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President Barack Obama will leave the country for a four-nation tour of Asia starting Wednesday despite a host of domestic concerns, including the massacre at Fort Hood, a sharply rising jobless rate, his health care legislation stalled in the Senate and his Afghanistan troop decision still pending. He planned his Nov. 11-19 trip around the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Singapore, but added stops in Japan, China and South Korea. The itinerary reflects the growing importance of East Asia — especially China — to everything from financing U.S. debt and powering the global economic recovery to climate change, disease...

<p>WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is pushing back a trip to Capitol Hill aimed at discussing the proposed health care overhaul with lawmakers.</p> <p>Obama had planned to head to the Capitol on Friday. Now the White House schedule shows Obama planning to visit the Capitol on Saturday.</p>

Michael Barone finds it odd that Barack Obama can go to Oslo and Copenhagen for mainly personal reasons, but somehow can’t find the time to travel to Berlin to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall — the climax of the Cold War and the West’s triumph. Given the key role played by the US in the collapse of Soviet Communism, people have good cause to wonder why the leader of the free world can find time to pick up an award for himself and pitch his hometown to the International Olympic Committee, but not to...

The prospects of a global deal to tackle climate change diminished last night after a senior US official played down the chances of President Obama attending December’s UN summit in Copenhagen . Todd Stern, US Special Envoy for Climate Change, said that President Obama would go to Copenhagen only if sufficient progress was being made in the negotiations. Last week Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change secretary, appealed to President Obama to intervene to rescue the deal and said his presence in Copenhagen could make the all the difference between success and failure. Mr Stern, speaking in London, said:...

COLLEGE STATION — Our president, navigating through a difficult rookie year, on Friday made his first trip to our state since he got the gig in January. Barack Obama came to College Station to honor George H.W. Bush on the 20th anniversary of the ex-president's "Points of Light" speech that sparked a volunteer effort that has helped countless folks. So nice. A Democratic president and an ex-GOP president ignoring party differences for a day. The event crossed generations. It bridged racial divide. And it reminded us that the folks who really play politics for keeps know there's a time to...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will be in New Orleans today, making his first post-inauguration visit to a city and region desperate to impress upon him both the long strides made since Hurricane Katrina and the daunting challenges yet ahead in housing, education, health care, levee protection and coastal restoration. The stopover will clock in at three hours and 45 minutes, enough time to visit the only school to reopen in the Lower 9th Ward since Katrina, conduct a town hall at the University of New Orleans, and grab a to-go order from Dooky Chase. "I know he likes gumbo,...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, who accused former President George W. Bush of leading a government "that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns," is hearing directly from New Orleans residents who have struggled to rebuild their city since the 2005 hurricane season. Obama arrives in New Orleans Thursday on his first presidential trip to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. About 1,600 people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina, which caused $40 billion in damages and displaced 1 million people from their homes.

Obama: 'We Will Not Forget' Troubled New Orleans ASSOCIATED PRESS October 15, 2009 NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- President Barack Obama is promising the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast that his administration ''will not forget'' them as they work to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Obama says he makes no excuses for the fact that the federal government didn't work effectively with state and local officials in the aftermath of the storm four years ago. But he says his administration is ''working around the clock to clean up red tape and eliminate bureaucracy.''

President Barack Obama warned his critics Thursday that on healthcare and other agenda items that he is "not tired" and he is "just getting started." In fiery remarks at at townhall meeting in New Orleans before a "feisty crowd," Obama repeated his belief that healthcare reform would pass this year, and he again said that change would not be easy. The president drew raucous applause after he joked that he was taking criticism from the media for not solving world hunger in his first nine months in office. Even as Obama said that change would take time, he did vow...

Making his first visit to Louisiana since becoming the nation's 44th chief executive, President Barack Obama told a spirited crowd at the University of New Orleans on Thursday that he will help build a stronger Gulf Coast than the one Hurricane Katrina and broken levees wrecked four years ago. "I promise you this -- whether it's me coming down here or my Cabinet or other members of my administration -- we will not forget about New Orleans," Obama said. "We are going to keep on working. . . . Together, we will rebuild this region, and we will build it...

US President Barack Obama has shelved his plans to attend festivities marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will reportedly take his place at the Nov. 9 celebrations. Germany is going to have to wait longer than expected for US President Barack Obama's first official visit. Citing government sources in Berlin, Reuters reported on Friday that Obama will not attend the anniversary festivities marking two decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event will take place on Nov. 9 -- just two days before Obama embarks on a long-planned...

Hundreds of supporters donating millions of dollars came to hear President Barack Obama speak in San Francisco on Thursday night, but not everyone came to cheer. A huge crowd of protesters also turned out to deliver messages of their own. By 11 p.m. many of the protesters cleared out, but many of them acknowledge the president probably never saw them. Some protesters said they still feel good that they go their opinion out there, hoping someone in the crowd heard or saw their message.

