President Obama speaks about the economy during a visit to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, July 24
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Presidential Daily Schedule (All Times Eastern)
10:15: President Obama holds a bilateral meeting with President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam
11:30: The President departs the White House
1:25: Arrives Jacksonville, Florida
1:55: Tours the Jacksonville Port Authority
2:35: Delivers remarks
3:40: Departs Jacksonville
5:35: Arrives the White House
8:45: Hosts an Iftar dinner
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Knox College, July 24
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Steve Benen: After a whole lot of buildup from the White House, President Obama delivered one of those rare speeches that has its own name: “A Better Bargain for the Middle Class.”
… This was a very forward-thinking speech. While Republican leaders regularly present a vision of a different kind of America - one without a safety net, without access to affordable health care, without retirement security, without education, without environmental protections, without the right to organize or bargain collectively, but plenty of Ayn Rand-approved “freedom” - this was the president’s opportunity to sketch out a more progressive alternative.
…. what Obama thinks should be next is a center-left approach, built on the belief that lasting prosperity comes from an economy that rejects a top-down model in which we help the rich and wait for wealth to someday trickle down, but focuses instead on a “middle-out” model that emphasizes the middle class. (The president used the phrase “middle class” 25 times in this speech.)
If the president’s detractors have anything even remotely as compelling, I’m eager to see it.
Full post here
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Statement by the President on Student Loans
A better bargain for the middle class means making a college education available to every single American willing to work for it. That’s why I applaud the wide bipartisan majority of Senators who passed a bill to cut rates on nearly all new federal student loans, rolling back a July 1st rate hike and saving undergraduates an average of more than $1,500 on loans they take out this year.
This compromise is a major victory for our nation’s students. It meets the key principles I laid out from the start: it locks in low rates next year, and it doesn’t overcharge students to pay down the deficit. I urge the House to pass this bill so that I can sign it into law right away, and I hope both parties build on this progress by taking even more steps to bring down soaring costs and keep a good education – a cornerstone of what it means to be middle class – within reach for working families.
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Norm Ornstein: The Unprecedented — and Contemptible — Attempts to Sabotage Obamacare
Doing everything possible to block the law’s implementation is not treasonous — just sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials.
When Mike Lee pledges to try to shut down the government unless President Obama knuckles under and defunds Obamacare entirely, it is not news—it is par for the course for the take-no-prisoners extremist senator from Utah. When the Senate Republicans’ No. 2 and No. 3 leaders, John Cornyn and John Thune, sign on to the blackmail plan, it is news — of the most depressing variety.
I am not the only one who has written about House and Senate Republicans’ monomaniacal focus on sabotaging the implementation of Obamacare — Greg Sargent, Steve Benen, Jon Chait, Jon Bernstein, Ezra Klein, and many others have written powerful pieces. But it is now spinning out of control.
It is important to emphasize that this set of moves is simply unprecedented….
More here
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Powerful sign at today's Moral Monday rally http://t.co/VLok9KsWS2
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Jonathan Coby (@jonathan_coby) July 22, 2025****
Robert Plumber, a Korean War Vet who was one of the first African-American Navy UDT divers (AKA Frogmen, the precursors to the US Navy SEALs), talks about the importance of defending Voting Rights after being arrested with Rev. Barber and dozens of others at the 12th Moral Monday action in Raleigh, North Carolina. Plumber, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement was arrested previously with Dr. Martin Luther King.
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Paul Ryan has the worst memory in American politics - and it’s getting worse http://t.co/8gFLgnUVpD That, or he’s breathtakingly dishonest
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen) July 24, 2025
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The much bigger scandal cable news ignored yesterday so they could talk about Anthony Wiener thkpr.gs/13E9PWG http://t.co/BfoU40tG0p
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ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) July 25, 2025****
Uterus? C'mon in! RT @SarahPalinUSA: Govt: stay out of our garage, refrigerator, church, gun safe, etc.
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rob delaney (@robdelaney) July 25, 2025****
No, the House did NOT vote on an amendment to stop government spying http://t.co/YyCKQdM15T
— Smartypants (@Smartypants32) July 25, 2025
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This is IMPORTANT. If you are a TOD Twitterer, join and help President Obama. All hands on deck for 2014:
Like to tweet? Check out @OFA's new project Tweeting for Action and join in: http://t.co/436spqoHRE
— allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) July 25, 2025
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White House.gov