Michelle and I send warm wishes to all those celebrate Kwanzaa this holiday season. This is a happy time of year when African Americans and all Americans come together to celebrate our blessings and the richness of our cultural traditions. This is also a time of reflection and renewal as we come to the finish of one year and the beginning of another. The Kwanzaa message tells us that we must recall the lessons of the past even as we seize the promise of tomorrow.

The seven principles of Kwanzaa - Unity, Self Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Purpose, Cooperative Economics, Creativity, and Faith - express the values that have enthused us as individuals and families; communities and country. These same principles have continued us as a nation during our darkest hours and provided hope for better days to come. Michelle and I know the challenges facing many African American families and families in all communities at this time, but we also know the courage of perseverance and hope that is ever-present in the community. It is in this spirit that our family extends our prayers and best wishes during this occasion and for the New Year to come.

President Obama is the man Americans admired most in 2009, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are almost tied as the most-admired woman.

The close finish by Clinton, named by 16% in the open-ended survey, and Palin, named by 15%, reflects the nation's partisan split. Clinton was cited by almost 3 in 10 Democrats but only 6% of Republicans, Palin by a third of Republicans but less than 1% of Democrats.

First lady Michelle Obama ranks as the fourth most-admired woman, at the back Oprah Winfrey.The poll of 1,025 adults, taken Dec. 11-13, has a edge of error of +/–4 percentage points.

President and Michelle Obama sent their "warm wishes to all those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season," calling it a occasion when "all Americans come together to celebrate our blessings and the richness of our cultural traditions.”

The principles of Kwanzaa, Barack Obama said,

... Express the values that have enthused us as individuals and families; communities and country. These same principles have sustained us as a nation during our darkest hours and provided hope for good days to come. Michelle and I know the challenges facing many African American families and families in all communities at this time, but we also know the spirit of insistence and hope that is ever present in the community.

But among all the prayers and best wishes - similar to those offered for Christmas, Hanukkah and Eid -- there's no sign of whether they'll be observing Kwanzaa customs at the Hawaii "White House" this week.

With just days to go before the great holiday, White House officials say President Barack Obama is "very close" to a decision on what to get First Lady Michelle for Christmas this year. The president is expected to proclaim his decision within "several hours" today.

"The president has been meeting daily with his top advisors and they have provided him with the good options available at this time," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. "In around one hour, he will present his choice to a hand-picked task force, who will then approve or reject the choice."

The US President, Mr Barack Obama, and First Lady Michelle have received their swine flu shot.
Their daughters Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, got their shot in October when the vaccine first became available.

In an interview to the American Urban Radio Network, Mr Obama said the girls have been now fine and have yet to get sick this flu season.

“That’s the most significant population because this flu, unlike seasonal flu, excessively affects children and young people - healthy children and young people as well as people with underlying conditions like asthma or neurological diseases,” Mr obama said.

The President also encouraged everyone to get vaccinated against the H1N1 strain of flu now that the vaccine is available to the common public. The vaccine has been restricted to high-risk groups such as children.

Andy Stern, the labor union chief who was one of the most frequent White House visitors this year, criticize President Obama for not fighting for more sweeping changes in health-care legislation.

“We need his personal involvement,” Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s main labor unions, said yesterday in a conference call with reporters. “We are encouraging him to really step in here now” and “use all the powers of persuasion that he has.”

Stern, whose union spent $85 million last year to help elect President Obama to the White House and Democrats to Congress, adds to growing discontent among Democratic allies over compromises made in the bill to overhaul the nation’s health insurance system. The Senate has loosened necessities in legislation designed to curb medical expenses and provide health care for 31 million uninsured Americans.

White House officials say U.S. President Obama has ordered the federal government to purchase a state prison in Illinois to house about 100 suspected terrorists now being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The prison is situated in Thomson, a rural town about 240 kilometers west of Chicago. The 1,600 cell correction center there was built in 2001 to house maximum security inmates, but is nearly-empty. An official announcement on the contract is planned for Tuesday.

The president signed as an order days after taking office in January to close Guantanamo within a year.

But the administration's plan has been met with fierce resistance by a few congressional lawmakers who oppose bringing alleged terrorists into the United States.

Mr. Obama admitted newly that his administration will not be able to close Guantanamo by its self-imposed deadline.

As the president of the United States prepared to receive his Nobel Peace Prize Thursday, Indonesia remembered "Little Barry" Obama with the presentation of a bronze statue of him as a 10-year-old boy.

The statue of a young Barack Obama, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, were erected in the Jakarta neighborhood where he used to play as a child.

The 100 million rupiah (10,600 dollar) statue, which was based on a picture of Obama taken during his childhood, depicted the future world leader wearing a large necklace with a butterfly perched on his outstretched hand.

