Jan 2012

Obama’s White House Tea Party. It was the tea party the Obamas just couldn’t resist.

A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all. “The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009.

It was so over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests. Michelle Obama’s Evolution as First Lady. Is cartoon comparing Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette racist? Face and arms of First Lady grafted onto 1775 portrait of French QueenMarie Antoinette viewed as profligate during financial hardship in 1780sMrs Obama's trips to Hawaii and Spain criticised for being taxpayer-funded But critics claim comparison racist suggestion that she is 'uppity Negro' By Wil Longbottom Updated: 14:36 GMT, 10 January 2012 One is the pampered wife of a financially-drained country's unpopular head of state... and the other is Marie Antoinette, or so the joke goes.

But, according to right-wing bloggers, the notional similarities between First Lady Michelle Obama and the hated Queen of France did not go far enough. French Elle denies Obama fashion piece 'racist'. White House fury at 'false' claims Michelle Obama 'closed off Agent Provocateur's Madison Avenue boutique to spend $50,000 on lingerie'

By Tamara Abraham Updated: 07:56 GMT, 31 January 2012 The White House today issued an angry denial following claims that Michelle Obama indulged in a $50,000 shopping spree at a luxury lingerie boutique in New York.

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph today, Agent Provocateur's boutique in Madison Avenue, New York, was partially closed off for the U.S. First Lady. But Kristina Schake, director of communications for First Lady Michelle Obama told MailOnline this morning: 'This story is 100 per cent false.' Book: White House Hosted 'Wonderland'-Themed Extravagant Hollywood Halloween Bash Before Burton Film Release.

The White House is pushing back against claims from a new tell-all book that staff kept an extravagant, Hollywood-created Halloween Party under wraps due to fear it would create imaging problems.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Sunday the event, which was decorated by Tim Burton and featured Johnny Depp in his Mad Hatter role from Burton's acclaimed "Alice in Wonderland," was held for local children from the Washington D.C. -area and for hundreds of military families. "If we wanted this event to be a secret, we probably wouldn't have invited the press corps to cover it, release photos of it to Flickr, or post a video from it on the White House website," Schultz says. "Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read in books these days. " In her new book, "The Obamas," author Jodi Kantor wrote that the White House was more than just a little concerned about the way the costume party would affect the public's perceptions.

The book, out Tuesday, was picked up by Fox News. Obamas held a secret Alice in Wonderland-themed party at White House in depths of recession in 2009. By Meghan Keneally Updated: 21:02 GMT, 9 January 2012 After it was revealed that the Obamas hosted a lavish Halloween party in 2009 during a low point of the recession, people are now questioning how the event was kept a secret for two years.

The White House maintains that they were never dishonest and did, in fact, mention the party, though they chose to keep the role of Hollywood heavyweights Johnny Depp and Tim Burton to a minimum. 'This was an event for local school children from the Washington DC area and for hundreds of military families. Obama Sings Al Green at Apollo Theater. Johnny Depp-Gate: What Did the Mainstream Media Know and When Did They Know It? - Big Journalism. Obama schmoozing again, this time with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. By Chris Johnson Updated: 15:00 GMT, 12 January 2012 Everyone knows President Barack Obama likes a celebrity fix - just ask Johnny Depp.

And today, just a day after pictures emerged of his extravagant 2009 Halloween party at the White House, the most powerful man in America was enjoying more VIP company. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie brought some Hollywood star power to Washington D.C. as they stopped by for a chat with the chief executive at the Oval Office. Exclusive: Angelina Jolie ‘disappointed in’ Obama [VIDEO] Reacting to reports that she does not support President Obama’s re-election effort, Academy award-winning actress Angelina Jolie told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview that she is “disappointed” in “a few things” Obama has done.

Jolie also offered a stream-of-consciousness answer to TheDC’s question about how the United States should reform its humanitarian aid programs. (SEE ALSO: Brad Pitt ‘remains’ committed to Obama) Watch the interview: Jolie made news in 2009 for her belief that Obama would be a one-term president. On Tuesday evening TheDC asked Jolie if she thinks Obama is taking the country in the right direction. White House leaves press pool behind again.

President Barack Obama again left the White House without some of the reporters assigned to travel everywhere with him.

The White House abruptly changed the call time for media to assemble to 8:15 a.m. this morning, and informed them of this change at 8:16 a.m. As a result, Obama left the White House without a handful of the journalists assigned to write dispatches and reports to other reporters. The president traditionally travels with members of the White House press corps at all times. Fox's Bree Tracey did manage to make the trip as the television pool, and filed a dispatch reporting that the president and first lady went to their daughter's basketball game.

