Full speech:
President Obama greets Davis Marsico, 6, and other supporters upon his arrival in Charlotte
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…. with North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue
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… delivering remarks on energy and the economy at Daimler Trucks North America manufacturing plant in Mount Holly, North Carolina
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Republic of Korea President Lee Myung-bak tips his Detroit Tigers baseball hat
President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at General Motors’ Orion Assembly Plant in Lake Orion, Michigan
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President Obama is seen through a window backstage at the General Motors Lake Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township, Mich., Oct. 14. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama returns a salute as he gets off Air Force One at Air Force Base after a day trip to Michigan
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AP: U.S. consumers stepped up their spending on retail goods in September, a hopeful sign for the sluggish economy.
They spent more on autos, clothing and furniture last month to boost retail sales 1.1 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the largest gain in seven months.
Auto sales rose 3.6 percent to drive the overall increase. Still, excluding that category, sales gained a solid 0.6 percent.
The government also revised the August figures to show a 0.3 percent increase, up from its initial report of no gain.
Stocks rose after the release of the report, which is the government’s first look at consumer spending each month. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 87 points in afternoon trading. Broader indexes also rose.
A separate Commerce report showed that businesses added to their stockpiles for a 20th consecutive month in August while sales rose for a third straight month. The increase suggests businesses were confident enough in the economy to keep stocking their shelves.
Full article here
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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood feigns being a blocking back for President Barack Obama as he arrives backstage to meet with GOP House leaders, January 2010
AP: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the most prominent Republican in President Barack Obama’s administration, accused GOP House members Friday of putting their hope for the president to fail ahead of working toward solving the nation’s problems.
Responding to a question about why it was so difficult to get big infrastructure projects built right now, LaHood told a transportation conference that “some people don’t want Obama to be successful.”
“A big percentage of the Republicans that were elected this time came here to do zero, and that’s what they’ve done,” he said. Those lawmakers, he said, have obstructed other people who are trying to get things done.
…. “Here we are almost 12 months from the election and there are some people in Congress – look there are probably 40 people, 40 Republicans, elected to the House to come here to do nothing,” Lahood said. “That’s why they felt they were elected.”
…. “When I was elected in `94 we had a very reform-minded class, 82 new people, but they came here to do something, to solve problems,” he said. “Almost always in the past when people have run for Congress, they ran for Congress on the opportunity to help solve the problems of America.”
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Paul Krugman: Reading the transcript of Tuesday’s Republican debate on the economy is, for anyone who has actually been following economic events these past few years, like falling down a rabbit hole. Suddenly, you find yourself in a fantasy world where nothing looks or behaves the way it does in real life.
And since economic policy has to deal with the world we live in, not the fantasy world of the G.O.P.’s imagination, the prospect that one of these people may well be our next president is, frankly, terrifying.
…. the G.O.P. has responded to the crisis not by rethinking its dogma but by adopting an even cruder version of that dogma, becoming a caricature of itself. During the debate, the hosts played a clip of Ronald Reagan calling for increased revenue; today, no politician hoping to get anywhere in Reagan’s party would dare say such a thing.
It’s a terrible thing when an individual loses his or her grip on reality. But it’s much worse when the same thing happens to a whole political party, one that already has the power to block anything the president proposes — and which may soon control the whole government.
Full post here
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Greg Sargent: By now you may have heard about that 78-year-old grandmother who is fully against Ohio’s new push to roll back collective bargaining rights for public employees – but who had her words brazenly torn out of context and put into an ad advocating for the measure.
The tale has gone national. And now the story is about to get even bigger: The grandma is set to appear in a pro-union ad denouncing the anti-union forces as “desperate” for stealing her words. This will likely earn much more attention to a fight which is now being viewed nationally as yet another major referendum on whether the right will succeed in breaking labor in the industrial heartland.
Could this blunder by the anti-union forces be decisive? Labor hopes so….
Full post here
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Washington Post: As a result of stimulus spending and increased funding through the 2010 health-care law, the number of clinicians participating in a federal program to expand access to care in under-served communities has nearly tripled in the past three years.
About 10,000 doctors, nurses and other providers now participate in the National Health Service Corps, the highest number since the program was established in 1972….Officials estimated that the corps is serving about 10.5 million patients.
Full post here
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President Obama arrives to speak to workers at the Alcoa Davenport Works Factory in Bettendorf, Iowa
Des Moines Register: Alcoa officials and business leaders dismissed an assertion from … Mitt Romney that a federal labor board’s actions could threaten jobs at the Alcoa plant in Iowa. “No, we don’t see that happening,” said Alcoa spokesman Michael Belwood…
Romney said Monday that National Labor Relations Board’s actions against aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. could result in job losses nationally and in Iowa. Boeing is accused of trying to move its Washington-based assembly line for its 787 airliner to a new nonunion factory in South Carolina as retaliation for past strikes in Washington.
Romney has complained about the federal board before, and on Monday said its decision to file a complaint against Boeing for unfair labor practices “slanted the field toward labor bosses.”
….. but the outcome of the NLRB hearing – whether it’s in favor of Boeing or against – will have no impact on this plant, the Alcoa spokesman said. Alcoa is growing, Belwood said. It has added 240 jobs since Dec. 1 and it has 60 more to fill in July and August. “The outlook is very good for the industry and for this plant.”
…. the National Labor Relations Board is an independent board and the president doesn’t control its decisions other than to appoint new members as terms expire.
….U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat, said Romney made it sound like a final decision has been made to block Boeing from opening its South Carolina plant. The reality is, the hearing process is at its beginning stages, Braley said. “(Romney) obviously doesn’t understand how the National Labor Relations Board works.”
More here
Thanks Suzanne
President Obama arrives at Toledo Express Airport, Ohio, June 3
….. visiting Rudy’s Hot Dog with Toledo Mayor Michael Bell, Owner Harry Dionyssiou is at right
… at the Jeep Wrangler plant at Chrysler Group LLC’s Toledo Assembly complex
…..taking the stage to address workers after his tour of Chrysler Group’s Toledo Supplier Park
…. greeting a young boy across the street after making an unannounced visit to Fred’s Pro Hardware in Toledo
People wave at President Barack Obama’s motorcade as he drives to Tower Tech Systems, Inc, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on January 26 as part of his White House to Main Street Tour
…touring Skana Aluminum Company in Manitowoc
People line the streets to greet President Barack Obama on a visit to Manitowoc, Wis
Back to DC
President Obama jokes during an appearance in Schenectady, N.Y. that he had the Secret Service confiscate a Jets hat Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried to give him. The president is a fan of his hometown Chicago Bears and said he’ll go to the Super Bowl if they advance Sunday.
President Barack Obama stands in front of a high tech turbine as he visits the birthplace of the General Electric Co., to showcase a new GE deal with Kuwait and to announce a restructured presidential advisory board to be led by GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, Jan. 21, in Schenectady, N.Y.
President Barack Obama winks to the audience prior to making remarks at Chrysler Indiana Transmission Plant in Kokomo, Indiana, November 23
Text of the President and Vice President’s remarks
Kokomo Tribune: November 23 – Chrysler Group LLC plans to invest $843 million in Kokomo, retaining 2,250 jobs and tipping the company’s investments in Kokomo over the past six months to more than $1 billion, the company announced today
