President Barack Obama greets Jack Hoffman, 7, of Atkinson, Neb., in the Oval Office, April 29. Hoffman, who is battling pediatric brain cancer, gained national attention after he ran for a 69-yard touchdown during a Nebraska Cornhuskers spring football game. Hoffman holds a football that the President signed for him. (Photo by Pete Souza)
****
HuskerInsider: So what does a 7-year-old pediatric brain cancer patient do after thrilling 60,000 fans at Nebraska’s Spring Football Game, plus nearly 8 million YouTube viewers, with an inspiring 69-yard touchdown run? After throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Saturday’s nationally televised Nebraska-Michigan softball game in Lincoln, Jack flew to Washington D.C. with his dad, Andy, mom, Bri and sisters Ava 5, and Reese, 2.
On Sunday, the Hoffmans took in the sights of our Nation’s Capital in advance of a Monday noontime scheduled visit with President Barack Obama at the White House. “We were thrilled to get invited, and we hope it all comes off,” Andy Hoffman, Jack’s dad, said Sunday night.
Four years ago tomorrow (Pete Souza): President Obama hides behind the Resolute Desk while Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg visits in the Oval Office. In a famous photograph, her brother John F. Kennedy Jr., peeked through the FDR panel, while his father President Kennedy worked.
President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talk in the Oval Office following their lunch, Nov. 29, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama jokingly mimics U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney’s “not impressed” look while greeting members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15, 2012. Steve Penny, USA Gymnastics President, and Savannah Vinsant laugh at left. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
****
Washington Post: Just a year after his administration signaled it would help Burma emerge from decades of repressive military rule, President Obama will make history Monday by becoming the first U.S. president to visit the long-isolated Southeast Asian nation.
Obama’s gesture, [is] the centerpiece of a four-day trip to the region that will include stops in Thailand and Cambodia…
During his six hours in Burma, Obama is scheduled to meet separately with President Thein Sein and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose release in 2010 following 15 years under house arrest launched her nation’s opening to the West. She has since become a member of parliament.
….. Obama will meet with Thailand’s prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and in Cambodia he will attend a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and participate in this year’s East Asia Summit to discuss security issues. The president is also expected to meet privately with several foreign leaders, including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
President Obama walks to Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base – the President is traveling to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia
****
****
Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 17
****
****
Michael Tomasky: The Nonexistent Case Against Susan Rice Crumbles
Peter King admitted on CNN that David Petraeus, in his Hill briefing, the one John McCain couldn’t be bothered to attend because he was holding a press conference denouncing the administration for withholding information, gave Susan Rice the green light to say what she said on those TV appearances on that fateful day.
…. the agency approved Rice’s talking points. So she wasn’t lying or spinning. So says Peter King, no ideological or partisan doormat on these matters, I think you would agree.
…. Rice maybe should or should not be secretary of state, but she sure shouldn’t be disqualified on the basis of these flimsy and silly allegations, and King’s admission helps clear her plate.