In Norway they may think that President Barack Obama has a great knack for peace, but around here his forte seems to be stirring up strife. New Orleans is mad because Obama's visit tomorrow will be little more than a whistlestop. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is mad because New Orleans gets all the attention, such as it is, while the lingering effects of Katrina over there are ignored. And from southwest Louisiana comes the cry, "What about Rita, Gustav and Ike? The president really needs to take a look at Cameron Parish." Obama is also being denounced for an apparent...

Link only to AP. Rush mentioned this today. 80% of 0bama's travel inside US is to democrat states.

The White House has confirmed that President Obama will personally come to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and the capital is gearing up for the visit, including the massive security arrangements which will have to be made. The presentation will be made at a ceremony at the Oslo City Hall on December 10th, and the security will be a challenge. However, Oslo Mayor Fabian Stang bids the US president heartily welcome: - Clinton has visited us earlier, and I am sure that the police and the municipal authorities will solve that problem in a good way, Stang says....

Quote: President Obama took his chances on a high-profile visit to Copenhagen because the White House was getting a "clear message" that his presence could clinch the Olympics for Chicago, The Chicago Tribune reports. "The intelligence that we had from the U.S. Olympic Committee and Chicago bid team was that it was very close and therefore well worth our efforts," said Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser. "The message was that...a personal appeal from the president would make a huge difference." President Obama first tried lobbying quietly through phone calls, and had not decided until a few days before...

Reporting from Washington - In the run-up to the Olympics vote, the White House was getting a clear message from the architects of Chicago's bid: Balloting would be tight, and a personal visit to Copenhagen from President Obama just might lock in a victory. Leaders of the Windy City's campaign to secure the 2016 Games had done some nose-counting and were convinced the International Olympic Committee might well anoint Chicago as host, according to White House officials interviewed Saturday. "The intelligence that we had from the U.S. Olympic Committee and Chicago bid team was that it was very close and...

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CBS's Mark Knoller crunches the numbers.... cbsnews The White House billed the trip as an "official" journey, so taxpayers picked up the costs for the slightly more than 14-hour round trip on Air Force One. The Defense Department pegs the operating costs for the president's 747 at $100,219 per flight hour. Double it to include the backup plane that always accompanies the president. Add the costs of the Air Force 757 that Mrs. Obama used to fly to Copenhagen earlier in the week. It adds up to nearly $3-million dollars. And that doesn't include the aircraft used to fly the...

Barack Obama is merely following precedent by fleeing Washington and big headaches - the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the deteriorating prospects for health care reform, legislation to cool the globe (or should we worry now about warming the globe?), and various "czars" gone wild. He's in Copenhagen with the missus not on the nation's business, but the business of his cronies in Chicago. [Snip] The White House thought [it was a bad idea to skip town] last week, when the president's men said it was unlikely that the president would go to Denmark when there was so much rotten...

COPENHAGEN — President Obama met here Friday with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, his Afghanistan commander, to discuss a possible change in strategy and proposed troop buildup in the eight-year-old war. The meeting had not been previously announced.

President Obama squeezed a 25-minute council of war into his Copenhagen visit today, meeting General Stanley McChrystal aboard Air Force One before returning to Washington. The general was summoned to the airborne White House on the day it was announced that four more British and American servicemen had died in Afghanistan. He was on his way back to Kabul from London, where he made a powerful public pitch for more troops to be sent to the battlefields. Until today, General McChrystal had been in direct contact with Mr Obama only twice since taking up his post as Nato commander in...

Axelrod: Olympics trip still worth the time By Tony Romm - 10/02/09 12:10 PM ET White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod on Friday dismissed suggestions that Chicago's unsuccessful 2016 Olympics bid is evidence that the president should not have traveled to Copenhagen in the first place. "We move on," Axelrod stressed in an interview with MSNBC. "I'm not worried about the politics of it. Any time you go and make the case for the United States of America, you're doing the right thing." Friday's vote is a bit of a political defeat for Obama, who traveled to Copenhagen to stump...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) -- After flying through the night for seven hours aboard Air Force One, nobody would blame President Obama for being at least slightly groggy when he arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a quick four hours to make the final pitch for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics. Michelle Obama's speech in Copenhagen focused on her roots in Chicago and her father's battle with MS. Maybe that explains why the president seemed to snag the silver medal while first lady Michelle Obama, who's been in Copenhagen a couple of days, clearly took the gold with an emotional speech...

For three hours the other day, the president's chief military adviser on Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChyrstal, joined a strategy session in the White House Situation Room by video hookup. The reason: He was in London. So today, President Obama arranged for him to fly to Copenhagen so the two could meet in person. As Air Force One held on the ground in Denmark, the two met for 25 minutes. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called it a one-on-one meeting in the plane's forward cabin. "Gen. McChrystal -- his wife, Annie, is also aboard and had an opportunity to meet...