Ron Mullers, chairman of the group Friends of Obama, which paid for the statue, said there was nothing important about the timing of the unveiling.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced a sequence of measures to put American back to work and help companies hire people, which he said would lay the foundation for robust economic growth in the country.

These measures are part of the overall policy designed to not just make jobs in the short run but also shift America away from consumption-driven growth to a focus on enhancing the competitiveness of America's businesses, encouraging investment, and promoting exports, Obama said.

Obama also called for the removal of fees and an increase in guarantees for loans through the Small Business Administration, a measure that extends provisions in the Recovery Act through the end of 2010. In addition, he called for continued Treasury efforts to use the TARP to maintain small business lending.

Today was a great day in environmental news.

First, former Vice President Al Gore met with President Obama about climate change this afternoon in a personal meeting in the Oval Office. Gore is one of the most famous Americans and thought leaders in favor of U.S. action on climate change.

Second, today the greatly anticipated U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen got underway. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the White House was announced that President Obama would join the U.S. delegation to Copenhagen (last weekend, officials said the President would be in Copenhagen on December 18, instead of December 9). President Obama is expected to commit the United States to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

And third, today the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gas emissions, officially declaring that carbon and other greenhouse gases are harmful to the public’s health and welfare.

President Barack Obama on Thursday called on corporate America to help tackle the nation's highest unemployment in 26 years and dismissed skeptics who have doubt his efforts to boost employment.

"We cannot hang back and hope for the best when we've see the kinds of job wounded that we've seen over the last year," Obama told business and labor leaders invited to the White House to suggest how to lift employment creation.

"Despite the progress we've made, many businesses are still playful about hiring," he said, acknowledging that although the economy is growing again, the labor market is lagging behind.
Obama is hosting a jobs forum after US unemployment hit a 26-year high of 10.2% in October, sap his popularity and potentially shaping his political future.

Critics dismiss the effort as mainly a public relations exercise. Obama already has said he wants measures that will not add to the country's record budget deficit, efficiently ruling out significantly more public spending on top of a USD 787 billion stimulus package that he signed in February.

US President Barack Obama gave PM Manmohan Singh a sample of his Afghan strategy before he announces it on Wednesday morning. While the phone call was one of several that Obama made - he spoke to Hamid Karzai, Nicholas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, Dmitry Medvedev, Kevin Rudd and Hu Jintao - officials said India's satisfaction was derived from the high level of Obama's commitment to stay the course in Afghanistan despite growing clamor in the US for an early pullout.

The US president is set to announce an raise of around 35,000 troops in Afghanistan, putting an end to a tortuous exercise of a review of his Afghan strategy that has taken the better part of the past four months.

The Obama-Singh conversation had one more important component for India: India's own presence and activity in Afghanistan. The Indian takeaway here is that the Pakistan "line" which, in a few ways was reflected in the report prepared by the top US commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal, that Indian activities in Afghanistan could be counter-productive, was comprehensively discarded. Obama reportedly told the PM that Indian activities are not only appreciated but they should continue. India has committed almost $1.2 billion in civilian and infrastructure project in Afghanistan, in the teeth of repeated Pakistani complaints.

Barack Obama enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving at the White House, telephoning U.S. servicemen and women stationed around the world and spending time in the company of his family and friends.

Obama placed calls from the Oval Office to 10 U.S. servicemen and women - two each in the Army, Air Force, Navy, the Marines and the Coast Guard - stationed in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in the Persian Gulf.

The commander in chief, who spent the past several weeks conduct an intensive review of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, called to wish them Happy Thanksgiving and to let them know that he and first lady Michelle Obama are "truly thankful for their service and sacrifice on behalf of the nation," according to a statement Thursday from the White House.

The White House announced that President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on Dec. 9 to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in order to work with the international community to drive progress towards a comprehensive and operational Copenhagen accord. The White House also announced that President Obama is ready to put on the table a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.

President Obama’s commitment to American leadership on fresh energy and combating climate change, the White House also announced that a host of Cabinet secretaries and other top officials from across the Administration will travel to Copenhagen for the conference. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson are all planned to attend, along with Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, and Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner.

Looking glamorous in a stylish strapless gown by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan, Michelle Obama welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur to the White House Tuesday night and ushered in the Obama administration's first official state dinner.

With Mr Obama and India's Manmohan Singh touting advances in support on trade, investment and technology reached during meetings earlier in the day, the Indian businessman Ratan Tata of Tata Motors led numerous captains on Indian industry at the occasion.

During an effusive welcome at the White House for Mr Singh, the president said the state visit was verification of India's "rightful place as a global leader".

