10 Campaign Fundraisers are the focus of President Obama, VP Biden, and Mrs. Obama the week after the State of the Union 2012

After the State of the Union was delivered last Tuesday, the President, Vice President, and First Lady took to the skies, blitzing the country in 3 different directions.

Mr. Obama went to the middle and western part of the country, hitting Iowa, Arizona, Colorado and Michigan.

VP Biden took the northeast, fundraising in New Hampshire, New York City. This week he relocated to the south west Texas.

Mrs. Obama covered the south and far west. First, it was off to Florida last week. This week, she's covering California, appearing on television and fundraising as well.

Here is a brief summary of their campaign fundraising journeys.

Today, Tuesday - January 31, 2012

• President Obama attends 2 campaign events, one at St Regis Hotel, and the other at a Private Residence in DC
• VP Biden speaks at 2 campaign events: Fort Worth TX, and DeKalb TX
• Michelle Obama appears on Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and is a guest on Ellen DeGeneres. Then she ends the day with a Beverly Hills fundraiser costing up to $71,600 per couple.

Monday, January 30, 2012

• Both Mr. Obama and Michelle host reception for the Diplomatic Corps
• Then, Mr. Obama campaigns on YouTube & Google+

Saturday, January 28, 2012

• Obama & Wife are entertained at the Alfalfa Club Dinner

Friday, January 27, 2012

• President Obama speaks at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Upon returning to DC, he speaks at the Democratic Issues Conference, and later attends a campaign event at Mandarin Oriental Hotel
• Biden spent the day at House Democratic Issues Conference

Thusday, January 26, 2012

• Mr. Obama appears at  UPS Las Vegas South, delivers remarks in Buckley Air Force Base Colorado, and then flies off to Detroit Michigan
• Michelle Obama stars in 2 Florida DNC fundraising events, one in Palm Beach and the other in Sarasota
• VP Biden travels up north and speaks in Rochester, Hew Hampshire. Next he hits the internet for a  Twitter interview. The day is capped with two campaign events, the first in Portsmouth, NH, and the second an evening appearance in NYC.

Wednesday,- January 25, 2012

• Mr. Obama lands in Cedar Rapids Iowa, tours Conveyor Engineering & Manufacturing, flies to Phoenix Arizona and speaks at Intel Ocotillo Campus. Afterwards, its back on the plane and off to Las Vegas.

Aside from pushing his new State of the Union theme, it is difficult to see any governing or leadership duties being performed by this wandering trio.

Preparing for the State of the Union, Obama campaigns and meets the Bruins

During the past week from Wednesday January 18 through Tuesday January 24, President Obama has spent more time campaigning and hosting events than he has performing official duties as the President of the United States.  Below is a summary of his public schedule during that week.

Today, Tueday January 24th, his calendar simply contains the State of the Union Address, in which it is noted that Michelle Obama will attend.

Yesterday, Monday January 23, Mr. Obama hosted the 2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.

Thursday, January 19th was devoted to campaigning. First, the President flew off to Disney World to deliver remarks about tourism. Then, he flew to New York City to attend 4 campaign events.

• Private Residence - Spike Lee
• Apollo Theater fundraiser
• Daniel Restaurant - Bellecour Reception Area
• Daniel Restaurant - Main Reception Area

The day before, on Wednesday January 18th, he hosted a reception for US mayors after he killed the Keystone Pipeline project.

By contrast, his week was was filled with only a few hours of official meetings in which he: had two Presidential briefings; participated in an Ambasssador credentialing ceremony; and met once with Geithner, Clinton, and his Senior advisors.

It seems that since so few Americans are actually working, Mr. Obama has decided to join them as well.

Two weeks of Birthdays, Cardinals, Airmen, Mavericks, and campaign events

Since returning from their 2011 Hawaiian vacation, the First Family has been quite busy addressing the issues of the country, as we have learned from their published schedules.

First, today, Tuesday, January 17th, is Michelle's 48th Birthday!

Congratuations & Happy Birthday Mrs. Obama

To celebrate this wonderful day, the President and First Lady are honoring 2011 World Series Champs St. Louis Cardinals while thay have sent VP Biden to appear at Girard College in North Philadelphia.

Yesterday, they attended the MLK musical presentation "Let Freedom Ring Celebration" at the Kennedy Center.

Last Friday, January 13th, they hosted the surviving Tuskegee Airmen and the cast from the movie "Red Tails" at a private screening in the White House. This came after attending a campaign event Jefferson Hotel in DC.

On Wednesday, January 11th, the President flew to Chicago and delivered remarks at 3 campaign events. In his DC absence, Michelle was very busy, attending a DNC luncheon in Richmond VA, delivering remarks at Virginia Commonwealth University, and speaking at DNC reception in Charlottesville VA.

Monday January 09th was passed by hosting NBA Champions Dallas Mavericks before attending two separate campaign events.

Friday January 06th was dedicated to lunching with winners of a Barack Obama campaign contest.

And lastly, Wednesday January 04th, the President flew to Cleveland Ohio to have a discussion in a private residence.

To fill his time in between all this, Mr. Obama met with senior advisors, King Abdullah II of Jordan, a jobs council, Leon Panetta, lunched with Vice President Biden, etc.

Read more:
Happy birthday to style icon (and first lady) Michelle Obama!
Michelle Obama Birthday: FLOTUS Turns 48! (PHOTOS)

Why must the debt ceiling must be raised?

Why, in order to go bankrupt, but of course!

But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6)

 

But then again, the 2009 Halloween Party was not a total secret from the public.

"Well, in out country," said Alice, still panting a little,

"you'd generally get to somewhere else -- if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. 

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. 

If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 2)

Now that the Hawaiian vacation is over, its time to start spending and taxing again

The President's Hawaiian vacation is now over. He and his family departed Honolulu together last night and are flying back to Washington.

The tanned and relaxed First Family are due to arrive around 7AM this morning. The Air Force One flight will bring them back to a chilly Washington where the political climate is cold as well.

Once he returns, Obama plans to meet with his senior advisers and then have lunch with Vice President Biden.

One topic of discussion will be his request for increasing the U.S. Debt Ceiling by another $1.2 trillion. If, and when granted, our national debt will balloon to $16.4 trillion.

Obviously, part of this increase will go towards paying for the fanciful flights to the paradise island vacation they all took on separate airplanes.