Conservative talk show host Bill Bennett managing to smack President Obama and every single woman in Chicago -in the same breath!

Sung to the Frank Loesser masterpiece, as beautiful a bit of music as you've ever heard, from the 1952 film classic starring multi talented Danny Kaye: Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen That's where we get out of town Public option's dead That's what Conrad said Cap and trade makes Landrieu frown Off we go running to Copenhagen Oprah accompanies me Screw Afghanistan Suck up to Iran Go to Copenhagen Run away, run away Save my butt, IOC The Prof

Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans say it’s a bad idea for President Obama to go overseas at this time to help Chicago make its final presentation to the International Olympic Committee. But 36% disagree and think it’s a good move on the president’s part.

SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are both traveling to Copenhagen this week to promote Chicago's bid to host to the 2016 Olympic Games--and they will be making the 3,979-mile trip on separate airplanes." SNIPPET: "As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report cited two cost estimates for an hour of air travel by the president, vice president and first lady. One estimate comes from the White House Military Office, the other from the U.S. Air Force. Using the CRS cost estimates and the inflation adjuster from the Bureau of Labor Statisitcs,...

The White House defended President Obama’s trip to Denmark this week to promote Chicago’s bid for the Olympic Games, saying health care reform is in good enough shape for him to miss a couple of days. “I think he believes he can do this and get back in time,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “He felt strongly and personally that he should go and make the case of the United States, and that’s what he’s going to do.” Obama will lead a delegation that includes first lady Michelle Obama, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Oprah...

Reporting from Washington - President Obama is dispatching an advance team to Copenhagen to pave the way for a possible personal appearance before the International Olympic Committee next month. The decision doesn't necessarily mean Obama will be able to make an in-person appeal for his adopted hometown of Chicago, which is bidding to host the Olympics in 2016, a senior advisor to the president said Saturday. But the president wants to make sure he has the option to go, in case he can get away from healthcare discussions to make the trip. Before any presidential trip, White House advance teams...

AUGUST 22, 2009 Obama to Visit China in November Associated Press BEIJING -- President Barack Obama will visit China for the first time in November, the new U.S. ambassador said Saturday, a day after he arrived in the country. Ambassador Jon Huntsman gave no specific dates, but Obama is scheduled to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore on Nov. 14-15. Huntsman, a former Republican governor of Utah and ambassador to Singapore, said the visit would be part of a boost in contacts with China as the countries grow increasingly interdependent. "I am hopeful, confident, that by the end...

By now you have probably heard that President Obama came to Montana last Friday. However, there are many things that the major news has not covered. I feel that since we live here and we were at the airport on Friday I should share some facts with you. Whatever you decide to do with the information is up to you. If you chose to share this email with others I do ask that you DELETE my email address before you forward this on. On Wednesday, August 5th it was announced locally that the President would be coming here. There are...

The White House booked 400 (FOUR HUNDRED) hotel rooms at the Big Sky Resort for Barack Obama's overnight visit last week for a town hall meeting in nearby Bozeman, Montana. Two floors were completely taken over, including the penthouse suites.While the national news media is ignoring the story, local media let the news slip in their gushing stories of how thrilling it was to have Obama in their midst.The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported on Tuesday on Obama's visit, quoting Big Sky Resort spokesman Dax Schieffer:The First Family stayed in one of the eight penthouses on the tenth floor of Big...

From a former Air Force Colonel.... Subject: The Date First, let me say that I've moved three presidents up to now and I've seenincredible waste. But, the "new" guy really takes the cake. I don't havean issue with the President promising his wife dinner and a show or that heeven takes his wife out. But, when I saw the news say that the date cost $24,000, here's what youDON'T know. Three days before "dinner" a C-17 flew Marines and the helicoptermaintenance equipment to JFK Airport . The day before "dinner" I flew the US Secret Service (USSS) and themotorcade to...

President Barack Obama, right, gestures as he stands next to Mexico's President Felipe Calderon during a joint press conference with Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, not shown, in Guadalajara, Mexico, Monday Aug. 10, 2009. President Obama huddled Monday with Calderon, and Harper, for a North American summit, where the swine flu epidemic and knotty disputes over cross-border trade dominated a lengthy agenda President Barack Obama, right, and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon talk during a photo session in Guadalajara, Mexico, Monday Aug. 10, 2009.

President Obama, attending a North American summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, vowed Monday to pursue comprehensive U.S. immigration reform later this year with a view to enacting legislation in 2010 that would provide a "pathway to citizenship" for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States. In a joint news conference in Guadalajara with Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama also pledged continued support for Mexico's war on powerful drug cartels, saying he was confident the battle could be waged "in a way consistent with human rights." In their two-day summit, the...