"Our generation has an opportunity given to few remakes the new global equilibrium after the irreversible changes" of the crisis, Mr Singh said.

"The India-US partnership can contribute to an arranged transition to the new order and be a main factor for global peace and stability."

Saying Asia was the focal point for major change, Mr Singh said: "India and the United States can work together with other countries in the region to make an open and inclusive regional architecture."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has welcomed US President Barack Obama's efforts to engage with Iran without preconditions, hopeful this will end the stand-off between Tehran and western countries over the issue of nuclear enrichment.

Singh stated that Iran as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty had the right to make use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes but could not develop a weapon.

"As far as Iran's nuclear weapon ambitions are concerned I have stated unambiguously on many occasions that we do not support the nuclear weapon ambitions of Iran," he said during an interaction at the Council on Foreign Relations, a prominent think tank, on the next day of his four-day visit here.

He also indicated that India would abide by any UNSC resolution on the issue when asked if New Delhi could support sanctions against Iran.

Point out that Obama had "open a new pathway of engagement without preconditions" with Iran, he expressed hope that it will "yield results." Unlike his predecessor George W Bush's violent stand,

President Obama has decided to engage diplomatically with Tehran but the exchange has not yielded actual results.

Recently, Western powers revealed the existence of a secret underground plant but Tehran maintains that its nuclear enrichment program is for quiet purposes.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to US as Barack Obama's first state guest is expected to showcase the significance the US President attaches to Indo-US relationship, with universal issues including climate and Afghanistan to feature prominently along with bilateral ties.

Obama will welcome Singh at the White House on Tuesday morning as the first State Guest of his presidency, in what senior administration officials have said is no co-incidence but a aware decision to send a strong signal on how critical the relationship is to the United States.
Obama has recognized India as a natural ally of the US and wants to take the Indo-US relationship to a new level.

The US now sees India as an "emerging power" and needs to work with it on the global front. They are expected to discuss a range of regional and global issues including Af-Pak, climate, and are also possible to discuss Obama's recent trip to Asia, particularly China, besides identifying ways to deepen strategic relationship. Given where the US position with regard to Af-Pak strategic review, it is expected that Obama and Singh would discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan and talk about constancy and security in the region.

US President Barack Obama ended his state visit to China with a call for new talks between Beijing and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The US and China was also agreed to disagree on Iran, the world economy and the nature of political freedom.

However, the common theme of the joint statement and the Obama visit was US recognition of the rising influence and importance of China.

"The Sino-US relationship has never been more important in our collective future," Obama said after his summit with Hu. He urge a ‘strong and prosperous’ China plays a bigger global role. Hu began his declaration by referring to complex global challenges and the need for interdependence of nations.

Obama has made his first visit to China under the shadow of a failing US economy dependent on Beijing as its main foreign creditor.

There is a great outrage in the US over President Barack Obama's bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito. The critics in Washington said that Obama has disgraced the nation by taking a deep bow at the waist while meeting with Japan's Emperor Akihito. They slammed Obama in strong words and said that US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.

Barack Obama, who is presently touring Asia, has already completed his Japan tour and is now in China. He met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing and pledges a "positive, cooperative and comprehensive" relationship with China.

Obama acknowledged China's cooperation in fighting the worst-ever universal recession. He also talked about a revised economic approach to raise US exports and create jobs in China. Obama and Jintao both clarified that the US and China are never rivals.

President Barack Obama said a deeper relationship between the U.S. and China is critical to the economic prosperity of both countries and necessary to confronting global issues such as climate change.

The U.S. president, addressing students at a forum in Shanghai, also brought up the issue of human rights, saying political and religious freedoms must be “universal” and available to all people and group “whether they are in the United States, China or any other nation.”

In China for his first-ever visit, Obama arrived in Shanghai last night from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore where few leaders expressed concern about his commitment to free trade. He meet earlier today with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng and Communist Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng.

The president is planned to have dinner tonight in Beijing with Chinese President Hu Jintao. In response to a question at the forum with the students, Obama said he is in China to look for “a meeting of the minds” with Hu.

First Lady Michelle Obama saw close-up the pain and suffering of military families when she visited Fort Hood with President Obama on Tuesday, paying tribute to the 13 people kill in a shooting spree, allegedly by an Army psychiatrist. Mrs. Obama, who has embrace helping military families as one of her causes, on Wednesday - Veterans Day - said she was in awe of what the families of soldiers endure.

Mrs. Obama and her husband joined Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill, at Arlington National Cemetery for Veterans Day ceremonies, where the president laid a garland at the Tomb of the unknowns. Then the first couple made a surprise visit to a part of the cemetery, Section 60, where military soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is buried. They were walked between tombstones for about 10 minutes; the president greets mourners at grave sites. (Mrs. Obama wore a teal outfit, a difference to the dark colors the president, the Bidens and others at the ceremony wore.)

