Obama’s Family

Thanksgiving‏
From: President Barack Obama (***)
Sent: Wed 11/25/09 4:07 PM
To: Karen *** (***)
Karen –

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, Americans across the country will sit down together, count our blessings, and give thanks for our families and our loved ones.

American families reflect the diversity of this great nation. No two are exactly alike, but there is a common thread they each share.

Our families are bound together through times of joy and times of grief. They shape us, support us, instill the values that guide us as individuals, and make possible all that we achieve.

So tomorrow, I’ll be giving thanks for my family — for all the wisdom, support, and love they have brought into my life.

But tomorrow is also a day to remember those who cannot sit down to break bread with those they love.

The soldier overseas holding down a lonely post and missing his kids. The sailor who left her home to serve a higher calling. The folks who must spend tomorrow apart from their families to work a second job, so they can keep food on the table or send a child to school.

We are grateful beyond words for the service and hard work of so many Americans who make our country great through their sacrifice. And this year, we know that far too many face a daily struggle that puts the comfort and security we all deserve painfully out of reach.

So when we gather tomorrow, let us also use the occasion to renew our commitment to building a more peaceful and prosperous future that every American family can enjoy.

It seems like a lifetime ago that a crowd met on a frigid February morning in Springfield, Illinois to set out on an improbable course to change our nation.

In the years since, Michelle and I have been blessed with the support and friendship of the millions of Americans who have come together to form this ongoing movement for change.

You have been there through victories and setbacks. You have given of yourselves beyond measure. You have enabled all that we have accomplished — and you have had the courage to dream yet bigger dreams for what we can still achieve.

So in this season of thanks giving, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to you, and my anticipation of the brighter future we are creating together.

With warmest wishes for a happy holiday season from my family to yours,

President Barack Obama

TEN TRILLION and COUNTING
What past history has dumped on America; it all landed in President Obama’s lap. Let us put the blame where it belongs! May God be with President Obama as he meets these struggles that he inherited!

Obama and Family

President Obama, First Lady, and Family

Simon Shama

Coming soon on BBC Two.
Shot against the backdrop of the presidential campaign, Simon Schama travels through America to dig deep into the conflicts of its history to understand what is at stake right now.

by BBC/YouTube
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/books/review/Brooks-t.html?_r=1&ref=books&pagewanted=printNew York Times

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/05/24/looking_to_americas_past_to_find_a_path_for_the_future?mode=PF

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104349915

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124295698268845895.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/weekinreview/24bowley.html?ref=global-home