Ty'Sheoma Bethea: Obama Inspired By Letter, Invites Young Student To Speech

One of the guests at President Obama's address to Congress Tuesday night was Ty'sheoma Bethea, an eighth grader from a small town in South Carolina. Bethea wrote Obama and asked that money from the stimulus go to her dilapidated school. She had reportedly never been on a plane before boarding a flight to D.C. with her mother for the speech.

The president referenced Bethea's story in his remarks, and quoted her letter:

I think about Ty'Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina - a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."

In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," Bethea revealed her own ambition: to be the first female president. She said she was inspired to write the letter because she thought too much of the stimulus money was going to people who already had enough.

Obama Fired up, Again!!!!!

A fired-up Barack Obama ditched his TelePrompter to rally House Democrats and rip Republican opponents of his recovery package Thursday night – at one point openly mocking the GOP for failing to follow through on promises of bipartisanship.

In what was the most pointedly partisan speech of his young presidency, Obama rejected Republican arguments that massive spending in the $819 billion stimulus bill that passed the House should be replaced by a new round of massive tax cuts.

“I welcome this debate, but we are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,” said President Obama – sounding more like Candidate Obama than at any time since he took the oath of office less than a month ago.

Obama, speaking to about 200 House Democrats at their annual retreat at the Kingsmill Resort and Spa, dismissed Republican attacks against the massive spending in the stimulus.

"What do you think a stimulus is?" Obama asked incredulously. "It’s spending — that's the whole point! Seriously.”

Obama Behind The Scenes

Obama Dressing Up

All The Best honey

Dad Perform Well

Mom, Let’s Go

Oh When Will My Turn Come

Oh i can’t leave my Blackberry

Oh God Bless Me

Sir, Please take care of Main Street

Ok, Bush Good Byee. Take Rest.

My Dream Home

First Day in Office.

Some Exclusive Pictures Of Obama - Making himself ready before the presidential Oath

Obama Dressing Up

All The Best honey

Dad Perform Well

Mom, Let’s Go

Oh When Will My Turn Come

Oh i can’t leave my Blackberry

Oh God Bless Me

Sir, Please take care of Main Street

Ok, Bush Good Byee. Take Rest.

My Dream Home

First Day in Office.

Obama Says - I Screwed Up. In a Television Interview

Barack Obama on Tuesday abruptly abandoned his nomination fight for Tom Daschle and a second major appointee who failed to pay all their taxes, fearing a lingering ethics dispute would undercut his claims to moral high ground and cripple his presidency in just its second week. "I screwed up," Obama declared.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obama flashes irritation in press room visit

President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

"Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."

Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter's shoulder and staring him in the eye.

"Alright, come on" he said, with obvious irritation in his voice. "We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys - that's all I was trying to do."

The president was quickly saved by a cameraman in the room who called out: “I’d like to say it one more time: ‘Mr. President.’ ”

Obama spent about 10 minutes total, winding his way through a crush of reporters and photographers between the upper and lower floors of the journalists' workspace and asking questions about who worked where and how the booths and desks were assigned.

Reporters had little warning about the impromptu visit by the new president, and those who were in the downstairs portion of the press quarters only came to the briefing room after an unexpected and cryptic announcement on the internal intercom that they do so.

"This is worse than the Middle East," he joked, alluding to the territorial claims staked on the cramped corridor. "Who's sitting where and all that stuff."

He revealed that he had already gotten in two work outs since being sworn in Tuesday.

"Turns out I have a little gym up there," he said with a smile.

Obama said he had watched press secretary Robert Gibbs debut briefing "in anticipation of some flop sweat. ... I just want to thank you for not completely ripping up Gibbs," Obama said.

"I am very proud of him today. He got a fist bump from me."

Obama takes oath again, faithfully this time

A day after he and Chief Justice John Roberts stumbled over the words, Obama decides to do it over to remove any doubt about the legitimacy of his presidency.

President Obama took the oath of office Tuesday outside the Capitol, as millions watched in person and on TV. He took it again Wednesday night -- this time in the privacy of the White House, with only a few aides and reporters looking on.

The second time around, they both got it right.

The president's lawyer and constitutional experts agreed that taking the oath a second time was unnecessary. Under the Constitution, Obama became president at noon Tuesday, a few minutes before he placed his hand on a Bible to take the oath.

"Congratulations, again," the chief justice said, smiling.

"Thank you, sir," Obama replied.

At least two presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur, took the oath a second time after questions were raised

Ethnically Diverse and Multicultural President Obama for a Ethnically Diverse and Multicultural Country

The family that produced Barack and Michelle Obama is black and white and Asian, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. They speak English; Indonesian; French; Cantonese; German; Hebrew; African languages including Swahili, Luo and Igbo; and even a few phrases of Gullah, the Creole dialect of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Very few are wealthy, and some — like Sarah Obama, the stepgrandmother who only recently got electricity and running water in her metal-roofed shack — are quite poor.

Aside from a top-quality education, the new president came to politics with none of his predecessor’s advantages: no famous last name, no deep-pocketed parents to finance early forays into politics and, in fact, not much of a father at all. So Mr. Obama built his political career from scratch, with best-selling books and long-shot runs for office, leaving his relatives astonished at where he has brought them.

It is so mind-boggling that there is a black president in a White House. Some say that The Dreams of Martin Luther King has come true.

Atlast we should be greatful to the People of America for electing such a Multi Cultural and Ethnically Diverse president.

Obama's Poetry

Poem Obama wrote in High School

OLD MAN

I saw an old forgotten man
On an old, forgotten road
staggering and numb
pulls out forgotten dignity from under his flaking coat,
And walks a straight line along the crooked world.

