The Obama Diary

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AP: Some of the money from President Barack Obama’s health care law is flowing to places you might not expect.

Two Texas public employee programs are among the top 25 beneficiaries of a $5-billion fund to shore up employer coverage for early retirees, despite Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s vow to repeal what Republicans derisively call “Obamacare.”

And records show the Huntsman family business, where GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman was once a top executive, received about $1 million.

Some see a gap between dire Republican rhetoric about the health care overhaul and the pragmatic impulse to cash in on a new government benefit.

“Lots of Texans are already benefiting from health care reform,” said Anne Dunkelberg, a health care expert at the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. “Other than for political theater, there would not be the kind of opposition there is.” The nonpartisan center advocates for the poor.

Full article here

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The Week

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Uggh, he’s at it again:

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

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…. with Spain’s PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

… with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff

…. with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

… with International Labor Organization Director-General Juan Somavia

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CNN: President Barack Obama leads all of his potential Republican challengers in hypothetical 2012 matchups among Pennsylvania adults, according to a new poll.

The Franklin and Marshall College poll released Thursday in the battleground state, shows Obama ahead of potential rivals Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum, but the results are closest when the president is paired with Romney.

Obama leads the former Massachusetts governor 35% to 26% and Cain, the former pizza executive, 38% to 24%. He enjoys a 20% lead over Texas Gov. Perry, 40% to 20% and a 13% advantage over former two-term Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum, 38% to 25%.

Full post here

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McClatchy

Thanks amk