Hello
A lengthy mishmash.
Update: About the critics over the title - I was mocking the media response, i thought it was clear. I'm sorry if the snark didn't work, but i'm going to stick with the title.
Thank you.
First, RunawayGeneralGate Thursday morning quarterbacks: Yea! Obama kicked ass!!!!! (Oh well, it's nice to see good press once in a while).
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NYT: Short, Tense Deliberation, Then a General Is Gone
WASHINGTON — By the time he woke up Wednesday morning, President Obama had made up his mind.
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And then, finally, the president ended General McChrystal’s command in a meeting that lasted only 20 minutes. According to one aide, the general apologized, offered his resignation and did not lobby for his job.
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But this is the highest profile sacking of his presidency. The time between Mr. Obama’s first reading of the Rolling Stone article and his decision to accept General McChrystal’s resignation offers an insight into the president’s decision-making process under intense stress: He appears deliberative and open to debate, but in the end, is coldly decisive.
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The press secretary, Robert Gibbs, walked a copy of it to the president in the private quarters. After scanning the first few paragraphs — a sarcastic, profanity-laced description of General McChrystal’s disgust at having to dine with a French minister to brief him about the war — Mr. Obama had read enough, a senior administration official said.
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McChrystal never really had a chance
The passage that really torqued the president, advisers say, was McChrystal’s reported contempt for U.S. allies in Afghanistan – especially the French – illustrated in the story by McChrystal’s reluctance to meet a senior official in Paris, a dinner appointment one McChrystal aide called "gay."
Obama, the administration official said, was astounded and alarmed by "the effect it would have on the allies" in Afghanistan, who have been asked to shed blood and "who will be asked to do more" if the U.S. is to begin pulling out by July 2011.
"This was not about the president being angry about the things that were said about himself," added the aide, who says that Obama never even discussed McCrystal’s reported criticism of the president as detached and intimidated during his meetings with the brass.
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Jake Tapper
Senior administration officials tell ABC News that President Obama told General McChrystal in their meeting, "I've made a lot of mistakes. Don’t worry -- this one mistake is not what you'll be remembered for."
President Obama afterwards told senior staff, "This was not a good thing, but it had to be done. But if I catch any of you crowing about it I will come down on you like a ton of bricks."
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Steve Benen
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've become so accustomed to the inane chatter of talking heads that, while watching President Obama in the Rose Garden yesterday, it actually occurred to me to think, "What will the pundits complain about this time?"
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What kind of complaining would we hear in response to yesterday's remarks about a change in military command in Afghanistan? Apparently, there isn't much -- the president seems to have satisfied the media's expectations. here's Dana Milbank for example, who often captures (shapes?) the media establishment's conventional wisdom.
It was 95 degrees in the Rose Garden. Reporters dripped with sweat. Vice President Biden's brow glistened. Defense Secretary Robert Gates's face was pink and Gen. David Petraeus's was red.
But the sight before them was rare enough to be worth the suffering: The commander in chief was being commanding.
Without benefit of his favorite transitional object -- the teleprompter malfunctioned at the start of his remarks -- Obama stood, preternaturally cool and dry, on the steps leading to the Oval Office and delivered some of the most forceful words of his presidency. [...]
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The president doesn't seem to care much about media reactions when weighing major decisions, but I suspect many in the West Wing, who've no doubt grown tired of un-passable media tests, will be pleased that observers are finally satisfied with a presidential appearance, at least for now.
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Greg Sargent
It's not impossible that the McChrystal crisis will turn out to have an upside for Obama. While it has obviously created a short-term political crisis, it has also given him the opportunity for a very high-profile reassertion of control at a critical moment. It's hard to imagine a single pundit on either side questioning Obama's leadership in the wake of this decision and Obama's execution of it. In short, Obama finally did kick an ass.
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Mark Ambinder
...The President had no choice. Going back to the opening days of the Clinton presidency, Democrats have maintained an uneasy relationship with uniformed military officers and have tolerated the type of dissension and rank insubordination that would never be tolerated by a Republican White House. Clinton was rolled by Colin Powell on gays in the military and the Balkans, which, putting aside the policy merits of those decisions, was not right.
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Had Obama allowed McChrystal to stay in place, it would have sent the message to the military that such behavior was permissible and would have fatally undermined his authority and credibility as CINC. Again, McChrystal left him with no choice. Obama had to "borrow" his Army back.
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Josh Marshall
....So when I woke up this morning I still couldn't quite see how President Obama could not fire McChrystal. But I also couldn't quite imagine him doing it.
But he did. Showed me a different side of him. And what I really couldn't have imagined was that he found a way not just to acquit himself honorably and protect the office but actually enhance his prestige and standing.
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Michael Crowley
In taking that stand, and quickly installing Petraeus, Obama should quiet critics who have been mocking him for an allegedly timid approach to the BP oil spill in recent weeks. The change of generals was the firm action of a hands-on executive. And a self-confident one, too.
