Politics. On Point.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was met with favor today as she visits the White House to meet with President Obama. The President and Prime Minister will discuss the strong ties between the United States and Australia, their shared political and economic interests in the Asia political and economic interests in the Asia Pacific region, and our work together around the world, including in Afghanistan and as members of APEC and the G20. During their meeting today in the Oval Office with the media President Obama began by expressing condolences for those families affected by recent floods in the area.  The President commended Prime Minister Gillard and her government and all the personnel who were involved for their timely response, and reiterated the support of the U.S. to the Australian people. The President mentioned his upcoming plans to travel to Asia for the East Asia summit, citing the Australian and U.S. shared interest in trade in the Pacific region. T...

Moldova, part of Vice President Biden's planned trip to Europe. Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will depart for Finland, Russia, and Moldova this coming week.  In each country, the Vice President will meet with key leaders to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues.  In Helsinki Finland, he looks forward to consulting with U.S. Finnish partners to discuss regional and global priorities. In Moscow, he will seek to build on the reset in U.S.-Russian relations, with a focus on ways to further the prosperity of the two countries.  In Chisinau, he will signal our support for ongoing democratic and economic reforms and for Moldova's aspirations for European integration.

DC Councilman Kwame Brown is trying to make amends by putting his over-the-top SUV spending days behind him. In his latest eNewsletter, the embattled councilman writes to his constituents: "Thank you, District resident, for entrusting me to lead the Council. I am honored and humbled by the confidence you have placed in me to help guide our city through what is certain to be a tough time. As you are well aware, the District is faced with a more than $300 million budget deficit. We will have to do more with less. The Mayor will present the Council with the Fiscal Year 2012 budget next month. Without question, cuts are inevitable. But you have my guarantee that I will do everything possible to make sure the city is collecting the hundreds of millions of dollars it is owed in federal reimbursements. In addition to working with the Gray Administration to restore our city's financial health, I am also focused on continuing aggressive school reform and getting our residents b...

In what has been called an "awkward moment" with President Obama, actress Olivia Wilde recounts receiving a telephone call from the President, thanking her for working on his campaign. "He was calling to thank me for traveling to Iowa in October 2007 to volunteer for the campaign", said Wilde. Apparently she did what most have done after receiving a phone call from the president of the United States. "I was very professional the whole time we spoke, then I hung up the phone -- or so I thought -- and started squealing for about 15 seconds", the actress admitted. Little did she know the President heard her entire expression of OMG! "I later found out from a friend who was with him that he listened to the shrieking, and laughed the entire time." Who says the President's cool points have fallen since the election? Not Olivia Wilde.

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts: · Eric S. Edelman , Member, Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace · Danny Glaser , Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, Department of the Treasury.  Glaser has served as the Department of the Treasury’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes since November 2004. He was responsible for developing and coordinating policies to protect the U.S. and international financial systems from abuse related to money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. · Jon Leibowitz , Commissioner and Chairman, Federal Trade Commission.  Leibowitz has been the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since 2009. He has been an FTC Commissioner since 2004. Before his time at the FTC, Mr. Leibowitz served as vice president for congressional affairs for the M...

President Obama met with Mexico's President Felipe Calderón today on a number of issues that the White House says the two agreed to resolve. Issuing a Fact Sheet today, the White House said among the items the two presidents discussed and agreed on are: 1) resolving the cross-border long-haul trucking dispute, 2) regulatory cooperation, 3) clean energy and climate change, and 4) transboundary energy negotiations (reservoirs). There was no mention of whether the two discussed Mexico's ongoing drug war, and the continued shipment of drugs from Mexico into the United States. As early as last month a Mexican drug gang leader was arrested for the shooting of a federal US agent, causing US Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to remark that "...the violence in Mexico is something we are very concerned about." ** Update ** During a joint press conference today in the East Room President Obama did make the following statement as it relates to the Mexican drug c...

The President will place a telephone call to the crews of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station as Discovery conducts its final mission in orbit where he will congratulate the crews on their achievements in support of their orbiting research laboratory and express his gratitude for their dedication to the exploration of space. This event will broadcast all of the audio from the call and video of the crew in space live at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv . -- ** Update ** Conversation with President Obama and Space Station crew members:  ."We are always inspired by the images of you guys at work as you work to put some of the final pieces in place to make the ISS fully operational.You are setting such a great example with your dedication, your courage, your commitment to exploration. Col. Lindsey, it must be a great honor to be the last commander of Discovery. In response, Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey said, "On behalf of the crew, it's a re...