Results tagged “obama>”

Ray's Hell Burger. Ben's Chili Bowl. Five Guys. Good Stuff Eatery. And now Pete's Apizza. It is becoming abundantly clear that the first family has a yen for junk food that rivals even former president Clinton's Big Mac attacks.

Both President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have been known to stop by local D.C. schools to visit with area students over the last year, but today was the first day the President visited a school in Maryland, according to the Post. Obama made a surprise to the lunchroom at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring today. He reportedly spent about 30 to 45 minutes chatting with 3rd and 5th graders at the school about what books they were reading.

Shaq couldn't get in to see the Commander-In-Chief on Monday, but FIFA boss Sepp Blatter sure did. And from the sound of it, Washington's most famous resident turned on the charm, dribbling a ball which Blatter brought with him and kinda-sorta accepting an invitation to attend the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

In case you didn't believe us when we said yesterday that Alexander Ovechkin was becoming "the guy" in the Washington sports scene, consider this: President Obama had high praise for the Caps star in a speech he delivered at Moscow's New Economic School this morning.

No matter how many news inches or cable spots are dedicated to coverage of President Barack Obama's church attendance, the message just will not reach some people. Some 11 percent of Americans still mistakenly believe that Obama is a Muslim, a number that might seem outrageous to those who live in D.C., where the number of the pew the President occupied is reported on the front page of the Metro section.

Well, we knew this was a possibility, but still, what a disappointment for all the folks who are headed to Monday's Nationals home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Washington Times is reporting that President Obama is going to decline the Nats invite to throw out the first pitch at the stadium of the season, due to his busy schedule. USA Today's sports blog picked up the story too, noting that Obama also had to turn down a chance to toss out the first pitch at a White Sox game while he was in Europe.

The Washington Times reported yesterday that an anonymous club source confirmed that President Obama will indeed throw out the first pitch at the Nationals home opener on April 13 against the Philadelphia Phillies. We previously noted that Obama was considering tossing the pitch, but it seems as if the Prez was able to clear some time out of his Monday schedule to do so. All of you that were planning on ditching work early to catch the 3 p.m. game might want to skip out even earlier than you planned -- who would want to miss scouting whether or not Obama can hit the strike zone?

Whilst enjoying a few beers and the weather with friends yesterday, the conversation wiggled its way towards drinking establishments in Bethesda, D.C.'s friendly borough/township/indefinable blob of offices and residences to the north. Personally -- and, of course, this is opinion at best -- I've got nothing against Bethesda on the whole, but there's certainly no gravitational pull marching me closer to the inner Montgomery County suburban area. Sure, there's a couple of bars, a restaurant here or there, and it's certainly Metro-accessible, but really, it's just kind of...there.

We're all still waiting for the Obama family to bring home their probably-Portuguese water dog sometime next month. In the meantime, first daughters Malia and Sasha were surprised by their folks after school on Wednesday with this totally sweet swing set. As you can see in the above photo, the play equipment has been installed right outside the windows of the Oval Office—as if scoring a play date at the White House wasn't already the hottest ticket in town.

Sure, the Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls on Friday night 113-90 (only to follow it up with a stinker last night in Milwaukee), but this post is less about a twenty-three point victory by a 14-45 team over another sub-.500 team, and more about President Obama, who made the trek over from the White House to catch some Friday night hoops.

The Hill's Briefing Room brings the news that the Nationals have extended an invitation to President Barack Obama to toss out the first pitch during the Nats' 2009 home opener on April 13 against Philadelphia. It doesn't come as a surprise -- Obama, a dutiful Chicago White Sox fan, made it no secret on the campaign trail and in his short time in office that he's a big time sports fan. (Obama is also considering an invitation to kick off the Southside club's season on April 6.) It's probably safe to assume that Obama, if he decides to throw the pitch, would receive a warmer welcome at Nationals Park than former President George W. Bush did last year when he helped usher in the new season and stadium.

MCCXXIII, a club whose name I type differently every time I write it, has closed, reports the Going-Out Gurus. Rents just got too high downtown. I wonder if that's true everywhere. Now that President Obama has taken office and started filling jobs with the people who helped him get there Clinton people, Stetson's on U Street has been restored to the glory it enjoyed during its heyday in the 90s. It might feel as though the Bush administration never happened on U Street, but you can be sure that isn't the mood in Georgetown. With Democrats ascendant, who will stay up on the right to drink those late-night shots? When will our young Republicans get back into the swing of things?

This Hummer, spotted on 14th Street NW this afternoon, rather unfortunately invokes the words "Obama" and "energy" at the same time. On a Hummer. Apparently, O-Bam-Aah Energy Stix is energy supplement, whose creators have an original take on "fuel efficiency." But the O-Bam-Aaah! Energy Stix is not without its virtues! This is an energy drink that is only to be used for the powers of good. According to their Web site:

WTOP is reporting that the commander-in-chief-to-be was scouting churches this morning as he attended Sunday services at the interestingly-named 19th Street Baptist Church, which happens to be located at 4606 16th Street in Northwest. Regular attendees of the church began lining up at 8:30 this morning to get in, but predictably, many were turned away as the chapel quickly reached capacity. Obama entered the church through the back, disappointing the many who had gathered along 16th Street to catch a glimpse, much like last night's scene at Union Station.

