Arizona Gov. Brewer gets book critique from Obama

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.

The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.

Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book."

Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.

Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.

She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."

On the tarmac Wednesday, Brewer handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.

"I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is," she told reporters Wednesday. She said Obama complained that she described him as not treating her cordially.

"I said that I was sorry that he felt that way. Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."

A White House official said Brewer handed Obama a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The official said Obama told her he would be glad to meet with her again. The official said Obama did note that after their last meeting, which the official described as a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation between the president and the governor.

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In State of the Union address, Obama says ‘basic American promise’ is at risk

President Obama Has Intense Exchange With AZ Gov. Brewer: The White House pool report of President Obama's… http://t.co/aE2pikM7 via @tpm

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Vidéo : Le président Obama chante « Né This Way » par Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga ne manque pas de célèbres amis ; Tony Bennett récemment comparé la chanteuse postmoderne à Picasso, et maire de la ville de New York Michael Bloomberg partagé le baiser du nouvel an avec elle. Mais dans cette vidéo, le président Obama rabaisse le prompteur et se brise en chanson, effectuer une reprise de "Born cette manière. » du Gaga

Bien, très bien, président Obama n'est pas réellement « sing » la chanson. C'est un mash-up, mettant en vedette un assemblage de clips collés de Obama parlant des apparences et qui est mis en correspondance avec la musique de la chanson de Gaga. La chanson s'ouvre avec un clip réel de Obama traitant de la campagne des droits de l'homme, où il fait référence Gaga avant le début de la chanson cut-up :

Pour tous les petits monstres là-bas, la vidéo originale pour la chanson est ci-dessous :

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Michelle Obama helps break world record for jumping jacks

Michelle Obama sets the world record for jumping jacks (AP)

Michelle Obama has earned her family another place in history. This time, Mrs. Obama will share the honor with more than 300,000 other participants on Sunday who set the record for most people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period.

The previous world record was just 20,000.

In a video from the White House, seen below, Mrs. Obama thanked National Geographic Kids and the Guinness Book of World Records, who helped organize the event as part of Obama's Let's Move! initiative to promote physical fitness and healthy eating for children. She also said she hopes that physical fitness will be a priority for the kids who participated.

"More than anything, I want to say, thanks to every single young person who showed that exercise isn't just good for you, but that it's fun too," Mrs. Obama said.

On Sunday, Mrs. Obama led about 400 kids from elementary and middle schools in the Washington area on the South Lawn of the White House. Other jumping jack events were held around the world to reach the world-record mark.

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On private call, Republicans say attacking Obama personally is too dangerous: Yahoo News exclusive

Obama greets a crowd at Wilkes Barre/Scranton International Airport (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Republicans on a private Republican National Committee conference call with allies warned Tuesday that party surrogates should refrain from personal attacks against President Barack Obama, because such a strategy is too hazardous for the GOP.

"We're hesitant to jump on board with heavy attacks" personally against President Obama, Nicholas Thompson, the vice president of polling firm the Tarrance Group, said on the call. "There's a lot of people who feel sorry for him."

Recent polling data indicates that while the president suffers from significantly low job approval ratings, voters still give "high approval" to Obama personally, Thompson said.

Voters "don't think he's an evil man who's out to change the United States" for the worse--even though many of the same survey respondents agree that his policies have harmed the country, Thompson said. The upshot, Thompson stressed, is that Republicans should "exercise some caution" when talking about the president personally.

On the call--which Yahoo News was invited to attend because of a mistake by someone on the staff of the Republican National Committee--Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for George W. Bush, encouraged Republicans to turn around Democratic attacks lobbed at the GOP presidential candidates (Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, for starters) for "flip-flopping."

"I don't like playing defense," Fleischer said. He suggested the listeners to Tuesday's call label the president as a flip-flopper on the following issues: opposing tax increases for those making under $250,000, opposing the Bush tax cuts, opposing raising the debt limit, and opposing a health care mandate.

