WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is promising he’ll be at the Super Bowl if his beloved hometown Chicago Bears make it in.

It’s not clear, though, that his off-the-cuff comment represented a firm commitment — or just a lighthearted moment in a busy day.

The Bears would earn a Super Bowl berth if they beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Obama was asked about his plans Wednesday by reporters being ushered out of his Oval Office meeting with the president of China.

Obama said laughingly: “Oh, if the Bears are in the Super Bowl, we’re going.”

The Super Bowl is Feb. 6 at the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium in Texas.

NBC’s Peter King reports that Barack Obama called Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie earlier this week to congratulate him for giving Vick a second chance after his release from prison. According to King, the president said that released prisoners rarely receive a level playing field and that Vick’s story could begin to change that.

Forget your political allegiances or feelings about Michael Vick and take a step back to think about this. The sitting president of the United States went out of his way to publicly praise a man who, 3 1/2 years ago, many thought would never play again in the NFL. Even the most ardent believers in Vick couldn’t have fathomed a turn-around like this.

via Yahoo

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to sign legislation Monday aimed at improving schoolchildren’s diets before meeting the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

The president and the first lady will make remarks on a priority they share. Then the president will sign into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which is intended to improve the quality of school lunches.

In the afternoon, the president will welcome the Los Angeles Lakers to honor their 2009-2010 season and their second consecutive NBA championship.



The overall compromise will cost between $600 and $800 billion over two years, according to CNN estimates.

Tax cut deal: How much it could cost

At the heart of the deal: an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for two more years, which would keep income tax rates at their current levels for everyone, as Republicans have advocated. Obama and other Democrats had argued that tax rates should stay the same for most people but rise for people earning more than $200,000 a year and families making $250,000 or more a year.

The deal Obama and Republicans have struck also includes a one-year cut in payroll taxes, from 6.2% to 4.2% on a worker’s first $106,800 of wages. If implemented, it would mean that someone earning $50,000 a year would pay $1,000 less in Social Security contributions next year. Someone earning $100,000 would pay $2,000 less. The payroll tax rate would go back up to 6.2% in 2012.

The estate tax — currently scheduled to return in 2011 to a top rate of 55% along with a $1 million exemption — would instead come back with a lower top rate of 35% along with a $5 million exemption.

Agreeing to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans represented a major concession for Obama. In a concession to Democrats, Republican negotiators agreed to leave in place for 13 months the option to file for extended federal unemployment benefits. That will not, however, affect how long someone can collect unemployment benefits — the maximum will remain 99 weeks in states hardest hit by job loss.

The plan also would continue tax breaks for students and families contained in the 2009 stimulus bill and allow businesses to write off all investments they make next year.

“It’s not perfect,” Obama said Monday in revealing the compromise, but “we cannot play politics at a time when the American people are looking for us to solve problems.”
Full Article via CNN

Below are pictures of President Barack after getting elbowed during a pickup game:

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Kevin Durant, passed over for an opportunity to play pick-up basketball with President Barack Obama earlier this year, got his own chance to shoot hoops with the president a month later, The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City reported Sunday.

The Oklahoma City Thunder star was not invited to an Aug. 8 shootaround at Fort McNair, in which NBA stars including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul played basketball with Obama for a crowd of soldiers wounded in combat.

Some felt Durant, a 2010 first team All-NBA selection and the league’s defending scoring champion, had been unfairly overlooked. But no such sentiment came from Durant, who said on his Twitter account that there’s “always next year.”

He barely had to wait a month.

According to the report, Durant’s agents, brothers Aaron and Eric Goodwin, made a connection with Reggie Love, Obama’s special assistant and personal aide, to get Durant an exclusive invitation to shoot hoops with the president. The visit occurred on Sept. 18, and Durant did not publicize the event, according to the report.

“It was a good feeling to meet the president,” Durant said, according to The Oklahoman. “Of course I always wanted to do that. Me being from D.C., it was pretty cool to see him. I was excited to get that opportunity. It’s something I’m always going to remember.”

Durant didn’t hog his face time with Obama for himself. He invited his mother and his grandmother and Thunder teammates Eric Maynor and James Harden, according to the report.

“She’s been in D.C. for 60 years and never got to meet the president,” Durant said of bringing his grandmother to the White House, according to the report. “Now we have the first African-American president, and that felt good for me to give her that opportunity.”

via ESPN

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