Stotus, Basketball and Life at the Obama White House

The New York Times has a magazine piece today on the Obama White House with emphasis on the 20 somethings, 30 somethings and 50 somethings that work there, including Reggie Love, Obama's personal aide; Jon Favreau, a speechwriter and my fave, Sam Kass, the 30-year-old assistant White House chef who often tends to the garden (pictured).

On Tuesdays, the secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar; the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Julius Genachowski; Senator Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania; and Senator Jon Tester of Montana used to have an early basketball game. Occasionally, Axelrod would join them. Once or twice, Casey and Tester stayed to play a game or two with the later-arriving junior staff members. Basketball is such an obsession that Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, has been known to jokingly admonish staff members to plan their travel around pickup games.

Then there is Stotus — the softball team of the United States (a word play on Potus, the acronym for president of the United States). Stotus, a team made up of White House staff members, gathered on humid summer evenings last year to take on rivals like the Democratic National Committee and then would sometimes celebrate with snacks and drinks afterward at local restaurants and bars. Nonplayers often came out to cheer, thumbing their BlackBerrys as they watched the game. The sports are all in good fun — a chance to unwind after work and connect with friends — but an undercurrent of personal fitness runs throughout.

“People are commenting on it,” Ziskend teased Lesser at Café Dupont, referring to his housemate’s new and improved physique.

“Really?” Lesser asked, laughing. He looked up and added, a touch more seriously: “Really? Like who?”

THE OBAMAS ARE the first White House family in modern memory to treat Washington like an actual city. They moved from Chicago, another urban center with a large African-American population, and they invited inner-city children to help with the new garden and to trick-or-treat and hunt Easter eggs at the White House. According to the CBS Radio News correspondent Mark Knoller, the press corps’ unofficial White House historian, George W. Bush ate dinner or lunch at a restaurant anywhere in the country only 21 times during his eight years in office; the Obamas dined out nearly a dozen times in their first year alone. Read it all here.

Obama is calm even when angry:

Obama doesn’t yell, his aides say. He’s calm even when he’s angry. But his stern glance is far worse than any tirade. To many of his acolytes, the president is a role model. “This is a person who beat the odds to be a United States senator and who has offered you a job,” Reggie Love says. “This was a moment in time where things will only be this way for a little bit, and they were, and I was proud to take the opportunity.”

More than anything, they repeat, over and over, they don’t want to embarrass the president.

Michelle Obama gives dating advice to the younger staffers:

Showing up to work each day at the most prestigious address in America can feel a bit like finals week in college. They are always on call, always working hard. To these mostly 20-something staff members, Obama is a strict father, one with high expectations, whom they don’t want to disappoint. Michelle Obama is more of a big sister, tapping her toes about when that boyfriend is ever going to propose or playing Cupid by suggesting a match. She gives young, single White House staff members the kind of dating tips she offered in Glamour magazine’s December issue, warning young women: “Cute’s good. But cute only lasts for so long.

Obama Speaks at White House Correspondents Dinner 2010

Update: Obama's speech is over. He seemed mighty preoccupied--and it's no wonder. He was short on the funny and then turned serious--to the gulf. Then he talked briefly about the importance of real journalism. Jon Favreau (Obama's speechwriter, not the actor) and David Axelrod worked on Obama's speech. Full video:

This is a live audio stream that begins at 8 pm eastern. Watch a live video stream at c-span here. C-span also has the red carpet arrival coverage of the journalists, media moguls, celebs, and politicians. Goodness, even Justin Bieber is there.

Obama will speak first, followed by Jay Leno. Note that the speech that Obama gives is supposed to be humorous. Read more about the annual correspondents' dinner here.

Obama is sitting between Bloomberg journalists, Matt Winkler and Ed Chen, according to c-span. Michelle Obama will announce scholarships prior to Obama's speech.

The Washington Post will have live coverage at 8:30 pm eastern here.

Speechwriter on Obama's Speech to Osan Troops

Jon Favreau:

Obama in Singapore for Summit of Asia Pacific Leaders

Here's a summary of Obama's two-day plan for Singapore:

NOV 14-15 - SINGAPORE

Obama travels to Singapore the evening of November 14.

On November 15, he will hold a bilateral meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and then go to the leaders meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

At about 2 p.m. local time the same day, Obama will hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and then hold what the White House says is the first meeting between a U.S. president and all 10 leaders of the 10 Southeast Asian countries that make up ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Finally on November 15, Obama will hold a bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Reuters.

Read the rest of his schedule here. Next stop China and then S. Korea

Asian Pacific nations are concerned about free trade. Also in tow in Singapore:

AF1 arrived in Singapore at 6:50 p.m. local time. Stepping off the plane with POTUS were Pete Rouse, Valerie Jarrett, Jon Favreau, David Axelrod, Ben Rhodes and Robert Gibbs.
Politico (Note that Jon Favreau is a speechwriter, not the actor.)

Obama is also expected to meet Burma's (Myanmar) prime minister:

The United States president has arrived in Singapore to join a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders.

Barack Obama's Air Force One arrived at Singapore's Paya Lebar military airbase late on Saturday after the president visited Japan, part of his nine-day Asian tour that will also take him to China and South Korea.

Obama was expected to catch the end of a dinner with 20 other leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum, before taking part in the summit on Sunday.

The president has called for a new strategy to rebalance global growth, but Asian leaders at the summit are more concerned with US trade protectionism.