"When it comes to flip flopping, Barack Obama is the king of flip flopping," Fleischer said. "You can offer that to anybody," he suggested.

Thompson noted that Obama may be boxed in by similarly strong personal approval numbers for Republican lawmakers as he ponders attacking the GOP House majority during the 2012 campaign.

"Obama running against Congress is not going to work," Thompson said.

In a poll conducted in early November by the Tarrance Group and the Democratic group Lake Research for Politico and George Washington University, voters gave their personal member of Congress a 46 percent approval rating--even higher than the 44 percent personal approval numbers for Obama in the survey, Thompson said. (The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.)

Fifty-eight percent of the voters surveyed disapproved of how Obama is handling relations with Congress, according to Tarrance's November poll.

"It's a tough road for him when you look at those numbers," Thompson said of the president.

Thompson said that his group's research suggests that voters are giving Obama higher approval on foreign policy than on the issue of jobs and the economy.

Voters aren't simply looking at the president as the symbol for a "broken Washington," Thompson said.

Update 3:40 p.m.: Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer followed up with Yahoo News to say the story "misses the point" and that Tuesday's call wasn't about ways to avoid attacking the president, it was about sharing the best strategies for attacks. "It makes more sense to focus on his failed policies than on personal attacks," Spicer told Yahoo News of their data regarding the president.

Ari Fleischer also emailed Yahoo News to share his complete list of Obama flip-flops, which, in addition to the points above, includes: promising to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term; vowing to lower unemployment below 8 percent following the stimulus; falling short on shovel-ready jobs; contradicting himself on constitutional rights-- condemning Bush but then supporting "warrantless wiretaps, indefinite detentions, secret renditions and kept [Guantanamo] open; giving lobbyists waivers to work at the White House after saying they wouldn't work there; and refusing public financing in 2008 after vowing to accept it.

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Obama defends American faith amid GOP critique

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney accuses President Barack Obama of considering America "just another nation." To other GOP politicians running for the White House, Obama has apologized for the United States and is presiding over the nation's decline.

Now comes the counteroffensive.

The president of the United States is defending his faith in America, confronting GOP efforts to undercut his leadership and raise questions about his patriotism as he seeks re-election.

In the battle over "American exceptionalism," Obama used a recent trip to Asia to highlight America's role as the strongest and most influential nation on earth. In this election season, responding to the Republican critique is essential for Obama, the only incumbent ever compelled to show a birth certificate to defend his legitimacy.

"Sometimes the pundits and the newspapers and the TV commentators love to talk about how America is slipping and America is in decline," Obama said Wednesday at a New York fundraiser. "That's not what you feel when you're in Asia. They're looking to us for leadership. They know that America is great not just because we're powerful, but also because we have a set of values that the world admires."

"We don't just think about what's good for us, but we're also thinking about what's good for the world," he said. "That's what makes us special. That's what makes us exceptional."

Republicans have seized on "American exceptionalism," a belief among many in the nation that the U.S. is special among global powers, and tried to portray Obama as expressing ambivalence about the promise of his own country. The message resounds with party activists who still admire President Ronald Reagan, who memorialized America as that "Shining City on a Hill" during the 1980s.

"We have a president right now who thinks America's just another nation. America is an exceptional nation," Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said during a GOP debate in Las Vegas last month. Even his campaign slogan — "Believe in America" — suggests that the current president doesn't.

Others have tried to use it to their advantage.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly last month, said Obama had "traveled around the country making excuses for America, apologizing for America, saying that America is not an exemplary country."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticized Obama after 16 Latin American and Caribbean nations filed "friend of the court" briefs in a Justice Department lawsuit against a tough new immigration law in South Carolina, home to an important GOP primary. "It makes you wonder what country does President Obama think he is president of," Gingrich said.

Obama has given detractors ample material for their attacks.

