hard work pays” message of my parents. And to that we object.

For if they will not take as legitimate a magna cum laude from their highest institutions, if they will not accept a man who tells black kids to cut off the video games and study, who accedes to their absurd requests one week, and slays their demons the next, who will they accept? Who among us would they ever believe?

Full article here

Thank you Meta

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Andrew Romano and Daniel Klaidman (Newsweek): ….the most obvious effect of Abbottabad is that it vindicates the president’s approach to the war on terrorism, and removes from the Republican arsenal the argument that he is a weak, naive, bumbling humanitarian. It is difficult to imagine the 2012 contenders questioning Obama’s commander-in-chief chops, as Republicans have done to Democrats for decades, and were hoping to do again. Why? Because that particular line of inquiry now gives the president a priceless opportunity to remind voters that he accomplished in two years what George W. Bush was unable to accomplish in eight. As rebuttals go, it’s a good one.

Less obvious is the fact that Abbottabad might also vindicate Obama’s broader approach to presidential leadership, which has always emphasized calculating, technocratic, goal-oriented tenacity over “Mission Accomplished” theatrics.

The problem with the Obama-Carter comparisons, which have been regurgitated by 2012 hopefuls such as Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty in recent months, is that they overlook the real-world results of Obama’s supposedly knock-kneed management: universal health care, Wall Street reform, a depression-averting stimulus package, the end of the Iraq War, and now, bin Laden’s head.

As much as Pawlenty & Co. might disagree with Obama’s policies, it’s hard to deny that the president has a knack for getting (most of) what he wants …. “The way Obama made this decision was very similar to way he makes domestic decisions,” says historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. “Gathering the info, talking it out, then making the most rational call.”

Full article here

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New York Post: A few months ago, 14-year-old Payton Wall, who lost her father on 9/11, bared her grief in a 1,500-word letter to President Obama. “I never thought he’d respond,” Payton said yesterday, after she was embraced by the president at Ground Zero following the wreath-laying ceremony. “I was so shocked when the White House called! It was all a dream come true.”

In the letter, which the Rumson, NJ, teen said is “too personal” to share with the public, she told Obama about her father, Glen Wall, who was an executive at Cantor Fitzgerald when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers.

On Monday, the day after Osama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs, the president was given his daily handful of letters from Americans to read, and Payton’s stood out, White House officials said.

…The next day, the White House called her mother, Diane – who didn’t even know Payton had written the letter, officials said. Obama invited Payton, her mother and her sister, Avery, to yesterday’s ceremony. Payton spent days practicing a strong handshake, but in the end Obama gave her a presidential bear hug.

Full article here

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NY Daily News: Christopher Cannizzaro was still in diapers when his firefighter father was killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11. And Thursday the 10-year-old wanted President Obama to know his daddy died a hero.

“I was talking to him about my dad and my necklace,” said the Staten Island fifth-grader, showing a small medallion with a photo of his father, Firefighter Brian Cannizzaro, in uniform in front of an American flag. “Then he said, ‘I feel bad for your dad.’ He was being really open to me about everything,” said Christopher, who greeted Obama with a fist bump.

The boy gave Obama a prayer card with his dad’s picture and the President put it in his pocket. “He said, ‘Thank you, it was truly an honor to receive this from you,'” Christopher said. “It made me feel great; it meant the world to me that he was talking to me.”

The 6-foot-1 leader of the free world stared the pint-size kid in the eyes and solicited his opinion about a subject that has captured the attention of the world. “He asked how I felt about Osama Bin Laden being dead,” the boy said. “I said he could have done something a little less harsh to him, but it was nice to just know that after what happened to my dad, this guy was killed, too.”….

(This made me smile: “I said he could have done something a little less harsh to him, but it was nice to just know that after what happened to my dad, this guy was killed, too.” Sweet.)

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a brighter day will come

President Barack Obama and firefighters toast during a lunch at Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 Firehouse in New York, N.Y., May 5, 2011. The firehouse, known as the “Pride of Midtown,” lost 15 firefighters on 9/11 – an entire shift and more than any other New York Firehouse. The 15 men killed had 28 children between them. Firefighters from Engine 54 were the first to arrive on the scene for the attempted Times Square bombing last year. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

white house videos from today

thank you (new videos added)

The boy in this photo speaks in the video below, from 4:12:

new york

Ground zero is seen from the north side of the site, May 5

President Obama boards Air Force One at the Andrews Air Force Base en route to New York

JFK

Marine One lands with President Obama at the Wall Street Landing Zone in New York

A Coast Guard boat patrols near the landing zone as President Obama arrives in New York

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President Obama and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani meet with firefighters and first responders at Engine 54, Ladder 4

President Obama views a memorial honoring deceased members of the FDNY at Engine 54 Fire House

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A poster in tribute to New York City Fire Fighters hangs on a phone booth outside the World Trade Center site, May 5

President Obama meets with police officers and first responders at the First Precinct

President Obama walks with, from left, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Port Authority Chairman David Samson, as they arrive for a wreath laying ceremony at the World Trade Center site

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President Barack Obama meets with Avery Wall, left, and Payton Wall, whose father died in the attacks at the World Trader Center

President Obama hugs Diane Wall, whose husband Glen Wall perished in the twin towers on September 11

President Barack Obama’s motorcade heads across Barclay St after his visit to Ground Zero

morning

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NYT: President Obama travels to ground zero in Lower Manhattan Thursday afternoon … he plans to lay a wreath at a memorial to the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks. He will also meet privately with family members of the victims, firefighters and other rescue workers who died in the September 2001 attacks.

…On Friday, the president will go on the road again to Fort Campbell in Kentucky for a less somber occasion: to pay tribute to those who flew the Navy Seal team to Bin Laden’s compound deep inside Pakistan. The Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which provided air transportation for the Navy assault team, is based at Fort Campbell.