Barack Obama leaves on his debut presidential trip of Asia Thursday seeking to revive America's prestige as a regional power, on a trip much heavier on symbolism than diplomatic substance.

Obama will take a precious week out of his bid to enact an ambitious domestic schedule to show the region, and a rising China, that Washington is no longer distracted by crises elsewhere.

He will travel first to Japan for discussion Friday with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, then attend the weekend's APEC summit in Singapore and become the first US president to sit down with all 10 leaders of ASEAN, including Myanmar.

Obama will next visit Shanghai, and fly on to Beijing for a state dinner and meeting with President Hu Jintao, then wrap up his tour in South Korea.

President Obama leaves Thursday on his first official trip to Asia. USA TODAY looks at Obama's policy plan for the week, as he visits Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea.

The main purpose of his journey is to attend this weekend's summit of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group. The Apec meeting is in Singapore, and would be the US leader's only stop in the Asian region.

Mr Obama's promises about restoring US interest in Asia in general and Asian in particular, have proved so far to be more talk than substance. His Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointedly made her first foreign visit to Asia soon after Mr Obama took office in January. She returned in July for the annual Asian Regional Forum in Thailand.

More seriously, Mr Obama and advisers will find it tricky to keep a straight face in Singapore while they support free trade. The US president took office owing favors to trade unions and political groups who oppose free trade. His administration has already delivered some free-trade restrictions. Since January, the White House has trumpet "Buy American" campaigns including new laws restricting foreign textile and clothing makers. The US has begun a so-called "tyre war" with China, and of course has delivered hundreds of billions in bailout subsidies for the US auto industry and its unionized workers.

After a landmark win in the U.S. House of Representatives, President Barack Obama's push for healthcare reform faces a complex path in the Senate amid divisions in his own Democratic Party on how to proceed.

On a 220-215 vote, including the support of one Republican and opposition from 39 Democrats, the House backed a bill late on Saturday that would enlarge coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.

The battle now shift to the Senate, where work on Obama's top domestic priority has been stalled for weeks as Democratic leader Harry Reid searches for an approach that can win the 60 votes he wants to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.

Democrats have no margin for error - they control accurately 60 seats in the 100-member chamber. Some reasonable Democrats have rebelled at Reid's plan to include a new government-run insurance program, known as the "public option," in the bill.

Forty-seven-year-old African-American Barack Hussain Obama was chosen President of the United States of America on November 4, 2008.

A year after his election, US President Barack Obama still wants time to turn the myriad campaign promises into policy. Democrats defeated at the hands of Republicans in the race for Governorship in Virginia and New Jersey might just be a backlash of Obama's unfulfilled promises.

The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was: Has Barack Obama failed to be the change? On the panel of experts to discuss the issues were: Chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) Sanjay Puri; senior journalist Saeed Naqvi; and the former diplomat, K C Singh.

At the beginning of the debate, 70 percent agreed that Barack Obama has failed to be the change while 30 per cent disagreed.

Delay is rarely good for politicians trying to go by legislation. The possibility that Congress might not whole action on a major health care bill this year is another frustration for President Barack Obama and his allies.

Even if it doesn't sink the health care effort, a delay could raise new uncertainties and push other domestic priorities further back. It also would give opponents a chance to pick off nervous Democratic lawmakers eyeing their November 2010 re-election campaigns.

Even some House Democrats with safe seats don't like the plan of voting on a contentious bill until it's clear that the Senate will follow suit.

Obama has swallow one disappointing postponement already this year, when the House and Senate failed to move separate bills before the August recess. Opponents used that calm to rip into the proposed health care changes in raucous public forums.

Democrats are improbable to be caught off guard again if the legislative battle goes past the Christmas-New Year's break. But any delay gives opponents extra time to organize and campaign.

Today President Obama sign into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, legislation that will extend new federal protections to people who are victims of violent crime because of their sex or sexual orientation. It is an update to the federal hate crimes act that Congress first passed in 1968. For the first time, the law that before it protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will also protects gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.

The President will host a reception commemorating the performance of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the East Room of the White House this evening.

PRESIDENT OBAMA is planned to sign Wednesday what is being described as the nation's first significant pro-gay rights legislation. Attached to the defense authorization act, the measure could add sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability to the list of protected classes under the 1969 federal hate-crimes law…

The law does not outlaw bigotry or "thought crimes." It applies only to "violent acts motivated by" the characteristics of the victim - act, not thoughts or speech. But crimes that target someone because of race or sexual orientation are extra offenses against that individual. They can terrorize complete communities.

