Officially, the White House says Obama never went to Mars. Only if you count watching Marvin the Martian, Tommy Vietor, the spokesman for the National Security Council, tells Danger Room. But thats exactly what a secret chrononaut wants you to believe.
Documents released in a classic Friday afternoon news dump show that labor unions representing 543,812 workers received waivers from President Barack Obamas signature legislation since June 17, 2011.
By contrast, private employers with a total of 69,813 employees, many of whom work for small businesses, were granted waivers.
The Department of Health and Human Services revised the rules governing applications for health reform waivers June 17, 2011, amid a steady stream of controversial news reports, including The Daily Callers story that nearly 20 percent of last Mays waivers went to businesses in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis district in California.
Michelle Obama clashed frequently with Rahm Emmanuel, her husband's White House chief of staff, as the pair vied for influence over the President, according to a new book.
The First Lady reportedly believed that Mr Emmanuel's willingness to cut backroom deals during the battle over health care reform was tainting Barack Obama's image as a new kind of American leader.
The Obamas paints a picture of a presidential inner circle divided between Mrs Obama's idealistic belief in what the administration could achieve and the grittier pragmatism of Mr Emmanuel.
The book, written by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, claims that the chief of staff refused to allow the president's wife into high-level morning meetings, leading a brooding Mrs Obama to berate other senior advisers by email.
She allegedly sent furious notes to Alyssa Mastromonaco, the president's director of scheduling, and to Valerie Jarrett, a Chicago friend who now serves as one President Obama's top advisors. Ms Jarrett was said to remove the First Lady's name before circulating the emails widely within the West Wing.
The then-press secretary Robert Gibbs was apparently often dispatched to placate Mrs Obama when limits were put on the amount she could spend on clothes or White House redecoration, as well as to explain why she could not take private holiday while on state visits.
Aides were said to refer her East Wing office as "Guam" because it was "pleasant but powerless".
The tension between Mrs Obama and Mr Emmanuel, a hardened political operative who is now Mayor of Chicago, reached a fever pitch during the battle for healthcare reform in late 2009 and early 2010.
#4
It is kind of scary that Her Majesty thought Rahmbo was too much of a compromiser. I wonder if she's still proud of her country, or if we've once again dashed her expectations.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/07/2012 13:40 Comments ||
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#5
limits were put on the amount she could spend on clothes
I thought, based on what I've seen, The Salvation Army (God bless'em), gave clothes away.
Posted by: Clilet Darling of the Ostrogoths8010 ||
01/07/2012 14:31 Comments ||
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#6
"... the chief of staff refused to allow the president's wife into high-level morning meetings..."
#7
I believe it was Hillary Clinton that established that the President and First Lady are a package deal. In other words, you vote for both of them. After all she did say, "We are the President". In addition, Michelle didn't want to go to Washington, she wanted to stay in Chicago. Makes me wonder just how stable that marriage is.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/07/2012 16:25 Comments ||
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#8
I don't wonder at all. Two egos that big cannot coexist indefinitely. As soon as the fame and fortune dries up, she's gone.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
