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Dad, youre embarrassing me. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP

It was a not-especially-balmy 49 degrees (the ground still slick with rain) when he appeared at the top of the stairs, preceded by security detail and, of course, Michelle. Diners at Upland, the California-inflected brasserie in Flatiron, would have a story they could tell their great-grandkids: about the day they saw President Obama gracious, handsome, tieless while taking forkfuls of little-gem salad. The appearance was just one stopover on Obamas victory lap through New York, in which the former president demonstrated his adjustment to normal personhood (or as normal as one can be while lunching with Bono). And like that, with a smile and wave, he was gone. Did we imagine him? Did he say hello to us? Did you see how good he looked?

There he was, sporty and smiling with Richard and Michelle on Necker Island, and then again, rocking a leather jacket and jeans at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. Pretty cool, wrote VanityFair.com. Fashion dad, proclaimed Mashable. Danny Zuko, said the Daily News. GQs Style Guy even tweeted that Obama was on his way to rocking Vetements. And its true, post-presidential Obama does look different energetic, more public, quicker to break into a grin. But while Number 44 certainly looks good, lets not overreach (though when has the internet ever trafficked in hyperbole?). If anything, Obama these days looks not fashion-y (or God forbid, cool), but perfectly, passably, post-presidentially appropriate.

Take a look at that photo with the leather jacket. A handsome brown shade, surely, but and GQ notes this a mite big. The dark-wash denim improves upon those infamous dad jeans, but the pants are still hiked up nearly to the navel. And in a classic dad move, his shirt is tucked in, exposing a wide belt that is less Vetements (or even Brioni) than Jos. A. Bank. Head to toe, the look is adequate: a post-midlife getup your dad might wear as he talks your ear off about his new standing desk or Bulletproof-coffee routine. But paper-doll the clothes onto Brad Pitt or Will Smith or George Clooney all within spitting distance of Obamas age and build and youd think they were on the set of some Noah Baumbach film, playing fathers in crisis.

So why are we grading on a curve? It may square more neatly with the post-presidential swagger narrative (How Barry Faced a Wiretap Accusation and Got His Groove Back), but the before-and-after gets a little fudgy with the facts. Its not exactly true that Obama ditched office and discovered style. Hes looked damn good without a tie for years. He looked pretty boss (and jacked) while on holiday in Oahu wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap back in 2014. And that same leather jacket has been in rotation since 2013 (even with those jeans). Its only now that were paying attention and heaping the president with sartorial praise.

The obvious truth is that we expect something different of politicians, who should be too busy devoting precious energy to pushing through a new health-care bill or waging campaigns against ISIS to tend to something so trivial as fashion. For all of us who considered Trumps Scotch-taped tie a fitting analogy for his Potemkin village of a presidency, there were those corners of the internet that applauded his thrift, relatability, and ingenuity. Theyre the same whod argue that comparing Obama to Pitt or Clooney is apples and oranges those guys are movie stars whose job it is to project glamour and celebrity. Obamas concerns, presumably, are loftier.

One president defied those expectations, though, with his tortoiseshell sunglasses, Omega Ultra Thin, and Top-Siders. John F. Kennedy the prototypical avatar of presidential style ushered in a notion of elegance (in all its well-bred, New England casualness) that mens magazines have been mining for decades. The (probably apocryphal) legend that Kennedy killed the hat endures because its plausible. We can believe that J.F.K. this politician could define an entire generations stylistic agenda with a rule-breakers attitude, as if someone had attempted to hand Kennedy his hat and he just lifted his hand: Nah, Im good.

So perhaps we should hold President Obama to a higher stylistic standard. Yes, he looks great right now better, perhaps, than 99% of men in America but we cant pretend hes aced the thing when we really mean to give him points for trying, for following boilerplate dictates like matching the jacket to the belt to the shoes or losing the stonewashed jeans. To borrow a metaphor, Obama right now is an unstylish persons idea of what a stylish man looks like. Obama looks nice. Relaxed, even. (In fact, the one dissonant moment in all of the post-presidential style discussion was the backwards cap, when Obama committed the cardinal sin of trying too hard.). But to call him fashionable much less trendsetting would be premature. Obama has yet to demonstrate what it takes to be truly stylish: a conviction that it isnt contradictory for a person of substance to care about the clothes they wear (something, by the way, that Michelle learned a long time ago).