The Obama daughters have gotten their swine flu shots.

The White House has been weighing how to address public interest in whether the first family has been vaccinated against swine flu.

President Obama and his wife, Michelle, will “wait until the needs of the priority groups” - including young people under 24, pregnant women and people with causal illnesses - have been met. But daughters Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, fall within the priority groups, and they received their injections last week from the White House doctor, who apply for the vaccine through the District of Columbia Department of Health “using the same process as every other vaccination site in the District.”

The vaccinations could raise questions about whether the Obama girls were given special treatment, as the administration grapples with concern that the vaccine is not more readily available. (Officials say the holdup is with manufacturers, whose production procedure has been slower than anticipated.) While there are lines at vaccination clinics in the capital, a spokesperson for the Health Department said no one who fell into a priority group had been turned away.

Responding to a dramatic surge in the number of U.S. swine flu cases, President Barack Obama has sign a proclamation declaring H1N1 influenza a national emergency.

The order by Mr. Obama, announced on the weekend, will speed the ability of hospitals and health establishment to take measures to fight the pandemic through such steps as setting up tents in hospital parking lots to establish extra emergency room care and creating health clinics in school gymnasiums or community centres.

"The rates of illness continue to increase rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some locations," Mr. Obama said in the declaration.

The White House said in a statement that the declaration will allow medical centers to deal with a surge in H1N1 patients by allowing, as needed, the waiver of certain federal health requirements.

Barack Obama and the Flying Circus is a perfect term to explain current President of the United States and his prominent cabinet.

For the past year and a partly every single day was and still is about Barack Obama and his extravaganza. Days just doesn’t go by without hearing about Obama.

What did Obama say? What did Obama do? In addition, we have witnessed media madness for Obama's dog, Obama's citizenship, Obama's family, Obama's religion, Obama's cabinet, Obama's associates, among others.

However, this ongoing entertainment and late night shows by Obama and his sidekicks are not charming anymore.

And, in return for his surprising global entertainment, Barack Obama got a present from his circus-men: his first Nobel Peace Prize.

Instead of an Oscar or Emmy, he gets, yes, the Nobel Prize.

The award came as a surprised even to the President Obama himself, he said: "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures".

It is not so important that Barack Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize, since the Nobel Prize lost its original meaning long moment ago. But, most frightening is that people who support this prize and speak about peace forget the meaning of the word "Peace".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set Wednesday to outline key steps Washington will take to fulfill President Barack Obama's vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.

In a speech in Washington, Clinton will show how the world will be safer through a new US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty as well as broader ratification of a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, officials said.

"It's going to be an important opportunity for the secretary to lay out our priorities to implement the president's vision at Prague," Clinton's spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday.

In a speech in the Czech capital on April 5, Obama pledged to lead a quest for a world purged of atomic weapons when he unveiled a plan to cut stockpiles, curtail testing, choke fissile production and secure loose nuclear material.

A new review conference for the NPT is planned for next year.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said these also include approval of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the start of work on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.

Why then is so much controversy, even scorn, being pour on the heads of the members of Nobel Committee, who selected United States President Barack Obama as this year's winner of the Peace Prize? How come so many Americans find themselves disagreeing with the option and even ridiculing their president, instead of hailing the chief for joining such a select band of individuals? Answers abound.

For first thing, the award came out of the proverbial blue. Few people at house or abroad expected that Obama, in office for less than a year, would have been selected. But surprise isn't a best reason for spewing vitriol.

For another, the president's bitter opponents, particularly the powerful extreme right wing, can't find a single thing to accept with grace when it comes to Obama.

Thirdly, it was an implicit shot by the Nobel Committee to the standard-bearer of the Republican right, previous President George W Bush. Obama's selection was asking to rubbing salt into an open wound.

Clearly, the president was an excellent option. His trips to Europe, Central America, Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and other regions of the world have brightened the prospects of global peace.

President Obama visit New Orleans on Thursday for the first time since taking office, to address rebuilding efforts in the city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina four years ago.

During his trip, Obama will visit a charter school and host a town hall meeting to hear residents' concern, the White House said.

The president's visit will focus on efforts to assist rebuild the Gulf Coast, including cutting red tape and easing funding so residents can become self-sufficient.

"The president made a promise to come to New Orleans and wanted to complete that promise as soon as his schedule allowed," said Nicholas Shapiro, White House spokesman.

In order for President Obama to increase a full understanding of the challenges we are facing in our recovery, he needs to extend his planned visit to New Orleans, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, said at a news conference Monday.

Shapiro said the administration is committed to serving Gulf Coast residents, and has ensured financial assistance to the area.

