The Obama Diary

The front of the line - about 3,000 people will pass through the doors of Al Glick Fieldhouse this morning to see President Barack Obama speak

AnnArbor.com

Freep.com: Long lines of people wait on the outdoor football field outside the Glick Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Michigan hours before President Obama was to deliver his speech about education to over 3,000 people inside today

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9:45 ET PBO delivers remarks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

11:00: Departs Michigan en route to Joint Base Andrews

12:25: Arrives at Joint Base Andrews

12:30: Departs Joint Base Andrews en route to Cambridge, Md.

1:15 PBO address House Democrats at their annual retreat (Listed for live coverage by C-Span 2 and CNN streaming)

3:00: Arrives at the White House

3:30: PBO and VP Biden meet with Secretary of State Clinton

4:30: PBO delivers remarks at a campaign event

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Jonathan Cohn (TNR): President Obama visits the Detroit area on Friday, and his timing couldn’t be better: Today’s Detroit Free Press brings more good news from the auto industry:

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all plan to add jobs in Michigan, which stands to benefit more than any other state. Nissan, BMW, Honda, Toyota, Kia and Mercedes-Benz also are hiring. Suppliers are looking to add engineers and technical people, but at a more gradual pace.

About 15,000 auto-related Michigan jobs could be created this year….

More here

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President Barack Obama greets people following his remarks at Buckley Air Force Base in Denver, Colo., Jan. 26, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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The Nation: It is hard to read Remedy and Reaction, Paul Starr’s remarkable chronicle of the hundred-year effort to legislate universal health insurance in the United States, without recalling Robert Gibbs’s tortured quip that Democrats who’ve denounced the Obama White House for having knuckled under to Republican principles or intimidation “ought to be drug-tested.” Nobody with a sense of history - that is, nobody who reads Starr’s book - could doubt how sensible and brave was the president’s effort to drive the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 through Congress. Nobody with a feel for the present moment should doubt how imminent is the threat to the act, how urgent it is for progressive Democrats to rally around Obama - and without all the condescending qualifications that “independents,” who flock away from allegedly weak or incompetent leaders, interpret as contempt.

More here

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Greg Sargent: …. At an event in Las Vegas (yesterday), Obama offered his most extensive rebuttal by far to the bogus GOP charge that the push for higher taxes on the wealthy is about “class warfare” and “envy”. The whole thing is worth a watch - the tone was not one of outrage, but one laced with a good deal of mockery and derision:

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Washington Post: The Obama administration finalized a rule Thursday governing the management of 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands, establishing a new blueprint to guide everything from logging to recreation and renewable energy development.

The guidelines - which will take effect in early March and apply to all 155 national forests, 20 grasslands and one prairie - represent the first meaningful overhaul of forest rules in 30 years….

Several environmentalists and scientists praised the guidelines … “The vision is laudable, and this is no small shift in how the national forests will be managed, from one of commodity extraction into a vision of protection, restoration and water preservation,” said Dominick DellaSala, president and chief scientist for the Oregon-based Geos Institute.

More here

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National Journal

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The Week

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Morning everyone ;-)