But 2017 Obama offers glimmers of hope. Its only now spring, and his most recent appearances suggest that his style is in the parlance evolving, so who knows what summer or fall could have in store? Lets see him ditch the duct-tape belt for something a little trimmer from Berluti. He might lose the button-down (why is there a T-shirt underneath?) and pull on a Massimo Alba band-collar shirt. Or would Saint Laurent Chelsea boots be so out of the question? Thats the presidential style I want to see. Lets not take such a dim view of what a serious persons fashion aspirations can be Ill be ready to call Obama stylish when hes rocking extra-roomy, pleated Brunello trousers. And maybe we save the Vetements for 2018.

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I picked up the phone the other day and heard a familiar voice. It was Barack Obama asking me for a donation.

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President Obama's voice is used on scam phone calls the BBB says.(Photo: USA TODAY)

I picked up the phone the other day and heard a familiar voice. It was Barack Obama asking me for a donation.

I had been wondering what Obama was up to since I hadn't seen him around since late January. But I was pretty sure he wasn't raising money in a telemarketing scheme. So I hung up.And so should you if you get one of these calls.

Now the BBB is reporting that the scam is using various politicians voices in these "fundraising calls" which are nothing more than attempts to steal your identity. Here's the advice from the BBB:

The BBB said the calls that have been reported use the voices of Democrats. But the scam can be used for any politician. Don't fall for it no matter what party you endorse.

Read or Share this story: http://newspr.es/2n25JVt

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Tell Mel: Barack Obama calling? - The News-Press

He called the fight "about more than health care," but rather, "the character of our country."

"We finally declared that in America, health care is not a privilege for a few, but a right for everybody," Obama said in a statement.

He cautioned that Republicans and Democrats working to build on the law should "start from the baseline that any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hardworking Americans."

It's highly unusual for a former president to make such a public and political statement less than 100 days after leaving office, signaling Obama's concern for the law's future.

Obama touted the bill's successes, naming some of the law's key features.

"Thanks to this law, more than 20 million Americans have gained the security and peace of mind of health insurance. Thanks to this law, more than 90% of Americans are insured -- the highest rate in our history. Thanks to this law, the days when women could be charged more than men and Americans with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage altogether are relics of the past. Seniors have bigger discounts on their prescription drugs. Young people can stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26 years old. And Americans who already had insurance received an upgrade as well -- from free preventive care, like mammograms and vaccines, to improvements in the quality of care in hospitals that has averted nearly 100,000 deaths so far," he wrote.

And he defended against criticism of the bill, addressing rising premiums and charges that Obamacare is a "job-killer."

"Reality continues to discredit the false claim that this law is in a 'death spiral' ... so long as the law is properly administered, this market will remain stable. Likewise, this law is no 'job-killer,' because America's businesses went on a record-breaking streak of job growth in the seven years since I signed it," he said.

Obama has spent the early days of the Trump administration decompressing from his eight years in office, taking trips to Palm Springs, the Caribbean -- where he kite-surfed with Richard Branson -- New York for a play and a lunch with U2's Bono, and his native Hawaii for golf. There are reports, unconfirmed by CNN, that Obama is spending a month on the small French Polynesian island of Tetiaroa.

This isn't the first statement Obama has made since leaving office -- he penned his condolences on the death of Northern Ireland politician Martin McGuinness on Wednesday, and spokesman Kevin Lewis commented earlier this month about Trump's accusation that the President ordered surveillance on him, calling the charge "simply false."

And when protests sprung up across the country in reaction to Trump's initial rollout of a travel ban, Lewis said the President was "heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country."

CNN's Kate Bennett contributed to this report.

Read the rest here:
Obama defends signature health care law as GOP seeks repeal - CNN

A president's golf play is far from controversial: In fact, it's the most common pastime of the country's leaders. But before he ran for office, Trump was the most fervent critic of the fact that President Barack Obama regularly hit the links with friends, aides and advisers, arguing that it showed the president was unserious about fixing America's problems.

Now that Trump is President, the comments are coming back to complicate his golf habit.

Trump has visited the two courses near his Mar-a-Lago estate -- Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Course in Jupiter -- 10 times in the first two months of his presidency.

"I'm going to be working for you; I'm not going to have time to go play golf," Trump said during a 2016 event in Virginia.

