Showing posts with label David Axelrod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Axelrod. Show all posts
Part One: Favourite First Term Obama Photos
22.11.12
With Senator Kennedy, 2010.
The President and First Lady walk to Marine One, 2009.
With Caroline Kennedy in the Oval Office, 2009.
The President delivers a speech in the Cross Hall, 2009.
The First Lady hugs Vicki Kennedy following the President's Address to Congress on Healthcare reform, 2009.
Eight-year old Make-A-Wish child Janiya Penny reacts after meeting President Barack Obama as he welcomes her family to the Oval Office, Aug. 8, 2012.
The Cross Hall of the White House receives some new paint, 2009.
The South Lawn of the White House, 2009.
First Lady Michelle Obama greets women who work in the White House Correspondence Office in Washington, D.C., April 21, 2009.
First Lady Michelle Obama looks over her speech before speaking at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, May 18, 2009.
First Lady Michelle Obama watches backstage as President Obama delivers a speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C. Sept. 25, 2009.
Michelle Obama talks alone with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton prior to President Obama's Meeting with President Hu of China. Winfield House in London, England, April 1, 2009.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talk in the Blue Room of the White House before the start of the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony on Aug. 12, 2009.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama join staff aboard Air Force One during their flight April 3, 2009, from Stansted Airport in Essex, England, en route to Strasbourg, France.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are welcomed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Buckingham Palace in London, England, April 1, 2009.
President Barack Obama and Burmese Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi pet Bo, the Obama family dog, at the conclusion of their meeting in the Oval Office, Sept. 19, 2012.
Official pens used by President Barack Obama to sign the Procurement Reform Bill in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 21, 2009.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk towards Marine One as they leave Normandy for Paris on June 6, 2009.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wear 3-D glasses while watching a TV commercial during Super Bowl 43, Arizona Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, in the family theater of the White House on Feb. 1, 2009.
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Brian Cowen of Ireland attend a St. Patrick's Day lunch hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Rayburn Building, U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C., March 17, 2009.
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speak together sitting at a picnic table April 9, 2009, on the South Lawn of the White House.
President Barack Obama walks along along the Colonnade toward the Oval Office, Feb. 26, 2009.
President Barack Obama talks alone with Sen. Edward Kennedy in the Green Room of the White House March 5, 2009.
President Barack Obama says goodbye to Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, following his speech on innovation and sustainable growth, at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y., Sept. 21, 2009.
President Barack Obama kisses First Lady Michelle Obama in the Blue Room prior to meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus in the State Dining Room of the White House, Feb. 26, 2009.
President Barack Obama greets an attendee after signing his invitation during the September 11th Observance Ceremony at the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Va., Sept. 11, 2012.
President Barack Obama walks down the Cross Hall towards the East Room of the White House prior to a prime time press conference, April 29, 2009.
President Barack Obama walks from the Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House after attending the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 25, 2009.
President Barack Obama walks with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi backstage at a Democratic fundraiser in Washington, D.C., June 18, 2009.
President Barack Obama waves to Members of Congress prior to addressing the Joint Session of the United States Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, 2009.
Senior advisors Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod review the Quarterly Report of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 in the Oval Office, May 13, 2009.
Vice President Joe Biden speaks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outside the Oval Office, June 10, 2009.
 |
| Official White House Photos |
President Barack Obama's signature on a wall in a health classroom at Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Axelrod on Journalism
15.6.09
President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod divulged a few secrets of his college days today as he told 1,300 journalism and other DePaul University graduates to "chase their passions” and not “succumb to the pull of the pull of the practical.”
Axelrod’s remarks came as Iranians protested suspicious official election returns and doctors gathered in Chicago, where Obama will address them Monday.
After the speech, Axelrod told reporters, “Iran has to consider whether to go down a path to isolate them from the rest of the world.”
But he largely stayed away from current events in his comencement address at Allstate Arena in Rosemont to DePaul’s College of Communications and other schools. He focused on his own experiences in journalism and politics and why he thought these students should “explore and experiment, take some chances.”
“You are as noble and unfettered and as free as you will ever be to pursue your passions and chase your dreams,” Axelrod said.
He smiled and added, “You may say, ‘That’s easy for you to say — you work for the president of the United States . . . The day that I walked across the stage, that day a million years ago, the last thing I ever dreamed was that I would be walking every morning to an office 20 feet from the president.”
Axelrod said when he was the age the graduates are now, he couldn’t wait to become a journalist — so much so that he ignored his studies in favor of newspaper internships.
“You ever have one of those dreams where you’re suddenly taking a final and you panic because you never attended a class? I’m here to tell you I lived my dreams,” he said.
Last month, Obama’s stance in favor of legal abortion provoked hundreds of protesters to picket his commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. But no protest signs greeted Axelrod, only a standing ovation and a vote of confidence from DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider, who credited Axelrod with setting a positive tone in the Obama campaign.
“He is your last lesson,” Holtschneider told the graduates. “About four hours ago, in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized liberal democracies . . . saying [people] cannot speak their will or mind. Today’s honoree, I think, is a living answer to that charge. If there ever was an election built around a popular, bottom-up movement, this was it.”
Axelrod was a University of Chicago graduate, but he told the graduating students and their families that as soon as he graduated, he bought season tickets for DePaul’s men’s basketball team.
“To show you how old I am, DePaul was a national powerhouse then,” Axelrod said.
He also got in a dig at Rosemont, where the Blue Demons play, saying, “It’s great to be home in Illinois, in the world’s greatest city. I mean Chicago, not Rosemont.”
DePaul communications Prof. Barbara Willard praised Axelrod’s skill in “branding” and “honing Obama’s message.”
