Obama's Weekly Address June 23

Obama's Speech in Tampa Florida June 22 Video

Romney's Bain Specialized in Shipping Jobs to China

From the Washington Post:

Mitt Romney’s financial company, Bain Capital, invested in a series of firms that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries like China and India.

.....

While Bain was not the largest player in the outsourcing field, the private equity firm was involved early on, at a time when the departure of jobs from the United States was beginning to accelerate and new companies were emerging as handmaidens to this outflow of employment. Bain played several roles in helping these outsourcing companies, such as investing venture capital so they could grow and providing management and strategic business advice as they navigated this rapidly developing field.

During the nearly 15 years that Romney was actively involved in running Bain, a private equity firm that he founded, it owned companies that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Meanwhile, Romney campaign quibbles over outsourcing vs. offshoring. The problem is Mitt says he's a "job creator" and he's not. He's a money pusher and a gatherer of money -- for himself. Here's the latest Romney lie list.

Obama Speaks at NALEO June 22 Video

Full video:



Partial video for now. The rousing applause on this clip is in stark contrast to Romney's entire speech to NALEO yesterday:


We knew this ad was coming, seeing that Romney has refused to answer certain questions about immigration:

West Wing Week June 22

West Wing Week is also in Spanish this week:

Hillary Clinton Dons Crazy Glasses to Swear in Mike Hammer

Obama's Schedule June 22

Times are eastern.

10:00 AM
Obama departs the White House en route Joint Base Andrews.
10:15 AM
Obama departs Joint Base Andrews en route Orlando, Florida.
12:15 PM
Obama arrives in Orlando, Florida.
1:40 PM
Obama delivers remarks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ Annual Conference.
2:55 PM
Obama departs Orlando, Florida en route Tampa, Florida.
3:30 PM
Obama arrives in Tampa, Florida.
4:15 PM
Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event.
6:35 PM
Obama departs Tampa, FL en route Joint Base Andrews.
8:30 PM
Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews.
8:45 PM
Obama arrives at the White House.

White House Press Briefing June 21

Romney's Speech to Latino Leaders in Orlando June 21

Fear not, Obama speaks to the NALEO group tomorrow. Romney was confronted by a student after his speech. She asked about the DREAM Act and reportedly received no answer. Romney also said at the 12:50 mark that Obama had not completed a trade deal with a Latin American nation, when he has. I'm not sure what Romney's thinking or maybe I'm missing something.
Another blatant lie: Mitt refers to Obama's immigration policy change as an "executive order." It was not. At 14:30 min mark:

White house Press Briefing at G20 June 18

Obama Speaks on Student Loan Rates June 21

Full video:

Obama's Schedule June 21

Times are eastern.

10:00 AM
Obama and Biden receive the presidential daily briefing.
10:30 AM
Obama meets with senior advisors.
12:00 PM
Carney briefs the press.
12:30 PM
Obama and Biden meet for lunch.
1:40 PM
Obama will speak on the need for Congress to stop student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1. LIVE STREAM
3:00 PM
Obama meets with John Bryson, who resigned today, citing medical issues.

Romney Asks Florida Governor to Downplay Job Growth

Romney doesn't care much for the American people. One thing I know for sure is Obama cares.

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named.
What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies. Bloomberg

Eric Holder's Statement on Republican Charade June 20

Until now, I haven't posted anything on Fast and Furious for the following reasons:
1) Republicans have it out for Eric Holder for many of the same reasons they dislike Obama. Holder also believes that voting should be fair and republicans are against that.

Elegantly said by LOLGOP on Twitter: "The GOP. Keeping millions of Americans out of work to take away two black guys' jobs."

2) Only the republicans are hollering.
3) Fast and Furious was started under Bush.
4) Darrell Issa is a nitwit, putting it nicely. He's incredibly partisan.
I think most people see through this republican charade.

Here's Holder's statement:

Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Vote
Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement today:

“In recent months, the Justice Department has made unprecedented accommodations to respond to information requests by Chairman Issa about misguided law enforcement tactics that began in the previous administration and allowed illegal guns to be taken into Mexico.  Department professionals have spent countless hours compiling and providing thousands of documents -- nearly 8,000 -- to Chairman Issa and his committee.   My staff has had numerous meetings with congressional staff to try and accommodate these requests and yesterday, I met with Chairman Issa to offer additional internal Department documents and information that would satisfy what he identified as the Committee’s single outstanding question.

