U.S. President Barack Obama gestures shaka at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) 18th annual gala dinner in Washington May 8, 2012. PHOTOS: The best images from the past 24 hours
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U.S. President Barack Obama gestures shaka at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) 18th annual gala dinner in Washington May 8, 2012.

PHOTOS: The best images from the past 24 hours

First there is the phone call. It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon in Washington when the phone rings. “Can you be at the White House for a meeting in four hours? I can’t tell you why, but we need you to be there.” Hmmm … I’ve seen this show before, and I pretty much know what the deal is. President Obama is going to be traveling somewhere unsavory and everything about it will be Top Secret until he lands at his mystery destination.  A beautiful weekend here in the D.C. area is instantly transformed from worrying about my son’s soccer games to worrying about where I am going, how long I will be gone and what preparations must I make before departure? The wheels are already churning before the White House meeting that evening.  As soon as we walk into the meeting, we are told: our destination is Afghanistan. Purpose: to sign a strategic partnership agreement. Coincidentally, or not, it is the one year anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  Read more: Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque’s travel to Afghanistan with President Barack Obama
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First there is the phone call. It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon in Washington when the phone rings. “Can you be at the White House for a meeting in four hours? I can’t tell you why, but we need you to be there.”

Hmmm … I’ve seen this show before, and I pretty much know what the deal is. President Obama is going to be traveling somewhere unsavory and everything about it will be Top Secret until he lands at his mystery destination. 

A beautiful weekend here in the D.C. area is instantly transformed from worrying about my son’s soccer games to worrying about where I am going, how long I will be gone and what preparations must I make before departure? The wheels are already churning before the White House meeting that evening. 

As soon as we walk into the meeting, we are told: our destination is Afghanistan. Purpose: to sign a strategic partnership agreement. Coincidentally, or not, it is the one year anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. 

Read more: Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque’s travel to Afghanistan with President Barack Obama

DEVELOPING: U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker upon his arrival at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan May 1, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque] READ MORE: Obama lands in Afghanistan on OBL death anniversary
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DEVELOPING:

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker upon his arrival at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan May 1, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]

READ MORE: Obama lands in Afghanistan on OBL death anniversary

reuterspolitics: Taxes for America’s highest earners have fallen sharply since 1995, according to a White House report released on Tuesday ahead of a speech by President Barack Obama on fairness in the tax code that is a key part of his campaign for re-election. The White House estimated the 400 highest income households in the country, who all earned more than $110 million, paid an average of 18.1 percent of their income in federal taxes in 2007, well down for 29.9 percent those households paid in 1995. Obama travels to Florida on Tuesday where he will urge support for the Buffett Rule, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, that calls for people making more than $1 million a year to pay more in tax than middle-class families. Obama’s senior campaign adviser, David Axelrod, said most Americans would agree with the principle behind the tax change. READ MORE: White House highlights tax fairness ahead of Obama speech
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reuterspolitics:

Taxes for America’s highest earners have fallen sharply since 1995, according to a White House report released on Tuesday ahead of a speech by President Barack Obama on fairness in the tax code that is a key part of his campaign for re-election.

The White House estimated the 400 highest income households in the country, who all earned more than $110 million, paid an average of 18.1 percent of their income in federal taxes in 2007, well down for 29.9 percent those households paid in 1995.

Obama travels to Florida on Tuesday where he will urge support for the Buffett Rule, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, that calls for people making more than $1 million a year to pay more in tax than middle-class families.

Obama’s senior campaign adviser, David Axelrod, said most Americans would agree with the principle behind the tax change.

READ MORE: White House highlights tax fairness ahead of Obama speech

Source: reuterspolitics

U.S. President Barack Obama does push-ups while playing basketball during the 2012 White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn in Washington April 9, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque] See more Reuters photography
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U.S. President Barack Obama does push-ups while playing basketball during the 2012 White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn in Washington April 9, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]

See more Reuters photography

The microphone was hot, and this time, President Barack Obama was happily aware that he was being recorded. During the opening of a speech he gave to news editors in Washington, Obama took a light jab at the media for reporting sideline discussions he had with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul that were, unbeknownst to the pair, picked up by press microphones. “It is a pleasure to speak to all of you — and to have a microphone that I can see,” Obama said to laughter from the audience of news executives. “Feel free to transmit any of this to Vladimir if you see him.” READ MORE: Obama likes knowing when the microphone is on
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The microphone was hot, and this time, President Barack Obama was happily aware that he was being recorded.

During the opening of a speech he gave to news editors in Washington, Obama took a light jab at the media for reporting sideline discussions he had with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul that were, unbeknownst to the pair, picked up by press microphones.