For the most part, aides have declined to confirm that Trump was playing golf on weekends in Florida, instead repeatedly telling reporters that the President "may" hit a few balls at his course but that they didn't know for sure.

On multiple occasions, though, Trump's games have been made public. CNN has seen Trump golfing -- driving up the 12th hole on his championship course at Trump International Golf Course -- multiple times during the former reality star's first two months in office.

Asked about playing golf before Air Force One took off from Florida, Trump said he played "very little" over the weekend.

It has also been revealed -- through golf blogs and media reports -- that Trump has played with top professional golfers such as Rory McIlroy, one of the top-ranked golfers in the world. While hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Palm Beach last month, Trump also played a full round with the foreign leader and professional golfer Ernie Els.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended Trump's golfing habit by citing the one day he hosted the Japanese leader, arguing that Trump utilized golf to "foster deeper relations."

"How you use the game of golf is something that he has talked about," Spicer said.

During his presidency Obama also golfed with foreign leaders, including Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, British Prime Minister David Cameron and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.

Trump's preferred course by far is the one closest to his Florida home: Trump International Golf Club. He has visited the course all 10 times he has golfed since becoming President. Only one time -- while hosting Abe -- did the President also visit Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.

Trump also visited his course in Sterling, Virginia, on March 11 for a meeting. It is unclear whether he played.

Trump made critiquing Obama for golfing a part of his 2016 message.

"I love golf, I think it's one of the greats, but I don't have time," then-President-elect Trump said during a December 2016 rally in Michigan. "He played more golf last year than Tiger Woods. We don't have time for this. We don't have time for this. We have to work."

And before he ran for president, Trump would tweet about Obama's golfing.

"Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the US, President Obama spent the day playing golf," Trump tweeted in October 2014. "Worse than Carter."

Now, citing the President's privacy, Trump's aides are left trying to conceal the President's frequent golfing.

This story has been updated.

More here:
Trump, critic of Obama's golfing, regularly hitting the links ...

Former President Barack Obama received a warm reception from his former colleagues in the state legislature when he delivered a speech on the floor of the Illinois House last year, but he didn't get the same support there Tuesday when lawmakers declined to designate his birthday as a state holiday.

Under a new proposal, state facilities and schools would close each year on Aug. 4, Obama's birthday. But opponents said while it might be good to recognize the former president and ex-state lawmaker, people shouldn't get the day off work. The House measure received 54 votes, six votes short of what it needed to be approved and sent to Obama's old stomping grounds in the Illinois Senate.

Sponsoring Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, used a parliamentary move that will keep the measure alive for another try should she gather enough support. A dozen members of the House didn't vote.

"President Barack Obama, he did great work for the state of Illinois and our country, and I believe we need to do our part in preserving that history," Harper said.

Republicans raised a variety of concerns, from the economic impact of closing state buildings on holidays to the "inconsistent way" presidents from Illinois are recognized. They noted that Tampico-born Republican Ronald Reagan does not have an Illinois holiday in his honor.

Still, they tried to rise above partisan differences, with several GOP members saying they could support the measure if it was changed from a state holiday to a more informal day of recognition, in which schools and state buildings would stay open. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget office estimates state holidays cost $3.2 million in personnel expenses, with another $16 million in lost productivity.

"The concept you are working on here, giving President Obama a day, I think is deserved. I think it's appropriate, but I have a couple of questions about how we are doing it," said Rep. Steve Andersson, R-Geneva.

Andersson said the state could not afford the budget hit given its current financial crisis, and he said he didn't believe an official holiday was needed to recognize Obama's impact on Illinois. Andersson contended that most state holidays have lost their true meaning, instead becoming a day more celebrated for picnics and barbecues.

Harper said she disagreed, saying "if nothing more, the stores have good sales on President's Day and Washington Day." She also said it is important to formally recognize the nation's first African-American president.

She cited his history as a community organizer in Chicago, saying his holiday could be used to organize various volunteer and community improvement events.

"Personally, to me, he helped me to get motivated, get up in my community and organize my community to be the change that we want to see, and we are seeing right now on the ground," Harper said.

Other state proposals to honor Obama include labeling the stretch of Interstate 55 from the Tri-State Tollway to East St. Louis the "Barack Obama Presidential Expressway." A separate measure would dub the Tri-State the "President Barack Obama Tollway."

mcgarcia@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @moniquegarcia

The rest is here:
Obama's home state of Illinois rejects a holiday in his honor ...