More than $1 billion in Recovery Act money has been targeted for New Orleans, funding approximately 1,000 projects - work on roads, bridges, Army Corps construction, schools, and health centers and more, he said.

Congress took a historic step toward overhauling the founder U. S. health-care system yesterday; when Democrats on a key Senate committee - backed by a lone Republican moderate - approved compromise legislation aimed at extend medical coverage to most Americans.

But after months of backroom bartering, the big issue in the politically charged debate remains unresolved - the fate of a government-run insurance option endorsed by President Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama has good reason to remain cautious about the final outcomes of the health-care debate.

The Senate finance committee was the last of five congressional panels to finish the work on the legislation, marking the first time in decades Congress has come this close to producing such far-reaching health-care legislation.

In the more liberal House of Representatives, the Democratic leadership is almost certain to include a public-insurance option in a last version of three competing bills approved at a lower level.

People who refuse to buy insurance could face maximum fines of US$750 an adult and US$1,900 a family, though the harshest penalties are delayed until 2017.

President Barack Obama spoke Saturday at the yearly fundraiser for the gay-activist Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

The president told the crowd he supports the gay activist event.

"When you look back on these years," he said, "you will see a time in which we as a nation lastly recognized relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman."

Obama promised that he would end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the Clinton-era policy that permits gay men and women to serve in the armed forces as long as they don't reveal their sexual orientation.

Robert Knight, senior writer for Coral Ridge Ministries, said the president is just trying to please a powerful and vocal constituency.

The president also promised to pass hate-crimes legislation and cancel the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

He said those who support marriage between one man and one woman "hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes."

"That would be the Bible," said Knight. "All people who think it's normal and usual for marriage to be between a man and a woman, the president of the United States is saying that's old and outworn."

U.S. President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said on Monday the United States is on the path toward economic recovery, conditions in financial markets are steadier and there has been initial signs of stabilization in the housing market.

"Thanks largely to the Recovery Act, alongside an aggressive financial stabilization plan and a program to keep responsible homeowners in their houses, we have walked a substantial distance back from the economic abyss and are on the path toward economic recovery," Larry Summers said in a letter to be sent to Republican House Leader John Boehner that amounted to a defense of the Democratic Obama administration's policies on the economy.

The U.S. economy lost jobs at a monthly regular rate of 256,000 in the third quarter of 2009, which summers termed "unacceptably high." But he noted it was nearly a third of the pace of job losses of two quarters ago.

One dilemma for Obama is that Republicans, seizing on increasing in the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, argue that the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year was ineffective. Republicans are pushing for additional tax cuts as the result to the country's economic woes.

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his amazing efforts to make stronger global diplomacy and support between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempt to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and surprised Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nominate deadline. Obama's name had been mention in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

The Nobel committee praise Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage. The plaudit appearing a slap at President George W. Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for resorting to largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize though it was not immediately apparent who nominated Barrack Obama.

President Barack Obama is ready to accept a role for the Taliban in Afghanistan's political future in a major shift of policy towards the Islamic radicals who are attacking US and British troops, it has been reported.

As he assess a request from his top commander in Afghanistan to dispatch one more 40,000 troops to fight the Taliban, he is also "inclined" to send only as a lot of as needed to keep al-Qaeda at bay.

The assessment was given to the Associated Press by a senior official involved in Mr Obama's discussions with his top national safety and military advisors about Afghanistan strategy.

There is believed to be a rising favor in his war council for differentiating between native Afghan Taliban factions and the foreign extremists of al-Qaeda. Several of the president's advisors are arguing that the Taliban are predominantly fighting against what is perceived as Nato "occupation" while it is al Qaeda that poses a threat to US defence.

Aides have made clear that Mr Obama is improbable to reach a final decision on strategy and troop numbers before the end of October.

But it seems more and more unlikely that he will grant the request from Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander he appointed only this summer, for an extra 40,000 US troops to join the 68,000 who will already be in Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Obama Plan will do for you:
• Reducing High Out-of-Pocket expenses
• Forbid the "Rationing" of profit by Insurance Companies
• Benefit Small Businesses, Not Burden to any of Them
• Make a Level Playing Filed for Small Businesses to Cover Their Employees
• avoid Gender Discrimination
• Not Allow Coverage to by drop for Seriously Ill
• Avoid Pre-Existing Condition Discrimination
• Offer No-Cost Sharing for Preventive Care
• Reduce Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage
• Give Extended Coverage for Young Adults
• Offer Guaranteed Insurance Renewal
• Make an Independent Commission to Identify waste, fraud and abuse
• Offers Low Cost Insurance Through a "High-Risk" Pool for public with Pre-Existing Conditions
• Provide an Affordable Public Option to The Uninsured
• Protect Families From Debt or Bankruptcy Due to Health Care Costs
Obama Plan Will Not Do:
• Lead to a "government takeover" of Health Care
• In Any Way Encourage or Require Euthanasia
• Not Cut Medicare profit
• Not Add to the Deficit, but Will Actually eliminate Long-Term Costs

As the world celebrate International Day of non-violence, US President Barack Obama on Thursday said America has its "roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi."