At a San Francisco fundraiser in October, the president talked about the importance of investing in education, new roads and bridges and other ways to build the economy.

"We used to have the best stuff. Anybody been to Beijing Airport lately?" Obama said, asking what has changed. "Well, we've lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam." Republicans picked up on the comments, accusing Obama of calling Americans unambitious.

During a meeting with business executives in Honolulu last month, Obama was asked about impediments to investment in the U.S. He said many foreign investors see opportunity here, "but we've been a little bit lazy, I think over the last couple of decades." The "lazy" comments were quickly turned into an attack ad from Perry.

During a 2009 news conference, Obama was asked whether he subscribed to the concept of American exceptionalism. He said he believed in American exceptionalism, "just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

The president said he was "enormously proud of my country" and highlighted the nation's "core set of values enshrined in our Constitution" that ensure democracy, free speech and equality. Words that voters are likely to hear more of during the next year.

A Gallup poll in December 2010 found that 80 percent of Americans thought the U.S. had a unique character that made it the greatest country in the world. The survey found that 91 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement.

In the same poll, 34 percent of Republicans said Obama believed the U.S. was the greatest country in the world, while 83 percent of Democrats said he did.

The American exceptionalism argument has traditionally signaled U.S. strength overseas and the promotion of American values such as freedom of speech and religion. But with Obama's rise, it has taken on a new meaning.

At a time of economic discord, it builds on the notion that America's weakened economy could hurt its standing across the globe. It offers a critique of Obama's foreign policy credentials, even as troops begin heading home from Iraq and the U.S. role in Afghanistan is transitioning.

It also represents a subtle way to question Obama's patriotism, the seeds of which reside in the "birther" movement that questioned the legitimacy of Obama's presidency. Suspicions over Obama's citizenship eventually prompted the White House to produce the president's long-form birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii.

Yet Democrats don't see this as a debilitating issue for the president, but more a matter of fodder in the Republican primary. Obama, they say, can draw upon it to show optimism in the country.

"Obama is powerful proof of American exceptionalism, that this country has certain set of ideals," said Democratic consultant Bob Shrum. "His election and his presidency is a testament to the character of the country."

Obama has been assertive in recent weeks about America's unique role in the world as it shifts away from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his nine-day Asian trip last month, the president reiterated the U.S.'s growing role in the region and stressed that "American leadership is still welcome."

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

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Obama Leaves God out of Thanksgiving Speech, Riles Critics

Critics of President Obama felt little holiday cheer after the president did not thank God in his Thanksgiving-themed weekly Internet address. They immediately took to Twitter and the Internet to voice anger and disbelief.

"Holy cow! Is that one screwed up or what?" columnist Sherman Frederick of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote in a Thanksgiving-morning blog post.

"Somebody ought to remind Obama (and his speechwriter) that when Americans sit down around a meal today and give thanks, they give thanks to God."

Over on the website of Fox News Radio, radio host Todd Starnes also took issue.

"His remarks were void of any religious references, although Thanksgiving is a holiday traditionally steeped in giving thanks and praise to God," Starnes wrote.

"The president said his family was 'reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are,'" Starnes said. "For many Americans, though, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how blessed and thankful they are."

The popular website of London's Daily Mail has taken the issue global, with a story under the headline "What a Turkey! Outrage as Obama Leaves God Out of His Thanksgiving Address."

Obama mentioned God once in a closing "God bless you," to Americans watching the Internet address. However, the President explicitly thanked God earlier in the week in his written Thanksgiving proclamation, which called the holiday "one of our nation's oldest and most cherished traditions," and an occasion that "brings us closer to our loved ones and invites us to reflect on the blessings that enrich our lives."

"As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives. Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come," Obama wrote.

Ironically, the attacks on Obama came as the Republican White House hopefuls suspended their criticism of the president on Thursday in favor of a unified message of thanks to U.S. service members and their families.