“His main focus of the campaign was on the president’s voice,” Willard said. “The message, theme and tone of the campaign remained consistent.”
Axelrod spoke of his start in journalism.
“In those days, superb reporting played a historic role in uncovering the truth, shining a bright light on events like Vietnam and Watergate,” Axelrod said. “Journalists heped save the republic, and I wanted to be a part of that. But, over time, things changed. By the mid-1980s, journalism was becoming more business than calling. The front office began to take over the newsroom. The emphasis went from veracity to velocity, from reporting to receipts.”
He said that’s when he went into politics.
Axelrod said he hoped this generation could find new ways of doing journalism on the Internet and other media.
For instance, the student speaker at the commencement, Gabriel Vargas, earned a degree in computer-game development.
“Your generation changed politics forever,” Axelrod said. “There’s no reason you can’t do the same wth journalism, radio and the Internet or any other field.”
He warned the grads not to neglect their lives in favor of their careers. After Bill Clinton becamew the Democratic nominee for president and offered Axelrod the job of communications director, Axelrod turned down the dream to spend more time with his wife and three children.
“Had I taken that job, I wouldn’t have neen introduced later that year to a splendid young guy from the South Side with the unusual name of Barack,” he said.
After his speech, Axelrod spoke about Iran.
“We have grave concerns about the nuclear program in Iran,” he said.
Axelrod said the administration’s strategy in Iran “was never predicated on a regime” and that the United States will seek dialogue with whoever emerges the winner of Iran’s election.
He also spoke about Obama’s visit to Chicago Monday, where the presidentn will speak to the American Medical Association’s annual convention. He said Obama will seek to convince doctors that changes to the health-care system to make it more affordable to patients will mean less paperwork for doctors and generally is in their best intertest.
(The Chicago Sun-Times)
Axelrod’s remarks came as Iranians protested suspicious official election returns and doctors gathered in Chicago, where Obama will address them Monday.
After the speech, Axelrod told reporters, “Iran has to consider whether to go down a path to isolate them from the rest of the world.”
But he largely stayed away from current events in his comencement address at Allstate Arena in Rosemont to DePaul’s College of Communications and other schools. He focused on his own experiences in journalism and politics and why he thought these students should “explore and experiment, take some chances.”
“You are as noble and unfettered and as free as you will ever be to pursue your passions and chase your dreams,” Axelrod said.
He smiled and added, “You may say, ‘That’s easy for you to say — you work for the president of the United States . . . The day that I walked across the stage, that day a million years ago, the last thing I ever dreamed was that I would be walking every morning to an office 20 feet from the president.”
Axelrod said when he was the age the graduates are now, he couldn’t wait to become a journalist — so much so that he ignored his studies in favor of newspaper internships.
“You ever have one of those dreams where you’re suddenly taking a final and you panic because you never attended a class? I’m here to tell you I lived my dreams,” he said.
Last month, Obama’s stance in favor of legal abortion provoked hundreds of protesters to picket his commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. But no protest signs greeted Axelrod, only a standing ovation and a vote of confidence from DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider, who credited Axelrod with setting a positive tone in the Obama campaign.
“He is your last lesson,” Holtschneider told the graduates. “About four hours ago, in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized liberal democracies . . . saying [people] cannot speak their will or mind. Today’s honoree, I think, is a living answer to that charge. If there ever was an election built around a popular, bottom-up movement, this was it.”
Axelrod was a University of Chicago graduate, but he told the graduating students and their families that as soon as he graduated, he bought season tickets for DePaul’s men’s basketball team.
“To show you how old I am, DePaul was a national powerhouse then,” Axelrod said.
He also got in a dig at Rosemont, where the Blue Demons play, saying, “It’s great to be home in Illinois, in the world’s greatest city. I mean Chicago, not Rosemont.”
DePaul communications Prof. Barbara Willard praised Axelrod’s skill in “branding” and “honing Obama’s message.”
“His main focus of the campaign was on the president’s voice,” Willard said. “The message, theme and tone of the campaign remained consistent.”
Axelrod spoke of his start in journalism.
“In those days, superb reporting played a historic role in uncovering the truth, shining a bright light on events like Vietnam and Watergate,” Axelrod said. “Journalists heped save the republic, and I wanted to be a part of that. But, over time, things changed. By the mid-1980s, journalism was becoming more business than calling. The front office began to take over the newsroom. The emphasis went from veracity to velocity, from reporting to receipts.”
He said that’s when he went into politics.
Axelrod said he hoped this generation could find new ways of doing journalism on the Internet and other media.
For instance, the student speaker at the commencement, Gabriel Vargas, earned a degree in computer-game development.
“Your generation changed politics forever,” Axelrod said. “There’s no reason you can’t do the same wth journalism, radio and the Internet or any other field.”
He warned the grads not to neglect their lives in favor of their careers. After Bill Clinton becamew the Democratic nominee for president and offered Axelrod the job of communications director, Axelrod turned down the dream to spend more time with his wife and three children.
“Had I taken that job, I wouldn’t have neen introduced later that year to a splendid young guy from the South Side with the unusual name of Barack,” he said.
After his speech, Axelrod spoke about Iran.
“We have grave concerns about the nuclear program in Iran,” he said.
Axelrod said the administration’s strategy in Iran “was never predicated on a regime” and that the United States will seek dialogue with whoever emerges the winner of Iran’s election.
He also spoke about Obama’s visit to Chicago Monday, where the presidentn will speak to the American Medical Association’s annual convention. He said Obama will seek to convince doctors that changes to the health-care system to make it more affordable to patients will mean less paperwork for doctors and generally is in their best intertest.
(The Chicago Sun-Times)
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