The Obama Diary

President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the Oval Office, March 19, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Tuesday:

10:10: PBO and VP Biden meet with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

12:0: PBO, VP Biden and Kenny attend a St. Patrick’s Day lunch.

7:00: PBO and Michelle Obama host a St. Patrick’s Day reception, VP Biden also attends.

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Wednesday: PBO will begin a two-day trip to highlight American energy in Boulder City, Nevada where he will visit the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility, the largest photovoltaic plant operating in the country with nearly one million solar panels powering 17,000 homes. The President will then travel to oil and gas production fields located on federal lands outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico, an area home to more than seventy active drilling rigs.

Thursday: PBO will travel to the Cushing, Oklahoma area to discuss his Administration’s commitment to improving and supporting the infrastructure that helps us leverage our domestic resources, while also ensuring these projects are developed in a safe and responsible way. The final stop on the trip will take place at Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio, home to some of the country’s most advanced energy-related research and development. In the evening, he will host a reception in recognition of Greek Independence Day.

Friday: PBO will attend meetings at the White House.

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Thanks Bobfr

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Andrew Sullivan: This is the kind of reality that makes Sean Hannity’s head explodes. So far, the GOP candidates have been running against a fictional president with a fictional record. Obama didn’t campaign to increase government spending, but inheriting what was in the final quarter of 2008 an annualized contraction of 9 percent of GDP, he opted for a stimulus. That accounts for much of the spending.

I know we are supposed – along with Fox News – to have total amnesia about the spending record of George W. Bush, who had nothing like the recession Obama inherited to counter. But there it is. Along with the fact that of the last seven presidents, the top three spenders are all Republicans.

More here

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ThinkProgress

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Jamelle Bouie: As Greg Sargent, Steve Benen, and others have amply demonstrated, Mitt Romney has a problem with the truth. Throughout his campaign, he has openly lied about his previous positions, his beliefs, and the records of his opponents, Republican or otherwise. In a speech today on economic freedom at the University of Chicago, Romney continued the trend, building a mostly substanceless case against President Obama on the basis of half-truths and falsehoods. You can read the whole speech if you’d like. For now, I’d like to highlight a few passages that sum up Romney’s case against Obama in fact-free aplomb.

Full article here

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First Lady Michelle Obama talks with Late Show host David Letterman during Monday’s 3/19/12 taping in New York.

See a clip from the interview at CBS – and tune in tonight.