President Obama just finished a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderone in Mexico City following three way talks. Here are some highlights. Both President Obama and PM Harper renewed their support for the Mexican government in their war with the drug cartels. President Obama called the policy "courageous". He said that there were ways to defeat the cartels while respecting human rights but also emphasized that the biggest violators of human rights are the traffickers themselves. PM Harper commented that his country needed to tighten up their visa policies because entrance into...

U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia are always something of a proverbial black box. And President Barack Obama's meeting with Saudi King Abdullah last month was no exception. A late add-on to Obama's planned June itinerary to Egypt, Germany, and France and conducted at King Abdullah's horse ranch outside of Riyadh, the June 3 meeting was quickly overtaken by coverage of Obama's high-profile June 4 speech to the Muslim world from Cairo. But two sources, one a former U.S. official who recently traveled there and one a current official speaking anonymously, say the meeting did not go well from Obama's perspective....

In remarks on the House floor last week, Congressman Chris Smith argued that President Obama purposely misled Pope Benedict XVI when he said that he “wants to reduce abortion” at their July 10 meeting. Smith recalled the president's statement to the Pope and pointed out that Obama has repeated it several times to different audiences. And yet, Smith charged, Obama’s actions have not aligned with his words. “He says one thing and does precisely the opposite.” Now, the New Jersey Congressman said, Obama is offering a plan for health care reform that is a thinly veiled attempt to increase access...

July 16, 2009 (InsideCatholic.com) - In the late afternoon of July 10, President Obama met privately with Pope Benedict XVI for just over 30 minutes. According to official Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, S.J., "The president explicitly expressed his commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the church's concern on moral issues."   On July 13 in a Senate committee hearing, Sen. Barbara Mikulski was forced to admit under persistent questioning by Sen. Orrin Hatch that the new health-care bill includes abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute estimates government funding of abortion increases abortion by 20 to...

What The Media Didn’t Report: Russians Refused To Shake Obama’s Hand In the last news cycle there were a lot of stories written about Obama’s visit to Russia. But one story that didn’t appear anywhere in the American media (that I saw) was about the Russian leaders refusing to shake Obama’s hand.

This is incredible video. Obama extends his hands to shake and is snubbed by Russian diplomats. And look at his reaction. Like a child who had his kickball taken by a bully. Amazing that this was never reported by the mainstream media. What you heard from the American media was how much the Russians loved Barack. The truth is out there.

I know that the Russians have characteristically been less than hospitable to American Presidents, but I don't recall them ever openly disrespecting (yeah, I KNOW it's a made-up word) a US President like this before... or maybe it's just that previous presidents have been savvy enough not to put themselves in such a position. Who knows? Maybe I'll figure it out when I stop laughing.

Obama supporters definitely can't claim that this is a still shot from a video that is being blown out of proportion and context. While in Russia President Obama is totally snubbed in a receiving line by a group of individuals who refuse to shake his hand, but gladly shake the hand of Russian President Medvedev.

The signing ceremony in Moscow was a grand affair. For Barack Obama, foreign policy neophyte and “reset” man, the arms reduction agreement had a Kissingerian air. A fine feather in his cap. And our president likes his plumage. Unfortunately for the United States, the country Obama represents, the prospective treaty is useless at best, detrimental at worst. Useless because the level of offensive nuclear weaponry, the subject of the U.S.-Russia “Joint Understanding,” is an irrelevance. We could today terminate all such negotiations, invite the Russians to build as many warheads as they want, and profitably watch them spend themselves into...

When the US President is openly being compared to Miikhail Gorbachev, it's time to reevaluate national policy toward historic enemies. Russia may now have a parliament, an elected President, and a free-market economy, but its global aspirations remain the same. President Obama's response in the face of Russia's saber rattling is to offer unilateral strategic concessions. Let's review recent events: o Russia invades Georgia with no compelling American response. o Russia threatens nuclear war with Poland due to the inclusion of Poland in the new US missile defense shield. o Russia cuts off Ukraine's electricity as penalty for Ukrainian support...

Here is video from President Obama's trip to Russia last week where it appears there were several Russian officials who refused to shake hands with Obama. In the video, you see Obama extending his hand without most of the officials being willing to shake hands with him. I have heard nothing on this story. It would be interesting to hear Obama be asked a question about this. . . . . (Watch Video)

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ______________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release July 11, 2009 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE GHANAIAN PARLIAMENT Accra International Conference Center Accra, Ghana 12:40 P.M. GMT THE PRESIDENT: (Trumpet plays.) I like this. Thank you. Thank you. I think Congress needs one of those horns. (Laughter.) That sounds pretty good. Sounds like Louis Armstrong back there. (Laughter.) Good afternoon, everybody. It is a great honor for me to be in Accra and to speak to the representatives of the people of Ghana. (Applause.) I...