President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet the family of Specialist Leslie H. Sabo, Jr., U.S. Army, outside the Oval Office prior to a Medal of Honor ceremony honoring Specialist Sabo, May 16, 2012. Pictured, from left, are: Kathleen Starkey, sister-in-law; Rose Sabo-Brown, widow; Frances Buccelli, mother-in-law. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Pictured: President Barack Obama holds up his hoagie sandwich that he purchased from David Mazza, right, co-owner of Taylor Gourmet during his visit to the local small business in the U Street neighborhood in Washington.
From the AP: President Barack Obama will host bipartisan congressional leaders at the White House Wednesday to discuss economic proposals Obama wants Congress to act on this year.
Republicans will be represented at the meeting by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. They will be joined by two Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Ahead of that meeting, the president will visit a small business in the Washington area to tout his proposals for giving an income tax credit to businesses that create new jobs or increase wages this year.
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Pictured: President Barack Obama appears on "The View" at ABC Studios in New York on Monday.
From the AP: Obama welcomed Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy to the White House Tuesday to celebrate their third Major League Soccer Cup. The president joked that the star-studded Galaxy, led by Beckham, midfielder Landon Donovan and forward Robbie Keane, are the "Miami Heat of soccer."
President Barack Obama greets people in the audience at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service, an annual ceremony honoring law enforcement who were killed in the line of duty, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 15, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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by Dave Skretta
The Associated Press
Michelle Obama remembers sitting in front of her television many years ago and watching Mary Lou Retton, Nadia Comaneci and Carl Lewis as they competed in the Summer Olympics.
"Like so many others," she said, "I was awed and inspired by those athletes."
]]> Mrs. Obama admitted that she was still in awe Monday, when she took the stage with about two dozen Olympic and Paralympic athletes to announce a plan to get more than 1.7 million children involved in sports through her "Let's Move!" initiative to combat childhood obesity.The first lady is partnering with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Partnership for a Healthier America, U.S. Paralympics and numerous national governing bodies that have pledged their time and resources toward introducing young people to their sports over the course of the summer.
"When we first met with these organizations, we challenged them to commit to helping 1 million kids get active in their communities. That was our first target, and we thought that was ambitious," said Mrs. Obama, who will also be leading the U.S. delegation to the London Games.
"They not only met that goal," she said, "they added another 700,000 to that commitment."
USA Cycling is offering free memberships and clinics nationwide, while USA Field Hockey is launching the "FUNdamental Field Hockey" program at 250 locations reaching 15,000 kids.
USA Gymnastics plans to reach 40,000 additional children, the U.S. Soccer Federation will engage 12,000 youth in afterschool programs, and USA Track & Field is expanding its youth program by 35 percent, and the U.S. Tennis Association plans to reach 750,000 new kids this year. USA Swimming hopes to enroll 530,000 new learn-to-swim participants in its "Make a Splash" program, and engage 70,000 new youth member through local chapters.
"The 'Let's Move!' campaign is amazing, and it's something I believe in," said three-time Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin, who introduced the first lady on Monday.
"I've been volunteering with The Edible Schoolyard Project to teach children healthy lifestyles through food, and knowing where food comes from, and 'Let's Move!' is the other side of that," Coughlin said. "It's getting out there and being active and not being sedentary."
The U.S. Olympians Association recently began a "Walk to London" program during which 5,456 children will walk a total of 5,456 miles - the distance from Los Angeles to London. Meanwhile, U.S. Paralympics is engaging a combined 87,500 young people through a variety of programs.
USA Volleyball and USA Basketball are also involved in the initiative.
"Many of these kids will be playing sports for the very first time, and that is so important, because sometimes - as all of you know - all it takes is that first lesson, or that first class, to get a child interested in a new sport," Mrs. Obama said.
She began the "Let's Move!" initiative in February 2010 as a way to promote a healthy and active lifestyle in the United States, where nearly one in three children is overweight or obese. The first lady recently hosted a mini-Olympics event for local school children along with Samantha Cameron, the wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron. She has also appeared on the hit TV show "The Biggest Loser" and with celebrities such as Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon.
"The national governing bodies have all signed an agreement to outline what they'll do," said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. "We're very proud to support the first lady."
Mrs. Obama has been actively involved in the Olympic movement for years, joining President Obama in Denmark during the final presentation for Chicago's failed bid for the 2016 Olympics.
In March, it was announced that the first lady would lead the U.S. delegation at the London Games, with the opening ceremony scheduled for July 27. She'll be following in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton, who led the delegation at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, and Laura Bush, who led the way at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
"I am beyond proud to be leading the U.S. delegation," Mrs. Obama said. "When I'm sitting in that stadium in London, cheering on Team USA, I'll be thinking about all those young people cheering at home. I'll be thinking about the power of the games to truly inspire a generation, and I'll be thinking about how our Olympic and Paralympic athletes can serve as role models for our young people, as examples of the values we want our kids to learn."
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Pictured: President Obama as he prepares to deliver the Commencement Address at Barnard College Monday with college president Debora Spar, left, and Board of Trustees chairwoman Jolyne Caruso-FitzGerald.
From the AP: President Barack Obama crisscrossed Manhattan on Monday for a series of targeted appeals to a trio of key election-year constituencies: women, young people, and gay and lesbian supporters.
During a commencement address at Barnard College, a private women's college, he urged the graduates to fight for their place at "the head of the table" and help lead a country still battered by economic woes toward brighter days. Obama said "I believe that the women of this generation will help lead the way."