“Unfortunately, Chairman Issa has rejected all of these efforts to reach a reasonable accommodation.  Instead, he has chosen to use his authority to take an extraordinary, unprecedented and entirely unnecessary action, intended to provoke an avoidable conflict between Congress and the Executive Branch.  This divisive action does not help us fix the problems that led to this operation or previous ones and it does nothing to make any of our law enforcement agents safer.  It's an election-year tactic intended to distract attention -- and, as a result -- has deflected critical resources from fulfilling what remains my top priority at the Department of Justice:  Protecting the American people.

“Simply put, any claims that the Justice Department has been unresponsive to requests for information are untrue.  From the beginning, Chairman Issa and certain members of the Committee have made unsubstantiated allegations first, then scrambled for facts to try to justify them later. That might make for good political theater, but it does little to uncover the truth or address the problems associated with this operation and prior ones dating back to the previous Administration.

“I have spent most of my career in law enforcement and worked closely with brave agents who put their lives on the line every day.  I know the sacrifices they make, so as soon as allegations of gunwalking came to my attention – and well before Chairman Issa expressed any interest in this issue -- I ordered the practice stopped.  I made necessary personnel changes in the Department's leadership and instituted policy changes to ensure better oversight of significant investigations.  And, I directed the Department's Inspector General to open a comprehensive investigation.  That investigation is ongoing, and the American people and Congress can count on it to produce a tough, independent review of the facts.

“When Chairman Issa later began his own investigation, I made it clear that the Department would cooperate with all appropriate oversight requests, while still adhering to our legal obligations to protect information involving ongoing law enforcement investigations, legally-protected grand jury material and other sensitive information whose disclosure would endanger the American people or our agents investigating open cases.

“The American people deserve better.  That is why, I will remain focused on, and committed to, the Justice Department’s mission to protect the rights, safety, and best interests of my fellow citizens and to stand by my brave colleagues in law enforcement.”

Romney Supporter Ariz Secretary of State's New Birther Twist

Arizona politicians are nutters. Birthers have no idea how absurd their behavior is. Here's the reason why birthers are racist. Birthers, like Ken Bennett, could simply oppose Obama on policy, but they don't. They make it personal. Birtherism is an emotional reaction to the president being black. It's a s sickness.
"I think we need to take him at his word, and send him back home.... where ever home is," said Ken Bennett, Arizona Secretary of State.  Then he goes on to say that he believes Obama was born in Hawaii (which contradicts his above statement).
Instead, Bennet offers a new twist. He said that Obama lied and said he was born in Kenya so he could get into college. Think about what Bennett is trying to say about Obama -- that Obama couldn't be smart enough to get into college. Here is Obama, an accomplished man who is President of the U.S. and here is this guy ignoring all of that, only seeing race.

Romney's $100,000 Donors Get Input on Strategy at Posh Weekend Retreat

Romney, weak on what normal people are like, should actually spend a retreat with real people, not the 1%. From today's Washington Post:

Fresh off the best fundraising stretch of his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney plans to spend this weekend strategizing and fraternizing with his biggest bundlers at a posh resort in Park City, Utah.

The presumptive nominee and his senior advisers and aides are hosting two days of policy sessions and campaign strategy discussions at a Deer Valley resort for more than 100 top fundraisers and their spouses. Those who raised more than $100,000 are expected to attend. WaPo

Bloomberg Poll: Obama 53 Romney 40

Who knew? The media give Romney the edge pretty much always. They say that people blame Obama for the economy and the economy is all that matters. Well, maybe people are smarter. Maybe they understand the depths of the recession that Obama was handed, maybe they see a president who's done the best possible job of cleaning up a series of messes, maybe they see the global economic picture, maybe they see the shift in our economy that's bigger than politics, maybe they see the economy improving, maybe they see that republicans haven't done anything but obstruct, maybe they see the GOP as a party that's not open to diversity, maybe they see a GOP wanting to take us back in time on social issues, maybe they see Romney as out of touch with normal people, a businessman with no life experience in the real world (he doesn't even know what a donut is), maybe they see the silver spoon hanging out of his mouth, maybe you just can't pull a fast one on the American people. Maybe.

Barack Obama has opened a significant lead over Mitt Romney in a Bloomberg National Poll that reflects the presumed Republican nominee’s weaknesses more than the president’s strengths.

Obama leads Romney 53 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, even as the public gives him low marks on handling the economy and the deficit, and six in 10 say the nation is headed down the wrong track, according to the poll conducted June 15- 18. Bloomberg

There is also the right track, wrong track question in this poll, which maybe the media is misreading:

More troubling for Obama’s re-election bid, just 31 percent say the nation is headed in the right direction compared with 62 percent who say it’s on the wrong track.