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John Dickerson
Crisis Management 101
Obama's pitch-perfect handling of the McChrystal affair
...It was a test—more of a pop quiz, really—of Obama's leadership skills. He had to push back against the dismissive and derisive attitude shown by Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his men toward the civilian command in an article published in Rolling Stone. At the same time, he had to be careful not to sap military morale or undermine the policy that he still supports in Afghanistan. He aced it.
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Fred Kaplan
President Barack Obama has accomplished what many might have thought impossible just a few hours earlier. He has fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, his combat commander in Afghanistan, in such a way that not only will the general go unmissed but his name will likely soon be forgotten.
Obama's decision to replace McChrystal with Gen. David Petraeus is a stroke of brilliance, an unassailable move, politically and strategically.
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On Tuesday, I predicted that Obama would stick with McChrystal, in part because the general's dissings of civilian authority didn't extend to a dispute over policy, in part because losing him as commander might be seen as jeopardizing the mission. It turns out that the president took his constitutional responsibilities, and his obligations as commander in chief, more seriously than I thought he might—and figured out a way to do so without compromising the mission in the slightest. Who wouldn't be impressed?
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Hiring plans of CEOs at highest level in 3 years
For job seekers, things may be looking up, according to a survey of chief executives at America's biggest companies.
The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs at big U.S. companies, said Wednesday that 39% of those surveyed in the second quarter of 2010 expected to increase hiring in the next six months, while 43% anticipated no change. Only 17% reported that jobs would diminish.
The percentage of CEOs who planned to hire is at the highest level since the second quarter of 2007, when it peaked at 42%.
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New federal plan to end homelessness within the next decade
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious plan that aspires to end homelessness among some of society's most vulnerable groups within the next decade.
"Opening Doors," a "Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness," calls for ending child and family homelessness in 10 years while wiping out chronic homelessness and homelessness among veterans in five years.
According to the 74-page plan, "Stable housing is the foundation upon which people build their lives — absent a safe, decent, affordable place to live, it is next to impossible to achieve good health, positive educational outcomes or reach one's economic potential."
The plan is a significant breakthrough because there's never been a comprehensive federal effort to end homelessness with a timeline and measureable goals, said Nan Roman , the president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
You can see the entire plan here/
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Obama Administration Keeps Promise on Whale Conservation at International Talks
Philip Radford:
You would be hard pressed to find a director of an environmental group who is more critical than yours truly regarding the gap between President Obama's visionary campaign messages and his actual leadership on environmental issues.
But I must say that I was impressed when I heard the U.S. government's position against commercial whaling and any trade of whale products at the International Whaling Commission. While the nations that gathered failed to come to an agreement that could help save whales - largely because countries like Japan refuse to stop slaughtering whales - the President and his team stood their ground in the end.
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For over thirty years, Greenpeace has been an outspoken opponent of commercial whaling, taking action to stop the harpooners in their home countries, at sea and in the political arena of IWC meetings and our commitment to bringing about its end in all of our oceans remains. Hopefully by this time next year, we'll be in a position to get the IWC to actually do something positive, instead of having to work like mad just to keep them from moving backwards. Today, the United States stayed true to Obama's promise to Americans. Today, I feel that hope about the President and our chances to stop whaling that so many felt when President Obama first called on America to share his hope for a better future for our children and grandchildren.
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Humanitarian assistance to Yemen
President Obama has decided to increase U.S. humanitarian assistance to Yemen by $29.6 million, to $42.5 million this fiscal year. This assistance will provide food, water and sanitation, shelter, and health care to over 280,000 individuals displaced by the conflict in northern Yemen, as well as refugees in southern Yemen.
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President Obama speaks at a White House reception marking LGBT Pride Month, on Tuesday.
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All these by AP, unless they're not.
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First Lady Michelle Obama jumps rope as she participates in the launch of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition on June 23, 2010, with students and community leaders at Columbia Heights Educational Campus, in Washington, DC.

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Presidents Obama and Medvedev making an unscheduled visit to Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, Va. earlier today.







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President Obama and VP Biden at the event celebrating LGBT Pride Month at the WH on Tuesday.
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Constance McMillen, the Mississippi teen who wanted to attend prom with her girlfriend only to see it cancelled in response, attends the LGBT Pride Month event at the White House.
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President Obama makes remarks during a Father’s Day mentoring barbeque on the South Lawn of the White House, June 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
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President Obama adjusts Dick Van Dyke's tie during the Ford's Theatre reception in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Sunday, June 6, 2010. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
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The Rose Garden, June 8, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama greets Kavya Shivashankar, the 2009 Scripps Spelling Bee winner, and her family in the Oval Office, June 3, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, June 8, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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US soccer fans during the dramatic World Cup match against Algeria on June 23, 2010 at Loftus Verfeld stadium in Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa. From the WH press release:
"Earlier today President Obama called the U.S. Men’s World Cup Soccer team. The President congratulated them on their extraordinary victory and told them that while he was meeting with General Petraeus in the Oval Office, he could hear the rest of the West Wing erupt when Landon Donovan scored the game winner. The President then congratulated Donovan on the game-winning goal, asked Tim Howard how his ribs were feeling and asked Clint Dempsey how his lip was doing. The President wished the team good luck on Saturday and made sure they knew that the entire country was cheering them on."
