Text of President’s speech today here
President Obama greets service members and well wishers after stepping off Air Force One at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas
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Mounted Border Patrol officers stand watch as the motorcade of President Obama drives past
President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tour the Bridge of America Cargo Facility in El Paso during their visit to the U.S.-Mexico border
President Obama checks confiscated items at a border post between the US and Mexico
President Barack Obama greets the crowd after speaking about immigration reform at Chamizal National Memorial Park in El Paso
White House.gov
Please note that the governor refused to meet the president on the tarmac in front of AF1 as is tradition regardless of political party especially when not an election year.
Rick has no class.
Here is why Governor Perry is playing this sophomoric game / wild fires / Perry wants the FEDERAL government to help Texas. Ahhh…, alright y then it is okay to be a socialist with a handout when it is you needing the handout!
Governor Perry has been a harsh critic of President Obama for failing to send federal disaster aid to Texas in the aftermath of the wildfires.
“I am dismayed that this administration has denied Texans the much needed assistance they deserve. It is not only the obligation of the federal government, but its responsibility under law to help its citizens in times of emergency.
“Our state has become a model for the nation in disaster preparedness and response, but Texas is reaching its capacity to respond to these emergencies. We will immediately look at all of our options, including appealing the denial, so Texans can receive the resources and support they need as wildfires continue to threaten life and property across our state,” Perry said.
I believe the White House debunked his false cries and said they’d already provided for several of the requests he had made. These Republican Governors are really slimy.
All I have to say to Perry is Howz that secession thingy working for ya? I cannot stand him. He is nothing but a liar and a hypocrite.
golly I thought Mr. NoClass Perry preferred succession to having an African American President?
People like Perry talk of too much big Government, till they need that big Government. What hyprocrites they are.
So the President of Teabaggerstan refuses to meet with the President of the United States of America.
This clown doesn’t deserve to be on the same tarmac as the president.
This is the same man who wants to succeed from the union. I am still ready to send Texas off into a world of it’s own. They think they are there anyway.
Dick Perry isn’t even fit to tie POTUS shoelaces. Next!
—-PJ (temporary media detente…60 Minutes and Lawrence O’Donnell…for now)
Perry has been disrespectful to the President since he won election. Since he doesn’t believe in “big government” why should his state receive any of the tax dollars we pay to the government? Since he believes Texas should be on its on and he’s such a stellar governor, he should be able to handle the wild fires without government help. I find it so interesting that the states hit hard by mother nature are the states that have demonstrated their bigotry and racism toward our gracious President.
I’m more upset by the democrats in Texas that will not be attending the President’s speech. Cowards.
Also, with all due respect, I’m tired of hearing some of our Latino colleagues whining about what the President has not done with regard to immigration reform when he is the only one — THE ONLY ONE — who has tried to do anything. Luis Guitterez, a congressman from Chicago, was on MSNBC threatening not to support the President. Where are the threats to the republicans who have blocked every damn thing and passed every kind of bill possible to keep Latinos out of this country?
I’m sick of this garbage.
And don’t let me get started on the corrupt media bleating about is this just another speech. Bastards.
Most excellent rant Proud of Obama. One of the things I detest even more than republicans and their bought and paid for media is Democrats who spend their time bitching and attacking President Obama instead of confronting their fellow Congress members of the GOP persuasian. It is lazy- and it tells me that they are afraid of facing off republicans and thus take their malarky to the media and basically attack POTUS behind the skirts of the republicans and the media. Luis Guitterez and fellow dems threatening to not support Obama ought to make it clear just who the hell they plan to support then.. because if they cannot/ will not support a Democratic President then how are they different from their republican counterparts? And like you I’m real real fed-up with the President being the only one handling/responding to these problems with very little assistance and support from dems in Congress - and then being made the bad guy when he can’t get everything they want. STFU dems and get to work.. quit pretending that your hands are tied.. use your moments on teevee to tell the American public about the repubs and their refusal to govern for the people and not to attack the only adult in the room who is governing.
Spot on. Who do they plan to support (if not President Obama), and what are they doing to advance the cause? Perfect questions.
screw Gutierez.He better watch his trap here in the City because we are sick and tired of him talking out of his arse about President Obama.
Black folks are stewing and he doesn’t seem to have figured it out just yet and even some in his own Community are pissed at him for dissing the President as much as he is.He really seems to think the President can write and pass the Law his damn self!
Gutierez has got some splaining to do and if he keeps yapping like that;we’ll sit him out come his next election;he can’t and won’t be able to win on Hispanics alone.He better apologize and shut his piehole and put pressure of the Democrats and the so-called Blue dog DemocRATS who votes with the TeaKLANS!
POTUS speaking now: ” a lot of ugly rhetoric about immigration”.
Watching now. I wish he had some sunglasses. He’s straining.
From PPP poll on Virginia:
Obama still strong in Virginia
Barack Obama’s approval rating in Virginia is up over 50% and he leads all of his potential Republican opponents in the state…even Governor Bob McDonnell who we threw in as a wild card.