It's difficult to say the economy is on the right track when there's still so much improvement to be made. We won't begin to say it's on the right track until we see our incomes, our job prospectives and our overall well being improve relative to those at the top.

Obama's Meeting With Mexico's Calderon at G20

Obama's Closing Press Conference at G20 June 19

Read the entire transcript. Video in full:




Obama asked about Romney's advisors: America's political differences end at the waters edge:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. One of Mitt Romney's economic advisors recently wrote in a German publication that your recommendations to Europe and to Germany in particular reveal ignorance of the causes of the crisis, and he said that they have the same flaws as your own economic policies. I want to get your response to that, and also to follow up on Ben's question. Europe has been kicking the can down the road for years, so why are you any more convinced that we won't see another three-month fix emerge out of Brussels at the end of the month?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, first of all, with respect to Mr. Romney's advisors, I suggest you go talk to Mr. Romney about his advisors. I would point out that we have one President at a time and one administration at a time, and I think traditionally the notion has been that America's political differences end at the water's edge. I'd also suggest that he may not be familiar with what our suggestions to the Germans have been. And I think sometimes back home there is a desire to superimpose whatever ideological arguments are taking place back home on to a very complicated situation in Europe.

The situation in Europe is a combination of things. You've got situations where some countries did have undisciplined fiscal practices, public debt. You had some countries like Spain whose problems actually arose out of housing speculation and problems in the private sector that didn’t have to do with public debt.

I think that there's no doubt that all the countries in Europe at this point recognize the need for growth strategies inside of Europe that are consistent with fiscal consolidation plans -- and by the way, that's exactly what I think the United States should be thinking about. The essence of the plan that I presented back in September was how do we increase growth and jobs now while providing clarity in terms of how we reduce our deficit and our debt medium and long term.

And I think that's the right recipe generally -- not just for us, but across the board.

You had a second question. What was it?

Q Why are you --

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Why am I confident? Well, look, I don't want to sound Pollyanna-ish here. Resolving the issues in Europe is difficult. As I said, there are a lot of players involved. There are a lot of complexities to the problems, because we're talking about the problems of a bunch of different countries at this point. Changing market psychology is very difficult. But the tools are available. The sense of urgency among the leaders is clear. And so what we have to do is combine that sense of urgency with the tools that are available and bridge them in a timely fashion that can provide markets confidence. And I think that can be done.

Hopefully -- just to give an example -- when Spain clarifies exactly how it intends to draw down and utilize dollars -- or not dollars, but euros to recapitalize its banking system, given that it's already got support from other European countries, given that the resources are available, what's missing right now is just a sense of specifics and the path whereby that takes place. When markets see that, that can help build confidence and reverse psychology.

So there are going to be a range of steps that they can take. None of them are going to be a silver bullet that solves this thing entirely over the next week or two weeks or two months. But each step points to the fact that Europe is moving towards further integration rather than breakup, and that these problems can be resolved -- and points to the underlying strength in Europe's economies.

These are not countries that somehow at their core are unproductive or dysfunctional; these are advanced economies with extraordinarily productive people. They’ve got a particular challenge that has to do with a currency union that didn’t have all the best bells and whistles of a fiscal or a monetary union, and they're catching up now to some of those needs. And they just need the time and the space to do it. In the meantime, they've got to send a strong signal to the market, and I'm confident they can do that.

All right. Thank you very much, everybody.

Obama's Schedule at G20 June 19

Times are eastern.

11:00 AM	The President attends the second G-20 plenary session Local Event Time:  9:00AM MDT Convention Center Closed Press
1:30 PM	The President attends the third G-20 plenary session Local Event Time:  11:30AM MDT Convention Center Closed Press
3:45 PM	The President attends a working lunch Local Event Time:  1:45PM MDT Convention Center Closed Press
5:20 PM	The President attends the closing ceremony of the G-20 Summit Local Event Time:  3:20PM MDT Convention Center Closed Press
5:45 PM	The President holds a bilateral meeting with President Hu of China Local Event Time:  3:45PM MDT Convention Center Pool Spray at the Top
7:30 PM	The President holds a press conference Local Event Time:  5:30PM MDT  LIVE STREAM Convention Center Open to pre-credentialed media
8:40 PM	The President departs Los Cabos, Mexico Local Event Time:  6:40PM MDT Los Cabos International Airport Travel Pool Coverage