NPR | Barack Obama Goes Kitesurfing NPR Obama wasn't allowed to do watersports as president it was too risky. Now many of those safety restrictions are no more, and he's taking full advantage by kitesurfing in the British Virgin Islands. Facebook; Twitter. Google+. Email ... |
See original here:
Barack Obama Goes Kitesurfing - NPR
Fifty percent of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. The other 49 percent of marriages are not as strong as the Obama-Biden relationship.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Mini-golfing is a popular dating activity, as Obama and Biden discover here.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Its important to make your loved ones laugh.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Here, Obama and Biden are either exercising or realizing that they left the oven on.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Very few people have double dates as public as when the Obamas and Bidens attend Democratic conventions.
From Digital Focus/Alamy.
The two practice their dads watching their hyperactive children on the playground poses.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Biden anxiously waits for Obama to play fetch.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Obama orders lunch while Biden wonders whether he should claim he forgot his wallet.
From AFP/Getty Images.
This tender, intimate gesture reminds one of senior prom.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Nobody puts Barack in the corner.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Biden anxiously waits for Obama to finish his call and look at that cool bird outside.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Obama and Biden stare into each others eyes, wishing that they had a milkshake to share.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
This is a metaphor of sorts.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Hugs for everyone.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Not only do they share meals together, they dont even look at their phones while eating. Now thats commitment.
From Getty Images.
Either theyre a) dressed to celebrate St. Patricks Day, b) acting as groomsmen in a wedding, or c) accidentally dressed the same and are now impromptu twins. (The real answer is a, but c is frighteningly plausible.)
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Of course, every once in a while, couples get embarrassed by each other in public.
By Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Getty Images.
Taking a breather, and possibly gossiping about the audacity of those Republicans in the Senate.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
They even got matching armchairs!
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Friends dont let friends grieve alone.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Look at them. I mean, just look at them.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Even they know that no one has what they have.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Theyre not ashamed to show their love in front of a stadium full of people.
2010 Getty Images
And this photo was only the beginning move of their special, five-minute-long secret handshake.
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Dont go! Please dont go!
Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Go here to see the original:
What Happened When Malia Obama Interned on HBO's Girls - Vanity Fair
President Obama accepted personal gifts worth $30,000 during his final year office, newly released disclosure forms reveal.
Obama took in eleven gifts, including including a five-volume set of his family genealogy from the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a value of $8,300, the most expensive present of the bunch, the forms reveal.
The second most expensive gift was a large wooden map case with vintage maps inside from the National Geographic, worth $7,000.
Rounding out the top three was a framed photograph of boxer Muhammad Ali worth $5,250, given to him by comedian Whoopi Goldberg.
His haul also included:
Disclosure forms going back to 2010 reveal Obama did not receive gifts in prior years as president, the International Business Times reported.
The president is prohibited from taking gifts from foreign governments and foreign officials without consent of Congress, according to Congressional Research Services. However, the president is generally free to accept unsolicited personal gifts from the American public.
The forms also show that Obama in his last year as president became a member of two LLCs: Homefront Holdings LLC and Renegade 44 LLC, both of Washington, DC.
Additionally, the forms show that Obama took on between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in debt in his final year in office in the form of a promissory note to JPMorgan Chase Bank.
President George W. Bushs also accepted exactly 11 gifts during his last year in office, according to disclosure forms, including a $359 wireless reading device from Vice President Dick Cheney and a $3,000 business suit.
Read more:
Obama accepted $30K in gifts during his last year in office - New York Post
Mayor Eric Garcetti hardly needed the support of former President Obama to strengthen his campaign for reelection, but he asked for it anyway during a party at the White House last month.
On Tuesday, Garcetti declared himself the first candidate to win Obamas endorsement since his presidency ended. The first was actually a Chicago alderman, Sophia King.
Obama, last seen kite surfing in the British Virgin Islands, did not travel to California for the announcement. Garcetti made do with an image of the former president on a TV monitor at his campaign office in Windsor Square.
Eric is my friend, loyal ally and a great and visionary mayor of Los Angeles, Obama said in a statement released by Garcetti,who faces 10 little-known challengers in the March 7election.
A California co-chair of Obamas 2008 campaign, Garcetti recalled meeting with Obama in the Oval Office before deciding whether to run for mayor in 2013.
At the time, Garcetti was an L.A. city councilman considering a job heading urban policy at the White House, the mayor said. But Obama urged him to listen to your heart and run for mayor instead, Garcetti said.
The president declined to endorse Garcetti in the 2013 mayors race, when he faced a tough campaign against several well-known fellow Democrats.
Garcetti and his wife, Amy Wakeland, attended Obamas goodbye party at the White House two weeks before President Trumps inauguration, and it was there that the mayor asked for the endorsement.An Obama spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the former president was backing the mayor.
Garcettis announcement was a blow to one of his challengers, campaign consultant Mitchell Schwartz, who was the state director of Obamas California campaign in 2008.
@finneganLAT
UPDATES:
5:15 p.m.: This article was updated with a clarification that Garcetti was not Obamas first endorsement since leaving the presidency.
4:55p.m.: This article was updated with confirmation of the endorsement by a spokesman for former President Obama.
This article was originally published at 2:05 p.m.
Continue reading here:
Obama backs Garcetti for reelection in low-profile race for LA mayor - Los Angeles Times
For eight years I walked around with a nut in my gut I dared not express.
I feared someone would assassinate Barack Obama.
That would have convulsed this country in a way John F. Kennedys murder did not.
Although Kennedy was the first Catholic president, it did not set off a religious war. Obamas murder might have set off a race war, or at least riots, arson, and mayhem. We have a sad history to remember, from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Rodney King.
As much as Obama was criticized (dictator) and defamed (Marxist) and lied about (Muslim), we know of no credible, close-up threat to his life, such as that suffered by Ronald Reagan, who was shot in 1981 by John Hinckley. In one month in 1975, Lynette Squeaky Fromme and Sara Jane Moore each pointed a gun at Gerald Ford from close range and fired.
There have been many presidential assassination attempts over the years, only a few successful.
So it was a relief when Obama stepped down, hale and hearty.
As we start the Trump era (or error) I have similar fears and find comments such as Madonnas that she desires to blow up the White House offensive, but thats pretty much her trademark.
The level of vitriol directed at Trump sometimes from people holding love trumps hate signs is remarkable. It surpasses the hate that had been directed at Obama and George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
I dont think the elder George Bush or Ronald Reagan or even Jimmy Carter caught the kind of primal hate we are seeing now.
I suspect the hate is rooted in fear the fear that Trump will cripple our democracy.
One of the frequently used words against Trump is Nazi, which is excessive, as Trump foe Christine Flowers observed.
Some say Trump deserves it because of his attacks on, or mocking of, Mexicans and women and the handicapped and prisoners of war and Muslims and the courts. Ive probably missed a few because it is a long list.
He is a political arsonist, but you dont fight arson with gasoline. You fight it with water, or foam. You dont threaten violence.
But some have and thats why the nut in my gut has returned.
To use a word I normally skeeve, we cant normalize the idea of murdering the president, any president, or even wishing it.
If you go there, you are reduced to that which you despise.
Published: February 7, 2017 4:47 PM EST | Updated: February 7, 2017 5:32 PM EST Philadelphia Daily News
See the rest here:
Byko: The Obama worry I dared not utter - Philly.com (blog)