51% of voters in the state approve of the job Obama’s doing to 44% who disapprove. The biggest key for him is that he has the Democratic base completely behind him- 94% approve to only 4% who disapprove. Virginia still has a lot of white conservative Democrats, particularly in certain parts of the state, so for Obama to have almost unanimous approval within his party is very impressive. He even has more Republicans (albeit a paltry 7%) who approve of him than there are Democrats (4%) who disapprove. That’s not something we’re seeing in our polling very often right now. Independents narrowly give him good marks, 48/46, as well.
McDonnell is popular too, with 50% of voters who approve of him to 35% who disapprove. PPP has polled on 38 of the sitting Governors in the country right now and that ranks him 14th in approval spread. He has very good numbers with independents at 53/34 and a lot more Democrats (20%) think he’s doing a good job than Republicans (8%) think he’s doing a bad job.
Despite his popularity there is not a lot of interest from Virginia voters in a McDonnell White House bid next year. Only 20% would like to see him run for President to 59% who think it’s a bad idea and 21% who aren’t sure. McDonnell trails Obama 51-43 in a hypothetical contest, winning only 2% of the Democratic vote and trailing 49-44 with independents.
McDonnell does better against Obama than the rest of the Republican field. Mike Huckabee trails by 9 points at 52-43, Mitt Romney is down 11 at 51-40, Sarah Palin has a 15 point deficit at 55-40, Newt Gingrich is 17 points behind at 54-37, and Donald Trump does the worst with a 22 point gap at 54-32.
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/05/obama-still-strong-in-virginia.html
I LOVE PRESIDENT AWESOME.
That astronaut story was touching. Simply awesome.
I agree, to the “President Awesome”.. and to the Astronaut story, beautiful, inspiring and probably all too real for many an immigrant to America. We are a nation of immigrants, it is who we are and President AWESOME gets it. Now we have to kick some Congress behinds, I believe we need to get relentless on them and really pile on the pressure to deal with it now. I love where he stands on immigration and I support him totally. He needs us to make this happen… those families need us to make this happen.
That story totally choked me up because I know there are thousands and thousands of similar stories out there. I am in the fight.
Me too meta- all the way IN. Like GGail wrote down below- as legal immigrants it is our civic duty to support this President and to help our fellow want to be Americans to come out and be legal. So what we all need to do now is figure out how to manage this.. leters to Congress, phone calls.. whatever it takes, I am in.
GREAT sherijr! That’s why POTUS created the whitehouse.gov/latino website. Send your desire to participate to that site and WATCH.WHAT.HAPPENS. The rest of us are with you all the way!
It’s actually:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/hispanic
Wish the country could get behind “Latino” at some point.
Thanks meta for the “assist”! Here in California, “Latino” is the word I prefer to use for IMO, it covers all of those who come from South America.
What a speech. Some Red meat that I was craving. Love this man.
Great speech and the man can wear a pair of shades. Love it!
I had just been refreshing the page and didn’t realize Chipsticks had added more pictures. When I saw your comment about the glasses, I scrolled up - and actually uttered a “whoa” when I saw the picture with the sunglasses. We’ve got a GQ man in the White House - he looks stunning! Sorry for the shallow, but I couldn’t help myself…
Hey, nothing wrong with shallow!! Yes, that photo is …. how do I put this? …. IMPRESSIVE!!!
I’m glad I’m not alone in my “observations”…
“IMPRESSIVE” chipsticks, you will be hearing from “TEAM SIX”. They will be knocking down your door tonight. I have given you ladies enough warning to back off.
I thought I was being quite restrained, Me4O ….. (partly through fear of being hunted down by Team Six)
Yep he is FINE - in all ways FINE. I can honestly say that I never ever would have thought I’d find a President of the United States to be hot.. but theres always a first. No President even comes close in the attractive catagory- he is GQ/ Movie Star delicious~ (sorry POTUS, it has to be said sometimes)
+1,000,000
POTUS still weaving GREAT STIRRING SPEECHES! Plus it has logic and motivation mixed in. It is time for the illegal immigrants to come out of the woodwork. It is time for the legal immigrants to exercise their civic duty. It is time for all of them to support the President of the United States, Barack Obama. Thanks Chipsticks for the reminder!
“next, they’re gonna want higher fences, with a moat and in the moat, alligators….” hahahah. that shit was so true, but so funny. “Rupert Murdock does not have an Obama sticker…..but on this we agree….” God, does this man get any funnier?
Are those illegal immigrant tomatoes that I see.
Chips can’t wait until you post the video for the speech…..I missed it.
But these pictures are great!
Now he’s off to two fundraisers. CA-CHING!!
The pic with the sun glasses? Awesome! LOL
I missed the first 10 minutes of the speech. Any other time he is 15-30 minutes late today he was early. What I heard was great as always.
Me too Debz. I checked at 12:10 AZ time and it was not streaming and by 12:29 he was well into his speech. The beauty of this site and BWD’s site and we know we can catch it later.
