Video- Obamas share private moment in public eye

Too fracking cute.

Washington (CNN) - On the driveway right outside the White House briefing room, a place where President Barack Obama rarely strolls during public hours, CNN caught a rare and personal exchange between the first couple.

Flanked by Secret Service agents and personal aide Reggie Love, Obama spotted his wife near the West Wing entrance and tried to get her attention. "Hey FLOTUS," he shouted, then added, "I was just looking for you." FLOTUS is the acronym for first lady of the United States.

As CNN photojournalist Bill Alberter videotaped the encounter, the president joked, "Stop it guys, I haven't seen my wife in a while."

The first lady, who seemed poised to deliver an affectionate greeting, was thwarted when the president said, "Let's not do this in front of the cameras."

Instead they held hands and walked together into the West Wing like a married couple that had not seen each other since one of them made a quick jaunt to Prague to sign a new nuclear arms treaty.

Mid Day Distraction

Presidential Pooch Gets An Official Portrait

Okay, fine. It's stormy and nasty here and I needed an awwwww.

The newest White House resident now has his own official portrait.

In the photograph, first dog Bo, the Obama family's Portuguese Water Dog, sits on the South Lawn with his new home shining in the background.

Along with the picture, the White House has also created a Bo baseball card, which features fun facts about the presidential pooch.

Evening Distraction

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (Yes, I did look it up to make sure I had spelled it correctly)

Spect-ator: Senate Dems say no seniority for Arlen

By GottaLaff

Somebody just got spanked:

The Senate dealt a blow tonight to Sen. Arlen Specter's hold on seniority in several key committees, a week after the Pennsylvanian's party switch placed Democrats on the precipice of a 60-seat majority.

In a unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved a resolution that added Specter to the Democratic side of the dais on the five committees on which he serves, an expected move that gives Democrats larger margins on key panels such as Judiciary and Appropriations.

But Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which goes through December 2010. Democrats have suggested that they will consider revisiting Specter's seniority claim at the committee level only after the midterm elections next year.

Take my Kleenex... please!

Without any assurance of seniority, Specter loses a major weapon in his campaign to win reelection in 2010: the ability to claim that his nearly 30 years of Senate service places him in key positions to benefit his constituents.

Tonight's committee resolution, quickly read on the Senate floor by Reid himself, contradicts Specter's assertion last Tuesday when he publicly announced his move from the Republican side of the aisle. He told reporters that he retained his seniority both in the overall chamber and in the committees on which he serves. [...]

Without that seniority, though, Specter, 79, would not even hold an appropriations subcommittee chairmanship in 2011, a critical foothold Specter has used in the past to disperse billions of dollars to Pennsylvania.

When Supreme Court nomination hearings are held later this summer, Specter will be the last senator to ask questions of the eventual nominee -- a dramatically lower profile than in 2005 and 2006, when he chaired the committee and ran the confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. [...]

Specter, after 43 years as an active Republican, will have to prove his Democratic loyalty over the next 20 months to his colleagues in order to win their support for his seniority.

Here ya go:

Alaska lawmakers reject Palin’s controversial attorney general pick

By GottaLaff

How controversial was Sarah Palin's attorney general pick? This controversial. And this. And this. Based on all of that, Ross' rejection was not unexpected:

The Alaska Legislature rejected Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) pick for state attorney general, Wayne Anthony Ross, by a vote of 35-23 today.

That stomping sound you hear is a spurned little Pouty McPoorTaste leaving the room in rage and disgrace.

Picture of the Day

President Obama runs down corridor with new family pet on Sunday.

Man, I'm going to strain my awwwww muscle with this dog. Pic via.

James Dobson: We've lost the culture wars

By GottaLaff

Welcome to today's episode of "Blaming Bill", brought to you by James "Show Me the Money" Dobson:

In a farewell address to the staff of Focus on the Family, James Dobson conceded that evangelical conservatives had lost most of the recent so-called “culture war” battles. Attributing the right’s recent failures to the “internet” and the election of Bill Clinton, Dobson said, “Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost.” He added that the nation is now “absolutely awash in evil“:

The battles that we fought in the Eighties now, we were victorious in many of those conflicts with the culture, trying to defend righteousness, trying to defend the unborn child, trying to preserve the dignity of the family and the definition of marriage. We fought all those battles and really it was a holding action. […]

[W]e made a lot of progress through the Eighties but then we turned into the Nineties and the internet came along and a new president came along and all of that went away and now we are absolutely awash in evil. And we are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost all those battles, but God is in control and we are not going to give up now, right?

Right as you can get. Far right.

Evening Distraction

Happy National Puppy Day!!

Obama's kindergarten class photo surfaces

I needed an "awww" today. Gorgeous smile, even then. h/t Ben via. (click to enlarge)

Zoo names new lion cubs Obama, Hillary

Here's a little awww to start your morning off with. No pics of the real cubs, so you get these cute ones instead.

Kuala Lumpur (DPA) Zookeepers in Malaysia's southern Johor state have named two new African lion cubs after US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a news report said Tuesday.

Obama and Hillary, along with another female cub yet to be named, were born in captivity at the Johor Zoo Jan 16, zookeeper Mohamad Sham said.

"Obama, the president, and Obama, the lion cub, can both trace their ancestry back to Africa, so there is a definite connection there," Sham was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

(snip)

"It is curious, playful and hates being caged up," Sham said of little Obama.

Obama and Hillary have been the major draw at the zoo since their birth, with tourists and visitors flocking to have their pictures taken with the namesakes of the US politicians.

A Utah Puppy For The Obama White House?

By Paddy


Okay, fine, this is just an awww post, but I'm a sucker for these.

There's a new campaign to get a Utahn in the White House — one whose qualifications include a wet nose, a wagging tail and a willingness to become a loyal member of a Democratic administration.
Dozens of dogs, including six from Utah, have been nominated on a new Web site created to convince Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama that he should adopt a shelter dog for his family rather than purchase a purebred.

Utah's canine candidates include Jeep, a red heeler mix described as "extremely liberal with her kisses" and Angel, a yellow lab said to be "already imagining herself playing fetch in the Rose Garden."

They appear on obamafamilydog.com, the Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society Web site that includes a petition already signed by more than 27,000 people nationwide urging Obama to rescue a homeless dog.