"His teachings and ideals, shared with Martin Luther King Jr. on his 1959 pilgrimage to India, transformed American society through our civil rights movement," Obama said on the time of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Americans owe huge gratitude to Gandhi, he said.

"The America of today has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi and the nonviolence social action movement for Indian independence which he led," Obama said on a statement.

On behalf of the American people, Obama said he need to express appreciation for the life and lessons of Mahatma Gandhi on the anniversary of his birth. "This is an important moment to reflect on his message of non-violence, which continues to inspire people and political movements across the globe," obama said.

"We join the people of India in celebrates this great soul who lived a life dedicated to the cause of advancing justice, showing tolerance to all, and creating change through non-violent resistance," Obama said.

As the world remember the Mahatma on his birthday, Obama said: "We must renew our commitment to live his ideals and to celebrate the dignity of all human beings".

Americans listen to their doctors and nurses when it comes to health reform - and for good reason. If we could help them amplify their voices, it'll be a huge boost to our campaign for change.

So we're working on a new television ad featuring their voices explaining why doctors and nurses so powerfully support President Obama's plan - and asking Congress to pass it. We'll run the ad in key states and districts all around the country to prove folks where health professionals stand, cut through the spin, and build even greater support for reform.

The American Medical Association, Doctors for America, and a dozen other physicians groups representing 500,000 doctors are endorsing the reform. So are the American Nurses Association and other organization representing millions of Nurses.

But the final congressional committee could vote on their reform bill as early as Wednesday - and debate on final legislation can start by the end of the week. So if we're going to assist make these doctors and nurses' voices heard, we'll need to do it right now.

A few key points on President Barrack obama’s plan and Medicare:

• President Obama is committed to protecting and strengthening Medicare for America’s seniors - Medicare beneficiaries will not experience any cuts in benefits as a solution of reform.

• His plan does not use a penny of the Medicare trust fund to pay for reform; instead, it eliminates waste, fraud and abuse to make stronger the financial health of the program.

• The President has planned to eliminate waste from the Medicare Advantage program to strengthen the financial health of the overall program

• Medicare Advantage is one of the parts of Medicare program that allows beneficiaries to receive services through private insurance plans.

• At present, private insurance companies that participate in Medicare Advantage receive significant subsidies from the government. Medicare pays those private plans 14 percent more on regular than they pay traditional Medicare - but doesn’t result in any better care for seniors.

• Putting an end to these overpayments will strengthen the Medicare program; expand its solvency and lower costs for all beneficiaries.

• The scare strategy on Medicare is just the latest in a series of politically motivated attacks by some Republicans to stall and kill reform.

• Republicans has never championed Medicare - they have been waging a war against the program for years. In fact, as recently as last April, 80 percent of House Republicans voted to “end Medicare as we know it” by turning it into a voucher program that would have provided seniors a fixed sum of money to purchase private insurance, a plan one AARP policy official called “a very dangerous idea.”

President Barack Obama is best at making speeches. His best ones create a strongly seductive political mood that change is coming, not just at home but in the way the United States does business with the rest of the world.

His address to the UN General Assembly showed, once again, not simply his rhetorical skill but his understanding of the forces that drive international affairs.

But his speeches can’t answer the biggest question about Mr Obama's leadership: can he translate fine words into concrete actions?

So far he could not manage it in the Middle East. No reasonable being should expect a solution inside his first year.

But Mr Obama has suffered because of the expectations that his own words has aroused.

In what may not go down well with Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama Didn’t favor the current Secretary of State as husband Barack Obama's vice-presidential nominee in the race to White House, a new book has claimed.

According to the book, 'Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage', Michelle instead favored Joe Biden, the President's eventual choice.

"Do you really want Bill and Hillary now down the hall from you in the White House? Could you live with that?" Michelle allegedly told her husband who later appointed the Former US First Lady as his Secretary of State.

The book has also exposed that it was Michelle who persuaded her husband to use the winning campaign slogan "Yes We Can!" during his 2004 senate race, even after Obama thought the phrase was "childish" and "corny" when it was proposed by his adviser David Axelrod.

But, Michelle told him: "It will work. Trust me." Moreover, Andersen, who has so far penned 28 books, including best-sellers on the Clintons, Princess Diana and Caroline Kennedy, has claim Obama dragged his feet over marriage and that Michelle talked to friends about adoption because of early difficulties conceiving.

