President Obama this afternoon is in Washington raising more than $1 million from Native Americans.
Tickets “start” at $15,000, and about 70 people are expected to attend.
From the pool report:
In less than 5 minutes motorcade was at the swank Mandarin. This group of donors is the Native American Leadership Council; the pool is holding outside the ballroom and several men with beaded neck-pieces have walked past for the restroom.
Coming in the main entrance of the hotel, pool passed actor George Hamilton and a youngish (of course) woman walking out.
Another green energy beneficiary of the Obama stimulus legislation has gone belly up.
Ener1 Inc., which received $118.5 million out of the 2009 stimulus bill in order to make advanced vehicle batteries, filed Thursday for bankruptcy.
Nevertheless, the company will stay in business while it restructures its finances and will go forward with its battery building program. We’ll see for how long.
The bankruptcy is yet another blow to the Obama strategy of line iteming portions of the stimulus bill for projects that advance its political and policy agenda. Last September, the solar panel maker Solyndra declared bankruptcy and shuttered its plants after having received $527 in government loans.
The parceling out of funds for favored projects is an example of what former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was talking about soon after Obama was elected in 2008, when he said:
You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. Things that we had postponed for too long, that were long-term, are now immediate and must be dealt with. This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before.
In a sign that the battery maker’s funding may have been poorly vetted, Ener1 received from the government the full amount of money it had requested.
Nobody should get all the money they request. Even your child, when asking for some allowance, is shooting high with the expectation of getting something less.
Just Tuesday, during his State of the Union address, Obama touted the government’s aid to the green car battery industry.
In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries.
Unlike Solyndra, Obama didn’t personally visit Ener1 to laud its potential. But Vice President Biden did, almost exactly a year ago. Here’s what he said:
Look around you all. It’s a big facility. Partially used. But it’s going to grow!
Whoops, not so fast. Here’s a slick video that was produced by the company, centering on Biden’s visit.
Feel bad for those workers. Hope their jobs will be okay.
See, this is what I love about Biden. He’s actually a real person. Too bad you’re not allowed to be a real person in politics.
Actually, it’s hard to be a real person anywhere. At least in Washington.
The best work environment I ever experienced was at a restaurant in Washington where I was a bartender and a waiter.
It was the most diverse group of employees you can imagine. Everyone was there. And everybody denigrated everybody else. It was all brought to the surface. And we all got along great, and actually learned real things about each other’s cultures, experiences, and outlooks.
I love how Biden catches himself. Your can hear the internal dialogue: “Whoops! Joe, no, stop it! This is going to be another Biden Moment. Correct course immediately. Gosh, I wonder if anyone noticed.”
I liked this. Obama departs a clean fuel vehicle event in Las Vegas in a motorcade comprised of 22 fossil fuel burning vehicles. As well, this motorcade once it got on the road was probably picked up by a fleet of police motorcycles. And then there’s the Air Force One flight out to Las Vegas.
I thought you might want to see actual footage of the confrontation Wednesday between President Obama and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R).
Obama was protesting passages in Brewer’s recent book that say he was condescending during an Oval Office meeting. The White House says she is lying.
Obama sought to minimize the exchange, but in doing so added a little insult to injury by suggesting Brewer was hyping the matter for political purposes.
“I think it’s always good publicity for a Republican if they’re in an argument with me,” Obama told Diane Sawyer Thursday.
You’ll notice Obama’s limo partially obscures the nastiness. I doubt he would have gotten into it with her if the cameras had a direct shot. I’m sure he was aware of where the cameras were, and I wouldn’t completely discount that the car’s positioning was staged so he could give her a piece of his mind.
This is the only video I could find that shows the full encounter right up to the point where Obama started walking away while Brewer apparently was still in mid sentence. The quality is not perfect, and title of the video is not mine.
9:45 am || Delivers remarks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on college education – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 11:00 am || Departs Michigan 12:30 pm || Arrives Cambridge, Md. 1:20 pm || Delivers remarks to House Democrats; Cambridge, Md. 3:00 pm || Arrives White House 3:30 pm || Meets with Secretary of State Clinton 4:30 pm || Delivers remarks at fundraiser, Washington
A hearing in Atlanta on whether President Obama meets the Constitutional requirements for the presidency ended at midday without a ruling by the judge.
Georgia Administrative Hearings Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi gave no indication when he will rule or whether he will sanction President Obama and his attorneys, all of whom refused to attend the hearing.
President Obama arrived in Chandler, Arizona Wednesday to talk jobs, but his appearance cost hundreds of laborers a paid day of work. More than 1,500 workers building the Intel manufacturing facility where Obama appeared were ordered to stay home for security reasons and told they would not be paid for the day, according to KTAR [...]
“I’m tired of being a stiff, and I’m certain that by employing the right methodology, I can really loosen up.” – Mitt Romney A note from our attorneys: This is not a real quote
President Obama will ignore an order by an Atlanta judge to appear in court Thursday for a hearing in a case challenging his qualifications under the Constitution to be president. According to the White House, Obama will continue with his current trip out West, starting the day in Las Vegas and then continuing on to Buckley [...]
10:00 am PT || Delivers remarks at UPS Las Vegas South about energy 12:05 pm PT || Departs Las Vegas 2:35 pm MT || Arrives at Buckley Air Force Base; Aurora, Colo. 3:30 pm MT || Delivers remarks at Buckley Air Force Base on American energy and energy security 4:15 pm MT || Departs Buckley [...]
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that if President Obama wins a second term, he won’t ask Geithner to serve again as Treasury Secretary, according to Bloomberg. One wonders if this has anything to do with 8.5 PERCENT UNEMPLOYMENT. But I doubt it. From Bloomberg: “He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty [...]
President Obama and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) had what appears to have been an angry exchange of words on the tarmac in Phoenix over her portrayal of him in a book she published late last year. This is from press pool reports describing Obama’s arrival this afternoon in the city: He stepped off Air [...]
9:45 am || Delivers remarks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on college education - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 11:00 am || Departs Michigan 12:30 pm || Arrives Cambridge, Md. 1:20 pm || Delivers remarks to House Democrats; Cambridge, Md. 3:00 pm || Arrives White House 3:30 pm || Meets with Secretary of State Clinton 4:30 pm || Delivers remarks at fundraiser, Washington
All times Eastern
Quote of the Day
“I'm tired of being a stiff, and I'm certain that by employing the right methodology, I can really loosen up.”
- Mitt Romney
A note from our attorneys: This is not a real quote
