June 22nd, 2011
05:43 PM ET
33,000 out by September 2012 From CNN White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar: A senior administration official tells CNN that President Obama will announce tonight that he’s ordering the withdrawal of all 33,000 surge forces in Afghanistan by the September of 2012. 
June 22nd, 2011
05:23 PM ET
A storm is brewingA storm is heading to the White House. The Seattle Storm. President Obama will honor winners of the 2010 WNBA championship, the Seattle Storm, in an event at the White House on Wednesday June 29, 2011. As part of the visit, the Storm will hold a basketball clinic for area D.C. kids. We can only hope this is another rare chance to see the president’s fancy footwork on the basketball court.
June 22nd, 2011
12:59 PM ET
 President Obama in the Blue Room as he re-enacted the remarks on a budget deal. 4/8/2011
June 22nd, 2011
12:35 PM ET
No faking itTonight will mark the end of an era. Well sort of. This evening when President Obama addresses the nation and announces his troop withdrawal plan for Afghanistan, a commercial news photographer will be quietly snapping photos in the room. Up until tonight the “stills” have routinely snapped photos of the president after he delivered his address as he re-enacted it for them. The re-enactment was done to keep the noise from the camera clicks from interfering with the TV audio and the movement of the photographers from distracting the president as he gives his address. Tonight, for the first time, the Associated Press will be the pool photographer in the room with President Obama. The photographer, Pablo Martinez Monsivais, will have his camera on a tripod next to the television camera that will be set-up to broadcast the speech live. According to Doug Mills, New York Times photographer and the stills representative to the White House Correspondents Association, the camera Martinez Monsivais will use will be in a “silencing blimp”. Mills described the blimp as “an oversized mitten”. He said it is like the “camera will be inside a pillow with the lens sticking out.” 
June 22nd, 2011
11:46 AM ET
WH official: Edits 'still being made' to Afghanistan speech Washington (CNN) –A senior administration official tells CNN that edits are “still being made” to the speech President Obama will deliver in primetime on troop levels in Afghanistan. The official said the speech, that will take place in the East Room, is expected to last anywhere from “10 to 15 minutes….less than 15 minutes.” The president will tell Americans that “he’s making good on a promise” that he made when he rolled out his Afghanistan strategy in December of 2009. The official said that the president settled on his decision “based on successes we’ve enjoyed in Afghanistan over the last 18 months.” Part of what he hopes to accomplish in the speech? “Clarifying what our goals are” in Afghanistan,” the official said. 
June 22nd, 2011
11:35 AM ET
Gore: Obama has 'failed' Looks like Al Gore is getting tough on President Obama over the issue of climate change: From the CNN Political Ticker:
June 22nd, 2011
09:03 AM ET
Michelle Obama brings ‘Yes We Can’ to AfricaEchoing the now-famous phrase that came to define her husband’s 2008 presidential campaign, Michelle Obama urged young African women Wednesday to win the battles against hunger, AIDS, and poverty that have long run rampant in sub-Saharan Africa. “Yes we can,” Mrs. Obama repeated four times to an excited crowd at the Young African Women Leaders Forum as she concluded her speech in Soweto, South Africa. “I am here today because when it comes to the challenges we face, we simply don’t have time to sit back and wait,” Mrs. Obama said during the speech. “I’m here because I believe that each of you is ready, right here and right now, to start meeting these challenges.” The address was delivered at a Catholic Church named “Regina Mundi,” Latin for “Queen of the World.” Graca Machel, the wife of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela, introduced Mrs. Obama as the “queen of our world.” Mrs. Obama’s official state visit to Africa will also include stops in Gaborone and Botswana, and is aimed at promoting education, health and wellness in addition to leadership. The first lady has engaged in similar efforts during past trips to Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Mrs. Obama’s full remarks after the jump: 
June 22nd, 2011
07:13 AM ET
POTUS Schedule: June 22, 2011Good morning from the White House. It's a day of closed-door events for the president ahead of his prime-time speech to the nation tonight. Besides receiving the Daily Briefing, the only other item on the schedule the White House is noting is a meet-and-greet with Asian American and Pacific Islander Community leaders this afternoon. That event is not open to the press. Full schedule after the jump: |
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