Okay - posted by Snoopy4eva2 at bwd’s site (and in an email from David Plouffe that I should have read earlier
:
How to help/ get started:
ELEVATING THE DEBATE ON IMMIGRATION
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Here are just a few ways you can get involved in the conversation, and tell us here at the White House what you think:
TWITTER. During the President’s speech today, I’ll have a screen up next to my TV to watch the conversation on Twitter using the #immigration hashtag, so make sure to use #immigration to share your thoughts.
ADVISE THE ADVISOR. Cecilia Muñoz, one of the President’s senior advisors on immigration issues, just posted a new Advise the Advisor video asking for your feedback on this important issue. Visit WhiteHouse.gov/Advise to see the video and tell us what you think.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS. In addition to all the ways you can join the conversation online, we’re encouraging Americans to host roundtable discussions in your own communities over the next few months, and let us know what you talked about and what issues matter the most in your community. Visit WhiteHouse.gov/Immigration to get started.
…
We’re looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
Sincerely,
David Plouffe
Senior Advisor to the President
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/10/elevating-debate-immigration
I’m also going to write my Congress people and tell them that President Obama has my absolute support on the issue of Immigration and I want them as my representatives to get busy fixing it NOW.
I’d love to see President Obama in Aviator’s
Oh me too. Although, I must say he looks mighty fine in anything.
You added more photos! I love the one where he is signing the woman’s shirt. I notice he using an indelible marker lol.
When I was a little boy my mom would always watch Shaft and Get Christie Love - these were COOL TV show characters.
What I wanna say I cannot because it borders on disrespect and shallowness but …. I can say the president looks OUTSATNDING in the the two photos with the sun glasses, too cool. I have other thoughts but they are so unpresidential in nature …. I will say the first lady is very fortunate.
I close with that and will behave don’t want to make anyone angry tonight.
Won’t make me angry I’m proud to admit that POTUS is fine.
Finer than the hair on a frogs back! (Old southern expression)
Looking at these pictures I wonder if rude, shortsighted Gov. Perry thinks the President missed him today?
President Obama needs to go to super hot sunshiny places as much as possible, so he can wear those shades more offen. My president is stunning.
On a very serious note this speech was super important. Love when he put this part out there.
“He stressed that some bipartisan support for comprehensive reform already exists — including from conservative media mogul RUPERT MURDOCH. “That’s Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News and an IMMIGRANT HIMSELF,” Obama said. “I don’t know if you’re familiar with his views, but let’s just say he doesn’t have an Obama bumper sticker on his car.””
~SOURCE POLITICO~
The president is asking us to get involved as much as possible with this issue. I am sure you all received the emails from WH describing what we can do. Please get involved. Immigration reform is very very important. His speech today was a perfect rallying call, let’s go.
These images of the happy crowds make me excited to see the President make campaign appearances for 2012. I really hope to make it to a campaign rally this time!
Hey guys,
CNN has lie coverage of President Obama’s Texas Fundraiser:
.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=1
I meant to say “live coverage”.
My Prez is looking gooooood. The flag pictures (there was one up earlier, especially) are borderline iconic. Great backdrop. Looks like he’s getting lots of love in Texas, which is great to see. Thanks for the photos, Chipsticks
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—-PJ (temporary detente…60 Minutes and Lawrence O’Donnell…for now)
Pelosi and Reid to introduce DREAM ACT bill on Wednesday.
//The Senate is now even more heavily Republican, and Republicans control the House. That means immigration reform can’t happen unless they cooperate. Nonetheless, Senate Democrats plan to reintroduce the DREAM Act on Wednesday, with their counterparts in the House following suit. Given Republican opposition the bills likely won’t get far, but Obama will try to make certain voters know who to blame.//
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/05/10/general-us-obama-immigration_8459736.html
In the video of the President getting off AF1 in El Paso, I saw the President do something he has done several times before on separate occasions.
President Obama reached into his pocket and surreptitiously slipped something to one of the soldiers that met him when he got off AF1 while shaking their hand. The other soldier seemed do the same thing, this time slipping something into PBOs hands.
Does anyone know what this could have been?
Anyone notice in the arrival video, the president passes something to the soldiers with a handshake and then they passed something back to him. anyone know what that is all about. i have never noticed that before.
I think it is a challenge coin pass. If you watched First Lady Michelle and Dr. Biden on the Martha Stewart special about military families you will see that two military officers gave coins to Martha Stewart when she was planting a tree at the military hospital.
http://www.unitcoins.us/articles/custom-military-coins/#more-168
The link has information about the coin tradition.
I forgot to add that it is tradition to give the coins in a handshake and it considered a great honor. I think the two soldiers must have done something exceptional.
Thanks, WoS, EmB & B. I sure learn a lot in this Family, not the least of which is that I should look more carefully at pictures and videos.
Thanks guys for the education. I was wondering what all the ‘slippage’ was too .
Chipstick, Excellent Photos… I sure hope POTUS shook that manicured hand. That nail polish is on point. #PatriotRed LOL
Wonderful story about the boy Jose in the fields who then became the man Jose on the space shuttle discovery.
Enjoyed the speech and thanks El Paso for such a warm welcome for POTUS. The Governor behaved liked a petty toddler.