Three of the Republican presidential candidates – Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum – issued Thanksgiving statements that omitted any references to God. Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Perry mentioned God in their statements.

Obama, like his predecessors, records an address each week that focuses on an issue the White House wants to spotlight. The messages are typically posted on the Internet at the start of the weekend, but this week's address – with its Thanksgiving theme – was issued before the holiday.

In this week's address, delivered from the White House, Obama said, "We are especially grateful for the men and women who defend our country overseas," and he said, "We're also grateful for the Americans taking time from their holiday to serve in soup kitchens and shelters."

He acknowledged this Thanksgiving would be "more difficult than most" for many Americans because of the economy, but added, "No matter how tough things are right now, we still give thanks for that most American of blessings, the chance to determine our own destiny."

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Romney turns up the heat on Obama in New Hampshire

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney unveiled his first television ad of the election cyle this week in New Hampshire, kicking off a major media push in the state.

The 60-second spot ignores Romney's Republican primary opponents and strikes directly against President Obama, who is scheduled to visit Manchester Tuesday.

Democrats on Tuesday took issue with the part of the ad that quotes Obama saying, "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose," pointing out that Romney took the quote out of context. Obama used the line in 2008, but he was talking about his opponent, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, not his own campaign. What Obama did say at the time, was this: "Senator McCain's campaign actually said, and I quote, 'If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.'" In response, the Democratic National Committee slammed Romney, calling him "a serial deceiver."

Apart from the video, Romney also penned a two-page open letter to the president, which three of the state's largest newspapers will publish this week.

"I will be blunt. Your policies have failed," Romney writes. "It is bad enough that they have fallen short even by the standards your own administration set for itself. But things are much worse than that. Far from bringing the crisis to an end, your policies have actively hindered economic recovery. In some cases, they were the exact opposite of what our government should have been doing."

"It is not America's laziness that is the problem, as you recently suggested," Romney goes on to say. "It is your policies."

As the former governor of a neighboring state and a Granite State property owner, Romney--should he become the GOP nominee--would presumably enjoy something of a home-field advantage against Obama in New Hampshire, who won the state against Republican presidential candidate John McCain by nearly 10 percentage points in 2008.

You can read the full letter after the jump.

Dear President Obama,

Welcome to New Hampshire.

I hope you enjoy your visit. In 49 days, voters here will be going to the polls to choose a Republican nominee to run against you. I would like to lay out for you some of what I will be saying on the campaign trail if I am fortunate enough to become my party's candidate.

I would begin by acknowledging that you were dealt a hard hand. You came into office in the midst of an economic crisis that was not of your making. You were asked to face great challenges and to solve difficult problems. The tasks before you would have taxed the abilities of any new president.

But we now have had three years to watch your policies unfold and to assess their results. The evidence is in and it is unequivocal. I will be blunt. Your policies have failed. It is bad enough that they have fallen short even by the standards your own administration set for itself. But things are much worse than that. Far from bringing the crisis to an end, your policies have actively hindered economic recovery. In some cases, they were the exact opposite of what our government should have been doing.

You and your advisors sold your economic "stimulus" package to Congress on the basis of a forecast that it would hold unemployment below 8 percent. There is a reason why this projection was wildly off base and that unemployment soared above 10 percent and is now stuck around 9 percent. Your stimulus bill was filled with special interest giveaways, and eased the way for your administration to shovel loan guarantees out the door to politically connected "green" technology firms, some of which are now in bankruptcy, with the taxpayers on the hook for more than $500 million.

Even where crony capitalism did not get in the way, so many projects were far from "shovel ready" or had absolutely nothing to do with creating jobs. Nearly a trillion dollars of tax dollars was spent, our budget deficit exploded, and some 25 million Americans remain either unemployed, underemployed, or have given up seeking work altogether. You placed a burden of debt on America that will take generations to repay and we got almost nothing in return.