“It is a pleasure to speak to all of you — and to have a microphone that I can see,” Obama said to laughter from the audience of news executives.

“Feel free to transmit any of this to Vladimir if you see him.”

READ MORE: Obama likes knowing when the microphone is on

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared closely divided along ideological lines over whether Congress had the power to require most people in the United States to buy medical insurance, with conservative justices asking skeptical questions about President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and liberals defending it. During a dramatic two hours of arguments, pivotal justices on the nine-member Supreme Court suggested they would uphold the so-called individual mandate regarding obtaining insurance only if they believed they were not giving Congress new power over people’s lives. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives who could join the four liberal justices to uphold the law, pressed an attorney for the Obama administration on what limits there would be on federal power if people who opted against insurance were forced to buy coverage. Nonetheless, both justices also raised to the two lawyers challenging the individual mandate the government’s contention that Congress is validly regulating people who already are in the market because virtually everyone is going to need healthcare at some point. Read more: Supreme Court divided over healthcare mandate
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared closely divided along ideological lines over whether Congress had the power to require most people in the United States to buy medical insurance, with conservative justices asking skeptical questions about President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and liberals defending it.

During a dramatic two hours of arguments, pivotal justices on the nine-member Supreme Court suggested they would uphold the so-called individual mandate regarding obtaining insurance only if they believed they were not giving Congress new power over people’s lives.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives who could join the four liberal justices to uphold the law, pressed an attorney for the Obama administration on what limits there would be on federal power if people who opted against insurance were forced to buy coverage.

Nonetheless, both justices also raised to the two lawyers challenging the individual mandate the government’s contention that Congress is validly regulating people who already are in the market because virtually everyone is going to need healthcare at some point.

Read more: Supreme Court divided over healthcare mandate

President Barack Obama voiced doubt on Tuesday on the prospects for progress with Moscow on missile defense until after the November U.S. election as he staunchly defended remarks caught on camera the day before with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Obama was overheard assuring Medvedev on Monday that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious arms-control issues after the November 6 presidential ballot, drawing sharp criticism back home from his Republican foes. Speaking on the sidelines of a global nuclear security summit in Seoul, Obama sought to put the controversy to rest but made clear that his earlier comments reflected a political reality that “everybody understands.” “I don’t think it’s any surprise that you can’t start that a few months before presidential and congressional elections in the United States and at a time when they just completed elections in Russia,” Obama told reporters with Medvedev at his side. Read more: Obama seeks to defuse controversy on missile comments
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President Barack Obama voiced doubt on Tuesday on the prospects for progress with Moscow on missile defense until after the November U.S. election as he staunchly defended remarks caught on camera the day before with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Obama was overheard assuring Medvedev on Monday that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious arms-control issues after the November 6 presidential ballot, drawing sharp criticism back home from his Republican foes.

Speaking on the sidelines of a global nuclear security summit in Seoul, Obama sought to put the controversy to rest but made clear that his earlier comments reflected a political reality that “everybody understands.”

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that you can’t start that a few months before presidential and congressional elections in the United States and at a time when they just completed elections in Russia,” Obama told reporters with Medvedev at his side.

Read more: Obama seeks to defuse controversy on missile comments

nationaljournal: The Supreme Court’s decision on the health care case is more than just a simple yes or no. View this handy chart for possible SCOTUS decisions.  The Health Care Case’s Legal Maze 
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nationaljournal:

The Supreme Court’s decision on the health care case is more than just a simple yes or no. View this handy chart for possible SCOTUS decisions. 

The Health Care Case’s Legal Maze 

Source: nationaljournal.com

U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Monday to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia, urged China to follow suit and issued stern warnings to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear standoffs with the West. Acknowledging the United States has more warheads than necessary, Obama held out the prospect of new reductions in the U.S. arsenal as he sought to rally world leaders for additional concrete steps against the threat of nuclear terrorism. “We can already say with confidence that we have more nuclear weapons than we need,” Obama told students at South Korea’s Hankuk University a few hours before a global nuclear security summit opened in Seoul. Read more: Obama vows more nuclear cuts with Russia
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U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Monday to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia, urged China to follow suit and issued stern warnings to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear standoffs with the West.

Acknowledging the United States has more warheads than necessary, Obama held out the prospect of new reductions in the U.S. arsenal as he sought to rally world leaders for additional concrete steps against the threat of nuclear terrorism.

“We can already say with confidence that we have more nuclear weapons than we need,” Obama told students at South Korea’s Hankuk University a few hours before a global nuclear security summit opened in Seoul.

Read more: Obama vows more nuclear cuts with Russia