POP
Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and broken

In, sprinkled with ashes,

Pop switches channels, takes another

Shot of Seagrams, neat, and asks

What to do with me, a green young man

Who fails to consider the

Flim and flam of the world, since

Things have been easy for me;

I stare hard at his face, a stare

That deflects off his brow;

I'm sure he's unaware of his

Dark, watery eyes, that

Glance in different directions,

And his slow, unwelcome twitches,

Fail to pass.

I listen, nod,

Listen, open, till I cling to his pale,

Beige T-shirt, yelling,

Yelling in his ears, that hang

With heavy lobes, but he's still telling

His joke, so I ask why

He's so unhappy, to which he replies...

But I don't care anymore, cause

He took too damn long, and from

Under my seat, I pull out the

Mirror I've been saving; I'm laughing,

Laughing loud, the blood rushing from his face

To mine, as he grows small,

A spot in my brain, something

That may be squeezed out, like a

Watermelon seed between

Two fingers.

Pop takes another shot, neat,

Points out the same amber

Stain on his shorts that I've got on mine, and

Makes me smell his smell, coming

From me; he switches channels, recites an old poem

He wrote before his mother died,

Stands, shouts, and asks

For a hug, as I shink,* my

Arms barely reaching around

His thick, oily neck, and his broad back; 'cause

I see my face, framed within

Pop's black-framed glasses

And know he's laughing too.




UNDERGROUND

Under water grottos, caverns

Filled with apes

That eat figs.

Stepping on the figs

That the apes

Eat, they crunch.

The apes howl, bare

Their fangs, dance,

Tumble in the

Rushing water,

Musty, wet pelts

Glistening in the blue.

Rising fame for Obama 'lookalike'

Leaders welcome Obama

UNITED NATIONS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

I sincerely hope that President Obama will make as a matter of priority these Middle Eastern policies. As a member of the Quartet, as the leader of the world, the United States has full responsibility to lead this peace process so that this two-state solution, Israel, Palestinians can live in peace and security side by side.

UNITED KINGDOM
Prime Minister Gordon Brown

The whole world is watching the inauguration of President Obama, witnessing a new chapter in both American history and the world's history.

He's not only the first black American president but he sets out with the determination to solve the world's problems.

FRANCE
President Nicolas Sarkozy

We are eager for him to get to work so that with him we can change the world.

RUSSIA
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

We are ready for this. Our president confirmed this in a telephone conversation with Barack Obama straight after he was elected. I think there will be additional telephone - and not only telephone - contacts between our leaders.

GERMANY
Chancellor Angela Merkel

I want to say that I believe today is a very special day not only for the United States of America but also a special day for billions of people all over the world.
The fact that a coloured president is being inaugurated and the fact the we a looking at an intensive transatlantic co-operation is something that not only moves the heads and thoughts but also the hearts. And I want to wish the new American President Barack Obama all the best, much strength and health and God's blessing .
And I want to say that Germany is prepared to liaise with him very intensely and very openly.

SPAIN
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

Obama gives us hope and his words put us on a better path for a smooth and fruitful relationship with the Spanish government. The arrival of Obama gives us an opportunity we won't pass up.

ITALY
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Many hopes and expectations have been piled on him, not just by the American people but also the rest of the world. The thing to do is to send him the most affectionate and cordial wishes so that he can fulfil these expectations.

VATICAN
Pope Benedict XVI

I pray that you will be confirmed in your resolve to promote understanding, co-operation and peace among the nations, so that all may share in the banquet of life which God wills to set for the whole human family.

I offer cordial good wishes, together with the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you unfailing wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high responsibilities.

IRAN
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki

We prefer to wait and see what the practical policies of the American government will be.

ISRAEL
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

Obama has mobilised the greatest amount of good will and support in all walks of life. This mobilisation of good will is becoming his strength in its own right. And I think all of us expect to translate this occasion into a real opportunity to pacify, to meet, to have a dialogue and bring a solution of peace to all parties concerned.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad

We wish him well and we look forward to active engagement on the part of his administration, in co-operation with important members of the international community.

GAZA STRIP
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum

He came with a change and he needs to change the foreign policy of the United States towards honouring the freedom rights and democratic rights of nations, he must support the freedom of our Palestinian people and their rights and conventions.

VENEZUELA
President Hugo Chavez

Hopefully the arrival of a new president will mark a real change in relations between the United States and the countries of the Third World, one of respect for sovereignty and the freedom of the people. But nobody here should be under any illusions. This is the North American Empire we are talking about.

JAPAN
Prime Minister Taro Aso

Japan and the United States are allies who share universal values and strategic interests. I am convinced that Japan and the United States, both in a position to lead the world, can build a better future by working together to share knowledge, willingness, passion and strategy.

With this belief, I wish to join hands with President Obama in further strengthening the Japan-US alliance and striving for peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

THAILAND
King Bhumibol Adulyadej

On the occasion of your assumption of the Office of the President of the United States of America, I am pleased to extend to your Excellency my sincere congratulations and best wishes for your success and happiness as well as for the greater progress and prosperity of the United States of America and her people.

AUSTRALIA
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

I look forward very much to working with President Obama, the next president of the United States. Because we have a huge challenge ahead and it begins by working together on the global financial crisis.

President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso

We are living through challenging times. And the challenges we face have no respect for national frontiers. What we need is new global governance and a new basis for prosperity. I sincerely believe that Europe and the United States must work together and with our partners around the world to devise and implement this new agenda for globalisation.