You also failed to grasp the impact of your policies on the American business climate. Investment depends upon a degree of certainty, but your administration made it impossible for enterprises to make accurate forecasts about their future costs. If companies have stopped hiring in America, it is in no small part because of policies, including Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, and an astonishing tangle of new federal regulations that have snuffed out investment. If we are ever to get America back to work, they all must be repealed.

I will also be talking about how you have catered to favored special interests, like civil-service unions and environmentalists, at the expense of American workers. Take your decision to "delay" building the state-of-the-art Keystone XL oil pipeline. Some 20,000 American jobs are at stake. You may not regard that as a large number, but every one of the unemployed men and women whose future you have sacrificed to satisfy your political base in the environmentalist left deserve far better. And this is but one of many examples I can cite.

America deserves better.

It is not America's laziness that is the problem, as you recently suggested. It is your policies.

So once again, Mr. President, welcome to New Hampshire. We need a great debate about how best to get our country working again. We can't afford four more years of failure. I believe in unleashing America's potential. That is what my own campaign for the presidency is all about.

Sincerely,

Mitt Romney

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Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden Draw Boos at NASCAR Event

(Alan Diaz/AP Photo)

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden were grand marshals at today’s NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, appearing as part of their charitable campaign to support military veterans and their families.

But their benign, bipartisan cause wasn’t enough to prevent public fallout from the nation’s polarized political climate as they were introduced before the crowd.

ESPN video from the event documented loud boos from some in the stands as the announcer named Obama and Biden, seconds before they delivered the “most famous words in motorsports,” telling drivers to start their engines.

The pair — who co-chair the Joining Forces initiative — stood beside retired Army Sgt. Andrew Barry and his family. Barry was wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan, retired from the military in 2009 and now volunteers at an Orlando veterans center, the announcer said. He received resounding applause.

A source traveling with the first lady downplayed the incident, telling ABC News there was no discernible booing during the “loud chaotic program with jets flying over and tons of noise.”

The Associated Press reported that the two women received a standing ovation at the pre-race meeting with drivers, during which Obama said NASCAR was “amazing in terms of its support, not just today but every day, for military families.”

Before the race, the first lady addressed a barbeque for military families that NASCAR had invited to the event.

“Everyone around the country is focused on you.  And this isn’t just an effort today,” she said. “ Jill and I through Joining Forces, we want to make this a part of the dialogue in this country forever.  Whether Jill or I are here or not, whether this administration is here or not, this is about the way we want this country to talk about our troops, veterans and military families forever.  We want you to feel that appreciation and that gratitude so that you know your sacrifice is not in vain.”

The negative reaction from fans was first reported by Mediaite.

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Australia probes Obama security slip

Australian officials were working Sunday to trace how a top-secret dossier containing detailed plans for US President Barack Obama's recent visit to Australia came to be found in a gutter.

The 125-page booklet, classified "In Confidence" and containing the phone numbers and contact details of senior personnel from Australia and the US, was found near parliament on Thursday by a Fairfax journalist.

"The incident is currently being investigated," a spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland told AFP.

"In line with long standing practice, the Australian Government does not comment on security matters," he added.

Most of the manual was devoted to a minute-by-minute schedule of Obama's movements during his 27-hour visit to Canberra and Darwin last week, even detailing which car door he would use and the seating arrangements within his convoys.

It also ran through the exact breakdown of his secret service detail and motorcade arrangements, including Obama's ambulance, counter-assault teams, communications and intelligence, according to the journalist, Dylan Welch.

The booklet cover stated that the information was "not to be communicated either directly or indirectly to any person not authorised to receive it", Welch said, and it included contact details for a range of figures.

It also named a long-serving member responsible for Obama's protection.

Welch claimed to have found it in a gutter 100 metres from Parliament House on early on Thursday.

During his Australia tour, Obama addressed a joint sitting of the nation's lawmakers there that morning, before heading to Darwin to address troops.

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