Powell not ready to “throw my weight” behind anyone: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is making a trip around the media circuit to promote his latest book, but all people want to ask him about is who he’ll support in the upcoming election. Maybe he’d make this announcement on a morning talk show, right? Wrong. He did offer a mixed review of President Obama’s first term in office, listing Guantanamo Bay as a failure and the more stable economy as a success. Powell endorsed Obama in 2008. source
Joe Ricketts is a registered independent, a fiscal conservative, and an outspoken critic of the Obama administration, but he is neither the author nor the funder of the so-called ‘Ricketts Plan’.TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts • In a statement, released via End Spending Action Fund President Brian Baker, denying allegations he intended to implement the “Ricketts Plan” unveiled by the New York Times on Thursday. The plan called for a renewed attack on President Obama’s prior-association with the highly controversial Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Presumed Republican nominee Mitt Romney distanced himself from the ads, and campaign manager Matt Rhoades told reporters, “It’s clear President Obama’s team is running a campaign of character assassination. We repudiate any efforts on our side to do so.” source (via • follow)
![producermatthew:
One Step Back: Just hours after President Obama voiced his support of same-sex marriage, the House Armed Services committee approved a measure that would ban gay marriage ceremonies on U.S. military bases. The measure was approved late on Wednesday, The Hill reports. The measure was included in the committee’s defense authorization bill for 2013, which now goes to the Republican-led House of Representatives for approval. [Photo: AP]The Hill: Committee votes to ban gay marriage on military bases
Actions speaking louder than words?](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3tbifkufG1qz5ew6o1_500.jpg)
One Step Back: Just hours after President Obama voiced his support of same-sex marriage, the House Armed Services committee approved a measure that would ban gay marriage ceremonies on U.S. military bases. The measure was approved late on Wednesday, The Hill reports. The measure was included in the committee’s defense authorization bill for 2013, which now goes to the Republican-led House of Representatives for approval. [Photo: AP]
The Hill: Committee votes to ban gay marriage on military bases
Actions speaking louder than words?
And here’s how Fox Nation interpreted the President’s interview. If you do click-through, do yourself a favor by avoiding the comments section. (EDIT: They eventually switched the headline. Thanks TDW.)
Here’s the video of President Obama confirming his support for same-sex marriage.
(Source: rawstory.com)
I recognize that many Americans are tired of war. I will not keep Americans in harm’s way a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security. But we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly.President Barack Obama • Speaking in a televised speech in Afghanistan, hours after landing at a military base near Kabul in a surprise visit. While emphasizing the need to end the war — the last combat troops are expected to leave in 2014 — he spoke of the importance of seeing the mission through. “The goal that I set, to defeat Al Qaeda and deny it the chance to rebuild, is now within our reach,” he said. While in Afghanistan, the president signed a document with Afghan president Hamid Karzai “Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement,” meant to clarify the American role in the country after the war.
![reuters:
DEVELOPING:
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker upon his arrival at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan May 1, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]
READ MORE: Obama lands in Afghanistan on OBL death anniversary
He knows how to show up at just the right time, doesn’t he?](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3czvvVZ9r1qmaoalo1_500.jpg)
DEVELOPING:
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker upon his arrival at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan May 1, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]
READ MORE: Obama lands in Afghanistan on OBL death anniversary
He knows how to show up at just the right time, doesn’t he?
I do think there was something a little bit off-key about the president slow jamming and appearing to make light of the fact that students are struggling. I don’t think it’s something to slow jam about or to make light of it. If that skit was brought to the governor, he would have declined.Romney campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom • Criticizing President Obama’s role on a recent episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which you may have seen. Basically, President Obama “slow jammed” (really just deliberately spoke, more than anything else) about student loan interest rates, an issue he’s pushing hard at the beginning of his 2012 reelection campaign. We get why Fehrnstrom (and the Romney campaign) might be frustrated by this — it was an extremely crafty political message, and delivered in a particular way that is completely inaccessible to Romney himself. His conclusion, however, that President Obama was making light of a serious situation for students, is countered by the very real political effect of his pushing the issue; just yesterday the GOP-led House voted to extend the fixed, lowered interest rates that Obama has been harping on. source (via • follow)
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One extreme can be to put all users in prison. On the other extreme, legalization. In the middle there may be more practical policies, such as decriminalizing consumption but putting all the efforts into interdiction.President Obama • Speaking at the Summit Of The Americas in Colombia today. Obama sought, as he often does, to play the mindful pragmatist, seeking centrist ground. His former hypothetical is functionally impossible in a way the second one isn’t, really – there simply aren’t enough prisons to hold every person found to use drugs. However, the latter suggestion is opposed by a large chunk of the U.S. populace, and as such has scant support amongst the American political class, which Obama clearly understands: “…the time has come to simply analyze if what we are doing is the best we could be doing, or if we can find an alternative that would be more effective and less costly to society. This is a topic of extreme political sensitivity.” source (via • follow)
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» A dip from prior years: Obama’s taxes show a dip in income from his book sales — which earned him millions of dollars in prior years — to the point where it makes up roughly half of his income in 2012, with the other half coming from his presidential salary. The president, it turns out, made under the $1 million in income that would force him to pay higher taxes under his proposed “Buffett Rule.” Obama certainly isn’t struggling, though his income doesn’t compare to what his likely GOP competitor, Mitt Romney, has made in recent years. In other news, we’re betting this post is reminding you that you forgot to do your taxes. Better get on that!
President Obama votes “jackass”: A reporter for The Atlantic wanted to clarify Obama’s opinion on hip hop artist Kanye West. Three years ago, the president called him a “jackass.” A snippet from the article:
“‘He is a jackass,’ Obama says, in his likable and perfectly balanced modern-professorial voice. “But he’s talented.” The president gives a wink, poses for a few more pictures, and then glides away to meet with the rich Manhattan lawyers in the other room, leaving behind a verdict that he intended to be funny, and also entirely deliberate: even before an audience of one, the leader of the free world is still not letting Kanye West off the hook.”
The article is three pages long and it battles the two sides of Kanye, the villain and the hero. What’s your opinion on the guy? source
» Pretty harsh considering the thrashing that the Affordable Care Act is reported to be taking in the Supreme Court this week. While both analysts and many inside the White House expected the ugly turnout on the budget proposal, it’s hard to imagine that anybody imagined a shut-out. Should Obama be worried about these sorts of losses piling up as the election draws closer?
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