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E.J. Dionne (Washington Post): Barack Obama is not the man many Americans thought he was. This sudden realization has transformed American politics … The sheer audacity of the successful operation against Osama bin Laden has forced Obama’s friends and foes alike to reassess what they make of a chief executive who defies easy categorization and reveals less about himself than politicians are typically drawn to do.

Obama is hard to understand because he is many things and not just one thing. He has now proved that he can be bold at an operational level, even as he remains cautious at a philosophical level. His proclivity to gather facts and weigh alternatives does not lead automatically, in the venerable phrase, to the paralysis of analysis. It can also end in daring action tempered by prudence – for example, making sure that additional helicopters were available to our Navy SEALs.

… one of his close aides told me long ago, there is inside a very cool, tough, even hard man. Obama is not reluctant to use American military power …. because he ordered this attack, and because it was successful, no one will ever view Barack Obama in quite the same way again.

Full article here

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(Thanks Lee)

Jo-Ann Armao: Right call on bin Laden photos …. I have to confess to breathing a sigh of relief on hearing the White House’s decision not to release photos of Osama bin Laden’s bloodied corpse. Just as I found the dance-on-his-grave celebrations that followed Sunday’s announcement of his death a tad unseemly, the idea of America proudly displaying its kill was unsettling.

….what purpose would be served by releasing these photos, said to be profoundly gruesome? Those who say it would eliminate questions about whether bin Laden actually died are kidding themselves that the bin Laden doubters would accept photos released by the U.S. government as real proof.

….the only purpose served by the photos’ release would have been to satisfy the morbid curiosity of a public that’s become accustomed to blood and violence as entertainment. The cost could well have been inflaming public opinion in places where American troops are serving and that’s simply – as the administration wisely determined – too high a price to pay.

Full article here

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Eugene Robinson: Why I would’ve released the bin Laden photos … I understand why President Obama decided otherwise, and of course I respect that decision. But I think showing the world evidence – however gruesome – of the terrorist butcher’s death would have been the better call.

Why? Because while gory photographs would have inflamed some jihadists and wannabes, I believe they would have disillusioned and deflated others. A heroic myth of invulnerability had been built around bin Laden….Showing him in death would definitively refute any notion that bin Laden enjoyed some kind of divine protection. The myth would die with the man.

It’s also true that photographic evidence would silence most, but not all, of the conspiracy theorists … but this is just a secondary consideration, because the wing nuts won’t get any traction. I doubt that even Donald Trump is going to endorse a theory that requires calling Navy SEALs a bunch of bald-faced liars – not to mention the entire military and intelligence chains of command.

The reason to display the photos is to show bin Laden for what he really was: not a holy warrior, not a holy anything, but a deluded mass murderer who met the end he so richly deserved.

Full article here

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The Fix (Washington Post): In the days since the killing of Osama bin Laden, President Obama has adopted a simple strategy: be big.

Big as in magnanimous. Big as in bipartisan (or, better yet, nonpartisan). Big as in inclusive.

…Let’s first revisit some of the decisions Obama has made in recent days.

* Obama’s speech announcing the death of bin Laden was somber and short – devoid of triumphalism or credit-taking.

* In making the decision not to release a photo of the deceased bin Laden … Obama made an appeal to a shared American value system. “That’s not who we are. We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies. We don’t need to spike the football.”

* Obama invited former President George W. Bush to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Ground Zero tomorrow (Bush declined) and took a pass on making remarks at the event…

Full article here

morning

The children of embassy staff greet President Obama at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, Nov. 17, 2009 (Pete Souza)

USA Today: It’s largely a ceremonial day for President Obama, as he welcomes a wounded veterans bicycle ride to the White House (live here at 3:15). After that, Obama meets in the Oval Office with Prince Charles of Britain. Behind the scenes, Obama will be trying to make a tough decision: Whether to release gruesome photos of the deceased Osama bin Laden.

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CBS: A new CBS News/New York Times poll shows President Obama’s overall approval rating has jumped by an impressive 11 percentage points in the wake of the U.S. military mission which killed Osama bin Laden, and there is overwhelming support for how Mr. Obama handled the situation….

…The poll found that 57 percent of Americans generally approve of Mr. Obama in the wake of the raid in Pakistan. Two weeks ago, when bin Laden was still America’s most-wanted terrorist, the president’s overall approval rating was at 46 percent. A whopping 85 percent of those polled gave Mr. Obama high marks for his handling of the operation to find bin Laden.

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NYT: Support for President Obama has risen sharply following the killing of Osama bin Laden by American military forces in Pakistan, with a majority now approving of his overall job performance, as well as his handling of foreign policy, the war in Afghanistan and the threat of terrorism, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

…..The increase in Mr. Obama’s ratings came largely from Republicans and independents. Among independents, his approval rating increased 11 points from last month, to 52 percent, while among Republicans it rose 15 points, to 24 percent. Among Democrats, 86 percent supported his job performance, compared with 79 percent in April.

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Steve Benen: President Obama will travel to Lower Manhattan, visiting Ground Zero and meeting with families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Some on the right, including Fox News personalities, have argued that the president should bring George W. Bush along as a “nice gesture.”

As it turns out, Obama extended an invitation to his predecessor. Bush declined. …”President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday,” said his spokesman, David Sherzer. “He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight. He continues to celebrate with Americans this important victory in the war on terror.”

….given that Obama was gracious enough to extend the invitation in the first place, maybe the political establishment can get past the whole “Obama’s a big meanie towards Bush” theme?

thursday

President Barack Obama will travel to New York City on Thursday to visit ground zero and meet with families of victims of the September 11, 2011, terrorist attacks, a senior White House official told CNN on Monday.