Later Monday, Obama was to headline his first fundraiser specifically for gay and lesbian supporters since announcing his support for same-sex marriage last week. Democrats hope Obama's politically risky embrace of gay marriage will re-energize supporters who had been frustrated by his previous assertions that his views on the hot-button social issue were "evolving."
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President Barack Obama waves as he walks from the Oval Office to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, May 14, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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by Emery P. Dalesio
The Associated Press
The historic action that four North Carolina college students took that led to desegregation at lunch counters more than half a century ago shows what young people can do to change their world for the better, first lady Michelle Obama said during a commencement speech Saturday.
Mrs. Obama addressed a crowd of about 15,000, including more than 1,200 graduates of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, one of the state university system's historically black schools.
]]> In 1960, four of the school's students put their careers and lives on the line by sitting down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter a few miles away, asked to be served coffee and were refused. They returned day after day in greater numbers, and others across the South followed their example, until the company eventually was forced to end separate treatment for black and white customers.North Carolina is considered a battleground state in the presidential election and the first lady's visit was expected to generate goodwill within a core Democratic Party constituency as President Barack Obama seeks re-election this fall.
Mrs. Obama steered clear of references to politics and her husband's re-election bid, though the audience cheered when the first lady told graduates: "We have the responsibility to protect the ground that has already been won, because it can just as easily be lost."
President Obama has visited North Carolina more than a dozen times, including four since June. Most recently he blasted Republicans about student loan debt during a visit two weeks ago to the University of North Carolina of Chapel Hill. The Democratic National Convention will be in Charlotte this September.
Obama's likely Republican opponent for the White House, Mitt Romney, visited a Charlotte manufacturing plant on Friday to blame Obama for the slow pace of economic recovery. It was Romney's second visit to the city in a month.
Obama carried North Carolina over John McCain in 2008, with 95 percent of black voters supporting the Democratic nominee, according to exit polls. Whether they can deliver another win for Obama, as the state continues to grapple with unemployment rates that hover above the national average, remains to be seen.
North Carolina voters this week approved amending the state constitution to ban gay marriage. Obama followed the next day by becoming the first president to express support for same-sex marriage.
Mrs. Obama's Greensboro address was the second of three spring commencement addresses for the first lady. She spoke at Virginia Tech on Friday and also is scheduled to speak June 17 at Oregon State, where her brother, Craig Robinson, is the men's basketball coach.
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Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio
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President Obama calls on Democrats and Republicans to come together and act on his Congressional "to-do list," which will create jobs and help restore middle class security.]]>
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The president and Vice President Joe Biden will honor the 2012 National Association of Police Organizations' TOP COPS award winners in a Rose Garden ceremony on Saturday.
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by Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke Times
On a bright, crisp Friday at Lane Stadium, Michelle Obama brought happy national attention to Virginia Tech, a university that over the past five years has suffered so much.
]]> The commencement celebrated not just the graduation of about 5,000 students, but also the unity that sustains communities, institutions and even the nation.In all, about 35,000 people attended the ceremony to honor Tech's class of 2012, and to hear Obama and her co-speaker, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., talk about what these graduates have taught the nation and the world.
In the awful moments after the April 16, 2007, shootings, many asked "Who will go to Virginia Tech now?" Warner said. "You raised your hand, and said, 'I will.' That's remarkable."
The first lady told the graduates that commencement speakers are expected to give advice.
"But, the truth is, like so many people across this country and around the world, I have been following the journey of this school," Obama said. "I have witnessed the strength and spirit of the Hokie Nation. And I think that you all already learned plenty of lessons here at Virginia Tech.
"In fact, I feel like all of you have so much to teach all of us," she added.
Many of the undergraduates were the first students to enroll after the shootings and themselves experienced a campus shooting in December, when Tech police officer Deriek Crouse was killed during a traffic stop.
"The nation has watched you, and we have been impressed," Warner said.
This was Warner's second Tech commencement speech, the first came in 2002, when he spoke as the newly elected Virginia governor.
This was the first year since 1958 that two speakers have addressed a Tech class. The university had already announced Warner as the commencement speaker. Then the White House called saying the first lady wanted to give one of three commencement addresses she would give this spring at Tech. She also is scheduled to speak at North Carolina A&T State University and Oregon State University.
Although a number of parents and students have said this week that graduation would be no less meaningful without the first lady, still for some her visit added to the experience.
Sandra Powell of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., stood in a long line with other families of graduates, waiting to go through Secret Service metal detectors before taking her seat to watch her son, Mario Taylor, graduate.
"I'm happy she's here," Powell said of Obama. "She has a lot to offer African-American families. We really look up to her."
The excitement generated by Michelle Obama's visit was obvious.
"I love her," said Mary Schanbach of Damascus.
Schanbach had traveled with a cousin whose son is graduating, but said she would not have come if Obama were not speaking. Waiting for the ceremony to begin, she said she hoped the first lady would speak "about education, about the election, about everything."
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Pictured: US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Val Keller as her husband Paul Keller looks on (AFP, Mandel Ngan)
From the AP: President Barack Obama is turning his attention back to the economy after a day spent raising millions of dollars for his campaign and riding a media wave on his newly declared support for same-sex marriage.
Obama was to promote housing policies to help homeowners avoid foreclosure in a quick visit Friday to struggling Nevada, which ranks second in the nation in foreclosed homes and has the highest unemployment in the country.
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President Barack Obama greets supporters along the ropeline at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nev., May 11, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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