President Barack Obama Archives

50th Commemoration: Reed, Obama discuss youth violence as world prepares for bell-ringing at 3 p.m.

by David Pendered August 28, 2013 12:04 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:12 pm

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was among the group of 18 mayors who met Tuesday at the White House with President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss strategies to reduce youth violence.

The meeting came as some in the nation are looking for ways to continue to the spirit of progress observed in the 50^th commemoration, on Wednesday, of the March on Washington and its message of jobs, justice and freedom.

In Atlanta, city council President Ceasar Mitchell has urged those in the city, and nation, to join in the “Let Freedom Ring” celebration. At precisely 3 p.m., local time, bells and devices that sound like bells are set to ring across the globe, according to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

David Pendered

Reed supports Obama’s national infrastructure repair plan, although it’s been drowned out by sequester

by David Pendered February 27, 2013 10:25 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:10 pm

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on Wednesday strongly endorsed one of President Obama’s domestic proposals, even as it has been swept from the stage by debate over budget cuts known as the sequester.

During Obama’s State of the Union message, the president reintroduced the idea of repairing the nation’s transportation infrastructure. The plan he discussed is to fix worn roads, bridges, ports, water and sewerage, and transit – and to pay for the upgrades with measures including a national infrastructure bank.

Tom Baxter

‘No mob, no coup, no insurrection,’ but not quite ‘We, the people’ either

by Tom Baxter January 21, 2013 4:57 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:09 pm

We, the people have had a grand wallow of binding ourselves together over the past few days, from the tribal frenzy of the NFL playoffs to the lofty visions of togetherness celebrated on the King Holiday, to the second inauguration of Barack H. Obama, president of the United States.

The difficulty some still have in swallowing the last clause of the preceding sentence gave U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, by now the South’s longest-serving and most seasoned political leader, a tricky assignment Monday. As co-chair of the inauguration committee, he was the only Republican to speak at the swearing-in ceremony.

Alexander seemed to be speaking directly to his party’s most disaffected when he recalled the words of his fellow Tennessean Alex Haley: “Find the good, and praise it,” repeating the admonishment twice more for emphasis in a two-minute speech.