Results tagged “presidentbarackobama”

It was a year ago today that District residents awoke -- likely groggy from the celebrations the night before -- to a new president-elect. Barack Obama not only became the nation's first African-American president, he also offered residents of the District of Columbia the promise of a new relationship between the federal executive and the city, one that had largely fallen by the wayside during President George W. Bush's eight years in office.

So President Barack Obama and First lady Michelle Obama opened up the White House to trick-or-treaters on Saturday, which is pretty cool. Kids from 11 D.C. area schools were invited to come by and meet the first couple as they handed out this administration's version of a Halloween treat: White House M&Ms, a sugar cookie, and ... you guessed it, dried fruit. Talk about boo.

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.

Normally we wouldn't care about something like this much, but this is the District's representative in Congress we're talking about here. Nope, not D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, but Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-D.C.Texas). During President Obama's Wednesday night speech on health care, Gohmert managed not to violate age-old rules of congressional decorum, though he did spend the better part of the speech waving a sign that said "What Bill" on one side and "What Plan" on the other.

President Barack Obama will be addressing a joint session of Congress tonight to make his big health care speech, so the usual security perimeter around the U.S. Capitol for such events will be in effect. The president's speech is set to begin at 8 p.m., but the Capitol Square will be restricted beginning at 6 p.m. The United States Capitol Police are also advising that the following streets will be closed beginning at 6:30 p.m. until the end of the speech.

Just in case you managed to miss this video, released by the White House, of Bo the Portuguese water dog's first day with the Obama family, here's some Wednesday morning cuteness for ya.

                     

Traditionally, the White House Easter Egg Roll has been attended mostly by D.C. area families who camped out early with their kids to score tickets to the free annual event. But on Monday, the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll played host to over 30,000 people from 45 states and the District of Columbia, thanks to a new online ticket distribution plan put in place by the new administration. Local parents grumbled, but 4,000 tickets were also distributed separately to students from D.C., Maryland and Virginia public schools. DCist photographer Meaghan Gay was there to capture what an Easter Egg Roll hosted by the Obama family looks like.

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.

At the beginning of February, D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer, Vivek Kundra, was reportedly the choice of the Obama administration as the new Office of Management and Budget administrator for e-government and information technology. But this morning he's been bumped up, with an announcement from President Obama that Kundra will become the nation's first Federal Chief Information Officer.

The Chicago Bulls visited President Obama at the White House yesterday, and now word is that Obama might show up at the Verizon Center tonight for their game against the Wizards. The rumors are no doubt the greatest thing that will happen to Wizards tickets sales this season; the last place team has had trouble even filling the arena to half-full for the last couple months. Click here to purchase tickets to tonight's game, which starts at 7 p.m. This would be the first Wizards game Obama will have attended since taking office.

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Via WTOP, the CBS News Political Hotsheet blog reported a quote from an Obama spokesperson that we missed last week: President Obama still hasn't decided whether he will put the District's "Taxation Without Representation" license plates on his presidential limousine, and is in fact still using the plates that President Bush used.

          

'Presidential Cupcakes,' on display Saturday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, was both a celebration of Barack Obama's recent Inauguration and a tribute to our 16th President's recent 200th Birthday. It also happened to be President's Day Weekend and, um, Valentine's Day. And who wouldn't want cupcakes on Valentine's Day?

People have been sending me links to this faux-reality TV show from Newsweek, The District, all week, and I mostly shrugged it off as something silly some production assistant put together to make the newsroom laugh.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama went to D.C.'s Capital City Public Charter School this afternoon to read to a group of second-graders. The White House sent out a partial transcript of the President's remarks:

"You're excellent listeners. And the reason we came to visit, A, we wanted to get out of the White House; B, we wanted to see you guys; but C, the other thing we wanted to tell everybody is that this kind of innovative school, the outstanding work that's being done here by the entire staff, and the parents who are so active and involved, is an example of how all our schools should be."

Last month was something cold, the Washington Post reports—real cold. A full three degrees chillier than normal and probably the coldest January in a decade. It might be difficult to believe today, with the temperature expected to crest a balmy 54 degrees, but the District isn't past the worst of it yet. With ice still lingering from the last frost, the city can look forward to more snow tomorrow evening. Still, with one above-freezing day, February is already looking good in comparison: In January, the temperature only climbed above freezing twice. Sorry, Mr. President, but that's plenty reason to get upset. That's reason to start writing giant solar heat reflecting screens into the stimulus. That's reason to . Those of you looking for "flinty Chicago toughness" should check in with the all-but Siberian Marc Fisher. This is a thread for answering the question: Why did humans settle this far north?

UPDATE: Politico has video of the President's comments. We've posted them above.

WAMU says that he did not, opting instead to display special inauguration-themed plates on the presidential limousine, aka The Beast, during Tuesday's Inaugural Parade. As you can see in the above photo, the plates are blue, and display the numeral '1.'

       

Some 15,000 people showed up on a cold day at D.C.'s RFK Stadium Monday to answer President Barack Obama's call to service, in honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty encouraged District residents to participate in the massive event, where volunteers helped assemble 75,000 kits containing food and personal items for soldiers serving overseas.

                 

The 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, entered his motorcade at around 3:30 p.m. EST at the U.S. Capitol, and started traveling at a slow roll down Pennsylvania Ave. toward the White House.

                     

Written by Sommer Mathis, Jen Chung and Aaron Morrissey