Still, the hastily assembled trip and the email time stamped after the altered call time have some members of the White House press corps privately steaming. Obama Embraces Signing Statements After Knocking Bush for Using Them. Scott Eyman’s new life of the actor John Wayne portrays an extremely complicated man who invented his own public persona and played it beautifully.

“Truly, this man was the son of God.” Thus speaks a Roman centurion at the end of George Stevens’s inaptly named The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). It’s a line that always gets a big laugh, partly because the idea of anything so irreligious as Hollywood hokum commenting on the provenance of Jesus Christ is axiomatically funny, but mostly because the centurion is played by John Wayne, a movie star who might have known a son of a gun when he saw one, but who patently knew precious little else. Except, one learns from Scott Eyman’s exhaustive new biography, John Wayne: the Life and Legend, Wayne was a rather more cultivated man than his movie persona allowed.

He was a talented chess-player and no slouch at bridge, and he had a penchant for reciting Milton and Dickens and Shakespeare from memory. Obama: "With Or Without Congress, I'm Going To Keep At It" Health plans ordered to cover birth control without co-pays. Most healthcare plans will be required to cover birth control without charging co-pays or deductibles starting Aug. 1, the Obama administration announced Friday.

The final regulation retains the approach federal health officials proposed last summer, despite the deluge of complaints from religious groups and congressional Republicans that has poured in since then. Churches, synagogues and other houses of worship are exempt from the requirement, but religious-affiliated hospitals and universities only get a one-year delay and must comply by Aug. 1, 2013.

“This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services. " Congressional Republicans slammed the decision as an assault on religious freedom.

APNewsBreak: Obama seeks power to merge agencies. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama will ask Congress on Friday for greater power to shrink the federal government, and his first idea is merging six sprawling trade and commerce agencies whose overlapping programs can be baffling to businesses, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. Obama will call on Congress to give him a type of reorganizational power last held by a president when Ronald Reagan was in office. The Obama version would be a so-called consolidation authority allowing him to propose mergers that promise to save money and help consumers. The deal would entitle him to an up-or-down vote from Congress in 90 days. It would be up to lawmakers, therefore, to first grant Obama this fast-track authority and then decide whether to approve any of his specific ideas.

The White House said Obama would address his proposals for government reform Friday morning. To voters sick of dysfunction, Obama wants to show some action on making Washington work better. Obama blames Nixon for NOAA. Geithner: Obama Wouldn’t Ask Me to Stay in a Second Term. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the last member of the Obama administration’s original economic team, said he doesn’t expect to remain in office if the president is re-elected. “He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident,” Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury.” Geithner, 50, has led President Barack Obama’s efforts to pull the U.S. economy out of the worst recession since World War II, including overseeing bailouts of automakers General Motors Co. Savage: Here’s what America will look like if Obama wins. Text smaller Text bigger If Barack Obama wins in 2012, America is headed for something worse than a failing European-style socialist state, top-rated radio host Michael Savage said on his nationally syndicated show today. “I have to tell you that if this man, God forbid, is the next president of the United States, we’re going to be living in something along the lines of – people say Europe.

I don’t believe it’s going to be like Europe – I think it will be closer to Chavez’s South American dictatorship,” he told his “Savage Nation” audience. Recalling his background as the son of an immigrant from Russia, who has been around awhile and seen a number of administrations, Savage said that if he had one message to leave, it would be a warning about what he fears is on the horizon. “This is the most corrupt, incompetent, dangerous tyrannical administration in American history,” he declared. Ga. Judge Orders President to Appear at Hearing. Obama to Ignore Order to Appear in Atlanta Court. Welcome to White House Dossier! You may subscribe at no cost by entering your email address here.

You'll receive the free OBAMAGRAM newsletter and updates on breaking White House news. You won't get spammed, and your email address will never be shared. Obama hosts George H.W. and Jeb Bush at White House. Obama Hosts H.W. And Jeb Bush At White House. Obama hosts George H.W. and Jeb Bush at the White House on Friday. US President Barack Obama hosted former president George H.W. Bush and former Florida governor Jeb Bush at the White House on Friday, in a secret meeting revealed to the press only after it happened. The get-together was not listed on the president’s official schedule, reports Politico. com. When asked what the men discussed and why it wasn’t on the schedule, the White House only released a statement saying, “The three men enjoyed a personal visit in the Oval Office – as they have done on previous occasions when President Bush is Washington.”

The only notice given that it even took place was from a photo published on the White House Flickr account.