Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from December, 2012

President Obama: Person of the Year

President Obama is Time Magazine's Person of the Year. An excerpt from Time's managing editor Richard Stengel, White House correspondent Michael Scherer and executive editor Radhika Jones is below.  The trio ask the president about Lincoln , marijuana , the Middle East and Hawaii moments. View the full conversation here . TIME: So we’ll start right in. In fact, we’re going to go so far ahead. If we were sitting here four years from now and you were looking back on what your legacy is as a two-term Democratic President — we know what Ronald Reagan did and we know what FDR did — what would you want people to say about your two terms? THE PRESIDENT: I think what I’d want people to say is that having come in at a time when our economy was on the brink of collapse, when we had gone through a decade in which middle-class families were doing worse and worse, and the ladders of opportunity into the middle class for people who were willing to work hard had begun to deteriorat

Boehner's 'Plan B' Doesn't Pass The Smell Test

UPDATE: As the two sides go back and forth to solve the issue of the so-called fiscal cliff, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement today that reveals President Obama is less willing to accept the latest offer from Congress. States Carney, "The Speaker’s “Plan B” approach doesn’t meet this test because it can’t pass the Senate and therefore will not protect middle class families, and does little to address our fiscal challenges with zero spending cuts." "The President has put a balanced, reasonable proposal on the table that achieves significant deficit reduction and reflects real compromise by meeting the Republicans halfway on revenue and more than halfway on spending from where each side started.  That is the essence of compromise."   President Obama continues to work with Republicans to reach a bipartisan solution that averts the fiscal cliff, protects the middle class, helps the economy, and puts the nation on a fiscally sustainable p

PIC Announces Start of Inaugural Events Media Credentialing

The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) today announced that members of the media can now apply for credentials to cover official events for the second Inaugural of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, taking place from January 19-January 22 in Washington, DC. This media credentialing process is separate from any tickets that members of the public may be able to apply for to participate in various Inaugural events. For more information on Inaugural events that are open to the public and how to request tickets, visit www.2013pic.org . Applications for credentials must be completed by Saturday, December 22 at 5:00 PM EDT. Please note that space is extremely limited at the open press Inaugural events and late requests for credentials will not be accepted. For a full description on how to apply for media credentials, and additional event details, please click here . Each Inaugural event will require an event-specific media credential to gain access for media

After Newton Massacres Politicians Speak, Debates Spark

Sen. Joe Lieberman   offered some very poignant remarks Sunday during the ceremony where president Obama spoke honoring the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in which two classrooms of students were shoot by demented killer, Adam Lanza. As press was getting feed off the wire about the events taking place, this one, in particular caught our eye. Pool reporters asked Sen Lieberman about the violence commission idea he discussed on the Sunday morning talk shows. Said Lieberman, “I’m always reluctant about commissions, but I really believe we ought to have a national commission on violence. These events are happening more frequently and I worry that if we don’t take a thoughtful look at them, we’re going to lose the hurt and the anger that we have now.” Lieberman had also had thoughts about areas that we, too, think need to be examined in our society to avoid events like last Friday's mass shooting. “And that includes looking at violence in the enterta

Guns. What Are They Good For?

Newton School Shooting Amasses Twenty-Six Victims . President Obama shared in the sorrowness felt across the country after Friday's horrendous Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of numerous small children in Newtown, Connecticut and ordered that official flags be flown at half mass. What happened with twenty year old Adam Lanza  to make him want to kill his mother, 20 children, 6 school officials, and then himself? A skeletal, ghostly Adam Lanza. Law enforcement officials said Lanza had four handguns on his person as he stormed the 600-student school and shot his victims at close range. There was also a rifle found in the car he drove to Sandy Hook. The shooting in Connecticut follows a trail of recent mass shootings that include:  A shopping mall in Oregon, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, a movie theater in Aurora Colorado and countless, seemingly minor, yet just as significant, other day-to-day shootings.  Schools have increasingly becoming scenes of gun violence ac

Fiscal Talks Continue

President Obama held a meeting in the Roosevelt Room and a conference call with a bipartisan group of mayors, county officials and community leaders to discuss his proposals in the fiscal cliff negotiations. The White House is reporting that the president spoke with Tampa, FL Mayor Bob Buckhorn;  St. Paul, MN Mayor Chris Coleman; St. Columbus, OH Mayor Michael Coleman; Bluffton, IN  Mayor Ted Ellis:  Dallas County, TX  Judge Clay Jenkins; Cincinnati, OH Mayor Mark Mallory;  Executive Russ Pry of Summit County, OH; Avondale, AZ Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers and Laredo, TX Mayor Raul Salinas. Earlier this week, Micheal Steel, speaking on behalf of Boehner and company, made these comments. "We sent the White House a counter-offer that would achieve tax and entitlement reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more American jobs. As the Speaker said today, we're still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of t

Secretary Salazar Provides Update on Resolution to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial

In the wake of the discension around one quote on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial that had some in an uproar, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today provided an update on the path forward regarding the M emorial. Following discussions with all parties, that included a range of stakeholders, to make alterations to the “Drum Major” quote that had some believing the quote made King seem arrogant, the updated plan calls for removing the quote by carving striations over the lettering to match the existing scratch marks on the sculpture that represent the tearing of the “Stone of Hope” from the “Mountain of Despair.” The plan to remove, instead of replace, the quote was recommended by the original sculptor, Master Lei Yixin, as the safest way to ensure the structural integrity of the memorial was not compromised. After close consultation with all parties, Secretary Salazar, the National Park Service, the King family and the Memorial Foundation, and Master Lei Yixin all concur

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU PLEDGE TO WORK TOGETHER TO PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM CREDIT DISCRIMINATION

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) signed an agreement today to strengthen coordination on fair lending enforcement and avoid duplication of their respective federal law enforcement efforts.  “The Department of Justice welcomes the new tools and resources the CFPB can bring to the fight against lending discrimination,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Cooperation between our two agencies promotes strong and effective civil rights enforcement, and today’s agreement will further our ongoing collaborative efforts.” “Discrimination undermines equal access to credit,” said Richard Cordray, Director of the CFPB. “Today’s agreement is a critical step to better protecting consumers from illegal and discriminatory lending practices. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Justice Department under this new framework.” The memorandum of understanding (MOU) can be found here . Under

Statement on the Employment Situation in November

Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, issued the following statement today on the employment situation in November. You can view the statement HERE . While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007. Most pressing, President Obama has proposed, and the Senate has passed, an extension of middle class income tax cuts that would prevent the typical middle class family from facing a $2,200 tax increase at the beginning of next year. In addition, the President has proposed a plan that will enable responsible homeowners to refinance their mortgage and take advantage of today’s historically low in