This morning, members of the press, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), the Podesta Group, the Boeing Corporation and friends of the Smithsonian gathered in the National Portrait Gallery's Kogod Courtyard for the unveiling of Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama Hope portrait. The courtyard was abuzz with the well-dressed (oddly more gala than press conference), and photographers scrambled to get a piece of the suddenly-ubiquitous Fairey.

No one tell James and Tyrone Coleman, District kids aged 13 and 11, about Craigslist. The Coleman brothers, you see, won the Presidential Inauguration Committee's essay contest and will receive two sweet seats near the White House to watch the Inauguration Day parade. WUSA excerpts from their darling essays on community service.

are some other priorities that want attention, and in any case, both Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden have said directly that they don't support gay marriage.

Ever since Barack Obama was elected president, we've heard about the huge crowds coming to Washington for the Inauguration. There have been endless stories for months about D.C. residents renting out their homes and apartments to revelers, and Craigslist is awash in ads. They're even popping up on Gmail and Facebook.

Over the weekend the Post launched its investigative series/Pulitzer bait on the District’s charter schools, which together enroll about a third of D.C.’s students. In addition to profiling the high-performing D.C. Prep, the Post dug into the suspect financial benefits some members of the D.C. Public Charter School Board have received as a result of their board work, mostly through the complicated world of charter school loans and financing. The Post found conflicts of interest involving nearly $200 million at more than a third of the city’s charter schools.

Vice President-Elect Joe Biden is a well-known train geek, so we have to assume he was involved in the decision for him and President-Elect Barack Obama to arrive in Washington on Jan. 17 via Amtrak. Sure, the Lincoln-loving Obama says he's replicating his presidential hero's journey to Washington by starting out in Philadelphia and stopping in Baltimore on his way, but Biden made the fact that he rides the train between D.C. and Wilmington almost every day one of his talking points during the campaign, so the symbolism works for both of them rather nicely.

the sign that greeted the Obamas, but the message was delivered loud and clear: The New York Times's Caucus blog reports that the First Family-elect will not find early lodging in the Blair House, the traditional home for the incoming President and his family during January before the White House is being vacated. Apparently, the Blair House -- located at 1651-53 Pennsylvania Avenue NW -- is all booked up.

The AP is reporting that Sasha and Malia Obama will attend Sidwell Friends School in Ward 3, near Tenleytown. Our clever commenters speculated that that would be their choice, thanks to its security-friendly setting. It was also the Clintons' pick for Chelsea. Some will be disappointed that the Obamas didn't pick a public school, but they've chosen the option that's "the best fit for what their daughters need right now." The City Paper and ABC News blog Political Punch are both reporting on the choice.

Cue the “Hurricane Rhee” jokes. Here’s the latest being floated by Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee: ask the federal government to declare the D.C. public schools in a “state of emergency.”

DC Teacher Chic, one of the city’s most prolific teacher-bloggers, has thrown in the towel, posting to her blog on Friday, “I am no longer an employee of DC Public Schools, and for the first time in weeks, I feel like I can take a deep breath.”

While Michelle Obama has said that no plans have been made yet, speculation has already started on where the girls will end up. (The new first daughters currently attend the private University of Chicago Lab School, in Hyde Park.)

Sixty-one DCPS schools are serving as polling places in the District today, in addition to following a normal academic schedule. (The Washington Teachers’ Union had asked schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee to close the schools for election day, but their request was denied.) According to a spokesperson for the District, additional security has been put in place to ensure the safety of students, and “guarantees” have been made for light and heat (although one would hope those things were in place already).

It's official. Last night, at approximately 11:50 p.m., the election was already over. With a 23-6 Redskins loss, the idiotic Redskins Rule tells us that Obama will take today's election.

Last Friday was payday for the 3,293 students at 15 D.C. middle schools who are enrolled in the District’s Capital Gains program. The pilot program, co-funded by the District and Harvard University, allows students to earn up to $100 every two weeks for meeting conditions based on good academics, attendance, and behavior.

Nationals fans are living in a brave new world this morning after the team completed its first second sweep of the season on Sunday, a home stand against the Cincinnati Reds. Most of the credit is going to new youngsters Emilio Bonifacio and Alberto Gonzalez, who have injected some much-needed energy into the Nats roster. But over at RotoNation, one blogger noticed a fan sporting an Obama-themed Nats jersey on Friday night. Coincidence? If Barack Obama is your new bicycle, could he also be your new Washington National?

Relationships are hard. They're fun, they're weird, they're sometimes awful. For some reason, a bunch of overheards recently deal with male-female relationships. Maybe it's the birds and the bees, or the ridiculously hot weather and humidity just do something to people. Not always good somethings, though.