U.S. President Barack Obama began biggest week yet on the world stage, facing pressure for results on an agenda of rekindling Middle East peace talks, tackling climate change and reshaping financial regulations.

Obama's global star power remains strong but doubts are emerging about what he can deliver in a week in which he will make his United Nations debut and host a financial summit.

The nuclear argument with Iran and the Afghanistan war will be among the top issues as Obama begins three days of U.N. meetings on Tuesday. He will lay out his foreign policy idea in his first speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

At home, Obama's once sky-high approval ratings have tumbled in recent months in the middle of a heated debate over his proposal to reform the healthcare system as well as doubts about his handling of the economy.

President Barack Obama sought to rally support from young people for his health-care plan, telling a college viewers Thursday that the debate is the "defining struggle of this generation.”

The president addressed a cheering audience at the University of Maryland in College Park, just outside Washington, as he tried to assemble some of the same people who helped propel his presidential campaign.

"You believe America can still do great things," Obama said. "I need your voice."

The president offers no new proposals, repeating the outline he gave last week in an address to a joint session of Congress - include as his support for a government-run insurance plan. That provision faces unified opposition from Republicans and it is not included in the latest version of a health-care system overhaul in the Senate.

"When I was running for president I never said change would be easy," Obama said, frequently invoking his campaign theme during his speech. Everyone must do their part, he said, adding that, "Americans are ready and willing to take on that responsibility."

As he finished his remarks, Obama led many of the estimated 15,000 people packed into the arena in a chant of "Fired up, ready to go," which became an Obama campaign slogan in the presidential race. "Let's go change the world," he said.

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday deliver a strong, personal and highly visible endorsement to the 2016 Olympic bid of his hometown of Chicago.

Obama, who will be busy with healthcare reform, will send his wife Michelle to lobby for Chicago ahead of the vote process.

The International Olympic Committee decides the host city for the 2016 Summer Games on October 2 in Copenhagen.

Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro are the finalists.

Rio de Janeiro, bidding becomes the first South American city to host an Olympics, and Chicago is being seen as front-runners.

Earlier today, the President travel to Pittsburgh, PA for the annual AFL-CIO convention. He addressed the gather union members, thanking them for their support and laying out his priority. He spoke about the Recovery Act, his priorities for renewal a new, greener economy, and how health insurance reform will help all Americans achieve security and stability when it comes to their medical care.

Experts from the speech:

For over half a century, the achievement of America has been built on the success of our middle class. It was the formation of the middle class that lifted this nation up in the wake of a Great Depression.

We are putting Americans to work across this country rebuilding breakdown roads and bridges and waterways with the largest investment in our infrastructure since Eisenhower created the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s.

I have also said that one of the options in this exchange should be a public option. (Applause.) Now, let me be clear. Let me be clear, because there is been a lot of misinformation out here about this. This could just be an option. Nobody has forced to choose it. No one with insurance could be affected. But what it would do is suggest Americans more choices, and promote real competition, and put pressure on private insurers to make their policies affordable and treat their customers better.

President Obama will carry a major address to spell out his vision for health insurance reform to a special joint session of Congress. As we head into the next phase of the debate, the President's address will be a main moment in our campaign for change.

Across the country, Organizing for America supporters will be meeting at local watch parties with friends, neighbors and fellow supporters to hear directly from the President. Afterward, everyone at the party will be invited to join a particular conversation with Obama for America campaign manager David Plouffe to discuss how we can help make the President's vision a reality.

Hosting a watch party is easy. Just select a location where friends and neighbors can gather around a TV, set out some chairs, and have a great evening with folks who share your passion about the need for change.

There are several OFA supporters in your area who would love to join a watch party Wednesday night, but they won't be able to if someone like you doesn't open your doors to host. This is also an opportunity to reach out to friends, family and colleagues who still have questions about reform, so they can hear the details from the President himself.

US President Barack Obama has said given a chance he would like to have dinner with Mahatma Gandhi, whom he considers as a real hero.
Obama called for students to take task and to learn from their failures so that they succeed in the end.
"Hi. I'm Lilly. If you can have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be," Obama was asked by one of the students.

"Dinner with anyone dead or alive? Well, you know, dead or alive, that's a attractive big list," Obama responded amidst laughter. The next second he was serious.

"You know, I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a actual hero of mine," Obama said. "Now, it would almost certainly be a really small meal because he didn't eat a lot," he said amidst laughter. But Mahatma Gandhi is someone who has enthused people across the world for the past several generations, he said.
"In my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, because he embody the kind of transformational change that could be made when normal people come together to do extraordinary things," he wrote in the ethnic India Abroad newspaper last year.