On Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., the President will participate in the traditional turkey pardoning ceremony in the Rose Garden.  In the afternoon, the First Family will participate in a service event in the D.C. area. The President will spend Thanksgiving Day here at the White House. On Friday at 2:00 p.m., the First Lady will be presented with the official White House Christmas tree, which comes this year from Shepherdstown, West Virginia. A PROCLAMATION What began as a harvest celebration betwe... Read Full Story

Victoria Reggie Kennedy introduces historians Michael Beschloss and Doris Kearns Goodwin who will discuss Senator Kennedy’s memoir, True Compass, his role in history and his legacy with political analyst, Mike Barnicle.   Mrs. Kennedy will sign copies of True Compass (which will be on sale in the museum store) following the forum.  This special forum is being co-sponsored by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.   Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-s... Read Full Story

Bill Clinton encourages people to listen to the stories and lend a hand where you can: I grew up in the age before television in a family of hardworking, caring storytellers who taught me that everyone has a story. This has inspired much of the work I do today through my Foundation — helping to give people better stories to tell about their lives, their future, and their world. Our measurable results are a part of the story: More than 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS now have acce... Read Full Story

Newport, Oregon— A group of at risk youths from the Police Activities League of Portland (PAL) visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium for the first time last Friday, and for some, it was the first time they had ever seen the ocean. “Before arriving at the Aquarium, some of the smaller children were asking, ‘what is in an aquarium?’ They truly had no idea what was in store,” said Cara Sweeney, Recruitment Coordinator for the Portland Police Bureau, who also works closely with PAL. Read Full Story

 President Obama received a warm welcome in South Koera yesterday, with a festive welcome and thousands of cheering people lining the streets of downtown Seoul. President Lee Myung-bak expressed his satisfaction with the ceremony, saying “I have to say that the arrival ceremony for our state visit was as spectacular as any that we’ve seen.” At a special joint press conference, President Obama announced that he will send a special envoy to Pyongyang on Dec 8 for direct talks... Read Full Story

 Delicious “Today we passed another critical milestone in the health reform effort with the release of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I was particularly pleased to see that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the bill will reduce the deficit by $127 billion over the next ten years and as much as $650 billion in the decade following, saving hundreds of billions while extending coverage to 31 million more Americans. From day one, our goal has be... Read Full Story

 Delicious Since September 21st, hundreds of students submitted more than 600 videso in response to the President’s call to take greater responsibility for their education. The submissions came from students from diverse economic, social and ethnic backgrounds, and the content ranged from music videos to short skits. In their entries, students talked about why education is important to them and the goals they had for their future and the steps they would take to meet them. T... Read Full Story

Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairwoman Mary Schapiro today announced that President Barack Obama has established by Executive Order an interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to strengthen efforts to combat financial crime.   The attorney general will convene the first meeting of the Task Force in the next 30 days.   Remarks By Attorney Gener... Read Full Story

 Delicious Statement by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the Approval of Settlement Expansion in Jerusalem We are dismayed at the Jerusalem Planning Committee’s decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem. At a time when we are working to re-launch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed. Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appe... Read Full Story

PRESIDENT HU: (As translated.) Your Excellency President Obama, and dear friends from the news media, ladies and gentlemen: I’m very happy to meet our friends from the press and media. To begin with, I would like to extend on behalf of the Chinese government and people a warm welcome to President Obama on his state visit. Welcome to China.Just now I had very good talks with President Obama. The two sides had in-depth exchange of views on how to further bilateral relationship and on maj... Read Full Story