Obama is likely to repeat his call to redress economic imbalances blamed for causing the global financial crisis.
...
On the sidelines of the Apec summit, Obama plans to meet leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Thein Sein, Myanmar's prime minister, on Sunday.

The meeting will mark the first time in 43 years that a US president holds collective talks with a Myanmar leader.

US president set to hold talks with Thein Sein, Myanmar's prime minister, at Apec [EPA]
The Obama administration is embarking on a new policy towards Burma which it describes as engagement while keeping sanctions in place.Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera has an interesting special report called "China Buys the World."

Choice White House Photos June 5

Michelle and Nancy Reagan:

Michelle at the Met in NY

Michelle visits Ferebee-Hope Elementary school

Michelle Obama and the Congressional lunch bunch:

Michelle and Bancroft elementary school kids in the garden:

Katie Johnson, White House secretary, tries on helmet:

Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod:

Robert Gibbs and Axelrod:

Jon Favreau, Jim Messina, Patrick Gaspard:

Cell phones outside a meeting. Check out the Shepard Fairey "history" sticker:

Biden, Obama and Sotomayor wait for the big announcement:

All of these photos are by Pete Souza, White House photographer.
Video montage of Obama in Egypt:

Ben Rhodes Working on Obama's Egypt Speech

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s foreign policy speechwriter, is working on Obama's speech that he will give in Egypt June 4. Here's some insight into that process:

The process for the Cairo address will begin this week in the same way it has for other foreign policy speeches Rhodes has written since the Inauguration: Obama will summon Axelrod; Rhodes; Denis McDonough, a deputy national security adviser; and chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to the Oval Office.

The president will talk off the cuff for a half-hour or so about what he wants to say in the speech. Rhodes calls it the “download.”

Obama will go back to the speech, almost always by hand, three or four times before he’s satisfied.

“His criticism is more, ‘No, what I really wanted to say is this, and you didn’t quite capture that here,’” Rhodes said. “Generally, if he’s not happy with it, he knows why he’s not, so he gives you a pretty clear sense the first time he talks to you.”

The one thing that gets Obama annoyed, Rhodes said, is “wishy-washy language.”
.....

“He was making changes up to the last minute, which is not unusual, and so I literally had to do those in the back of the motorcade to this site and then find a zip drive that could plug into the teleprompter,” Rhodes recalled in an interview. “He likes to work on things until the end because he likes to get them just the way he wants them. So sometimes that’s easy, sometimes it’s you in the back of a van with a laptop on your knee hoping your battery doesn’t die.”

Said senior adviser David Axelrod: “Everybody here sort of lives with the reality that the president is the best speechwriter in the group.” Read more at Politico

Favs Drafting Inaugural Speech

Somehow, I can't shake Jon Favreau's stupid stunt with a Hillary Clinton cut-out. Some people have no appreciation for what they have.

WaPo: "He looks like he's in college and everybody calls him Favs, so you're like, 'This guy can't be for real, right?' " said Ben Rhodes, another Obama speechwriter. "But it doesn't take long to realize that he's totally synced up with Obama. . . . He has access to everything and everybody. There's a lot weighing on his shoulders."

Especially now, as Favreau and the rest of Obama's young staffers begin a transition that extends far beyond new job titles. Three months ago, Favreau lived in a group house with six friends in Chicago, where he rarely shaved, never cooked and sometimes stayed up to play video games until early morning. Now, he has transformed into what one friend called a "Washington political force" -- a minor celebrity with a down payment on a Dupont Circle condo, whose silly Facebook photos with a Hillary Rodham Clinton cutout created what passes for controversy in Obama's so far drama-free transition.

It seems he's just a talented guy trying to grow up:

Favreau believes he will transition well if he focuses exclusively on writing, which is why he has buried himself in the inaugural address. He moves while he writes to avoid becoming stale -- from the Starbucks, to his windowless transition office, to his new, one-bedroom condo, where the only furniture in place is a blow-up mattress on the hardwood floor. He sometimes writes until 2 or 3 a.m., fueled by double espresso shots and Red Bull. When deadline nears, a speech consumes him until he works 16-hour days and forgets to call home, do his laundry or pay his bills. He calls it "crashing."

Obama's Speechwriter Caught Being Stupid

I don't understand why talented people with good jobs do such idiotic things. What a moron. Doesn't he realize everything he does is going to be scrutinized.
The photo is really offensive.

WaPo: For a while there this afternoon, President-elect Barack Obama's immensely talented chief speechwriter, 27-year-old Jon Favreau, might have been pondering how to address that question.

That's when some interesting photos of a recent party he attended -- including one where he's dancing with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of secretary of state-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and another where he's placed his hand on the cardboard former first lady's chest while a friend is offering her lips a beer -- popped up on Facebook for about two hours. The photos were quickly taken down -- along with every other photo Favreau had of himself on the popular social networking site, save for one profile headshot.

Asked about the photos, Favreau, who was recently appointed director of speechwriting for the White House, declined comment. A transition official said that Favreau had "reached out to Senator Clinton to offer an apology."

Favreau is not the first campaign aide whose online presence has proved awkward. Last March, John McCain aide Soren Dayton forwarded an anti-Obama YouTube video to his private Twitter feed linking Obama with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, leading to his suspension from the campaign. And in 2007, two bloggers hired by former North Carolina senator John Edwards stepped down after blog posts they had written before he hired them became a subject of controversy.

The apparent non reaction from Hillary, who cried sexism throughout the campaign.