First Lady Michelle Obama hugs Venus Williams while her sister Serena Williams looks on after Serena beat Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon during the Olympic Games
First Lady Michelle Obama hugs LeBron James following the USA vs. France men’s basketball game at Olympic Park
First Lady Michelle Obama participates in an interview with NBC Sports at the Olympic Park Aquatics Center
First Lady Michelle Obama looks at a drawing given to her by one of the children while visiting with military base members in a hanger at Mildenhall Air Force Base in England
All White House Photos by Sonya N. Hebert - more here
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AP: Bill Clinton will have an up-front role in this summer’s Democratic national convention, where he will make a forceful case for Barack Obama’s re-election and his economic vision for the country, several Obama campaign and party officials have said.
…. Obama personally asked Clinton to speak at the convention and place Obama’s name in nomination, and Clinton enthusiastically accepted, officials said on Sunday. George Bush, the last Republican to hold the White House, remains politically toxic in some circles. While Bush has endorsed Romney, he is not involved in his campaign and has said he does not plan to attend the Republican convention.
Clinton will speak in prime-time at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on 5 September, the night before Obama formally accepts the party nomination. While the number two on the ticket often speaks that night, the Obama campaign has instead decided that Obama and the vice-president, Joe Biden, will speak on the same night.
Biden will introduce Obama on 6 September before the more than 70,000 people expected to fill an outdoor stadium in Charlotte and millions more on television.
More here
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Cagle
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Morning everyone, I’ll catch up with more news later on
The Age: Serena Williams sure has friends in high places. Usually, the 14-time grand slam winner’s supporters’ box is populated by family members but for her first-round Olympics match on Saturday there was an addition to the cast: the American first lady, Michelle Obama.
The US president’s wife was a guest of Williams, who won her fifth Wimbledon singles title three weeks ago, preferring to sit in the players’ box rather than the Royal Box, where dignitaries are usually planted at the All England Club.
And after the US president’s wife sat alongside Williams’ mother, Oracene Price, inside the Centre Court it was quickly obvious the two were not exactly strangers.
The 30-year-old twice referred to the first lady as simply “Michelle” during her post-match news conference, having disposed of Serbia’s former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-1 with little drama on Saturday.
“Oops, am I being rude?” Williams said when asked whether she was on first-name basis with Mrs Obama. “She’s so cool. I’ve met her several times. I feel comfortable saying ‘Michelle,’ and I think she wants the people to feel that way.
“They asked me did I mind if she sat in the family box. I was like, ‘of course not’. Please, it would be my honour. I mean, I love Michelle.”
First lady Michelle Obama watches the women’s singles tennis match between Serena Williams of the U.S. and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia at the All England Lawn Tennis Club during the London 2012 Olympics Games, July 28
.. with Venus Williams and former gymnast Dominique Dawes
Serena Williams gives a thumbs up gesture toward her sister Venus and first lady Michelle Obama after she defeated Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic
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Coming up:
Monday: The President will participate in an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony at the White House. In the afternoon, he will travel to New York City for campaign events and return to Washington, DC at night.
Tuesday: The President will attend meetings at the White House.
Wednesday: The President will travel to Mansfield, Ohio and Akron, Ohio for campaign events. He will return to Washington, DC at night.
Thursday: The President will travel to Orlando, Florida and Leesburg, Virginia for campaign events. He will return to Washington, DC in the evening.
Friday: The President will attend meetings at the White House.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet the family of Specialist Leslie H. Sabo, Jr., U.S. Army, outside the Oval Office prior to a Medal of Honor ceremony honoring Specialist Sabo, May 16, 2012. Pictured, from left, are: Kathleen Starkey, sister-in-law; Rose Sabo-Brown, widow; Frances Buccelli, mother-in-law. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Washington Post/AP: When Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney decried the “prairie fire” of U.S. debt Tuesday, he ignored some of the sparks that set it ablaze.
One was the Great Recession that took hold before Barack Obama became president. That landmark event went unmentioned in Romney’s speech. Another was a series of Bush-era tax cuts that Romney wants to follow with even lower rates.
Instead he laid the blame on Obama, a president who has certainly increased the nation’s eye-popping debt — but not, as Romney claimed, by nearly as much as all other presidents combined.
A look at some of Romney’s assertions and how they compare with the facts:
ROMNEY: “America counted on President Obama to rescue the economy, tame the deficit and help create jobs. Instead, he bailed out the public sector, gave billions of your dollars to the companies of his friends, and added almost as much debt as all the prior presidents combined.”
THE FACTS. Hardly. Presidents from George Washington through George W. Bush ran the national debt up to $10.62 trillion, the amount it was on the day Obama took office. Today, it is $15.67 trillion, according to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Public Debt. So it has gone up by $5.05 trillion under Obama. That’s roughly half of the amount amassed by all the other presidents combined.
In short, the debt has gone up by about half under Obama. Under Ronald Reagan, it tripled.
More here
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‘Renewing GOP vows’:
Cagle
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Miami Herald: Welcome to FL, Mitt. Now why did Bain Capital lay off so many people in Miami?
As Mitt Romney returns to Florida on Wednesday for two days of campaigning and money-raising, Democrats are trying to ensure Floridians keep two words in mind: Dade Behring.
It’s the name of a former medical equipment manufacturer in Miami that Romney’s venture capital firm bought and then closed in the late 1990s, walking away with $242 million in profits.
“Obviously you need to make a profit to be successful,” Cindy Hewitt, Dade Behring’s former human resources officer, said Tuesday, at a Miami news conference organized by President Barack Obama’s campaign. “My concern is when businesses are used to generate wealth for a small number of people and businesses are run to the ground and the lifeblood is sucked out of it and all of their employees lose their jobs.”
The case of Dade Behring in Miami, where some 850 jobs were lost while Romney led Bain has been well-documented. But there’s a new wrinkle: The company under Bain’s leadership sought and received millions of dollars in tax breaks for creating jobs in Puerto Rico — shortly before closing its facilities, costing nearly 300 jobs.
More here
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BBC
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In case anyone missed this today … it’s unmissable:
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Thursday: The President will attend meetings at the White House.
Friday: PBO will deliver the opening keynote to the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC. Later on Friday, the President will travel to Camp David for the G-8 Summit, which will address a broad range of economic, political and security issues. The President will remain overnight at Camp David.
Saturday: PBO will remain at Camp David for the G-8 Summit. Later on Saturday, the President will travel to Chicago, Illinois, where he will welcome NATO allies and partners to his hometown for the NATO Summit on May 20-21. The First Lady will travel to Chicago with the President.
RT @DaRiverZkind: Departing PBO Speechwriter Jon Favreau "I Leave This Job Actually More Hopeful" npr.org/2013/03/07/173… AUDIO @npratc h ... 2 days ago
Today brought back memories of Lisa Lyotte telling her story (The Tribal Law and Order Act, 2010) #VAWA youtube.com/watch?v=xNPmHB… 2 days ago
President Obama & VP Biden depart WH with Kathleen Biden, VP's daughter-in-law, & Valerie Jarrett (Photo: Pete Souza) http://t.co/8uUjLIzwxc 2 days ago
White House.gov
