The White House Blog: The President

  • Weekly Address: Time to Create the Energy Security Trust

    President Obama discusses the need to harness American energy in order to reduce our dependence on oil and make the United States a magnet for new jobs. He highlights his all-of-the-above approach to American energy -- including a proposal to establish an Energy Security Trust, which invests in research that will help shift our cars and trucks off of oil.

    Transcript | Download mp4 | Download mp3


  • Ben Rhodes Previews President Obama's Trip to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan

    In the first foreign trip of his second term in office, President Obama will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. The trip is an important opportunity to meet with the new Israeli government and speak to the Israeli people, as well as meet with the Palestinian leadership and the King of Jordan.

    We asked Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, to preview the upcoming trip and some of the issues the President would be discussing in his meetings. Check it out below or watch the video on YouTube.

    Learn more about the trip.


  • President Obama Visits the Argonne National Research Lab to Talk About American Energy Security

    President Barack Obama delivers remarks at Argonne National Laboratory, March 15, 2013.

    President Barack Obama delivers remarks on clean energy at Argonne National Laboratory’s Nanoscale Materials Center in Lemont, Ill., March 15, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

    Few areas hold more promise for creating good jobs and growing our economy than how we use American energy, and today President Obama visited the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois to talk about the progress we are seeing from his all of the above approach to energy independence and the risk that this important sector faces from the arbitrary cuts being imposed by the so-called sequester.

    As President Obama noted in his remarks, these cuts do not distinguish between wasteful programs and vital investments. "They don’t trim the fat; they cut into muscle and into bone," the President said. "Like research and development being done right here that not only gives a great place for young researchers to come and ply their trade, but also ends up creating all kinds of spinoffs that create good jobs and good wages."   


  • Photo Gallery: Behind the Scenes in February 2013

    The White House Photo Office just released their latest behind-the-scenes photos, covering President Obama’s State of the Union Address, his visit to a pre-k classroom in Georgia, and around the White House.

    Check out some of the best images below, and see the full set of 33 photos on our Flickr gallery.

    • President Barack Obama hugs students in Decatur

      President Obama hugs students in a pre-kindergarten classroom in Decatur, Ga., Feb. 14, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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    • President Barack Obama confers with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough

      President Barack Obama talks with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough in the Oval Office, Feb. 6, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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    • Former Staff Sergent Clinton Romesha and his family in the Oval Office

      President Obama and the First Lady visit with former Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and his, Feb. 11, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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    • President Barack Obama shakes hands as he arrives to deliver the State of the Union

      President Obama reaches to shake hands before the State of the Union address, Feb. 12, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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    • First Lady Michelle Obama with Big Bird at the White House Kitchen

      First Lady Michelle Obama with Big Bird in the White House Kitchen, Feb. 13, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

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    • President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama record a message for ABC "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts

      President Obama and the First Lady record a message for anchor Robin Roberts, Feb. 19, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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    To learn more:


  • West Wing Week: 03/15/13 or “Stay With It!”

    This week, the President met with the Sultan of Brunei, his Export Council, Intel Science Fair finalists, and Israel Channel 2; he discussed cybersecurity and immigration reform with CEOs, and traveled to the Capitol to meet with Congressional Caucuses, while the First Lady honored Women of Courage, held a Twitter Q&A, and challenged CEOs to find innovative ways to hire veterans.


  • President Obama Meets with the Sultan of Brunei

    Today, President Obama hosted His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office to affirm the relationship between our two countries that dates back more than 160 years.

    The two leaders discussed their shared interest in a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Asia-Pacific region, and continued cooperation between our nations on a range of issues.

    With Brunei set to host October’s ASEAN East Asia Summit meeting, President Obama said they would be working together on “everything from how we deal with issues of energy and climate change to how we expand commerce, potentially through the Trans-Pacific Partnership that has the opportunity of creating jobs and prosperity here in the United States but also throughout the region.”


  • President Obama Talks Trade with His Export Council

    Today, President Obama stopped by a meeting of his Export Council, a group of business executives and government leaders who advise him on trade and export issues.

    “The good news is we are well on our way to meeting a very ambitious goal that we set several years ago to double U.S. exports,” President Obama said. “The question now becomes how do we sustain this momentum?”

    Part of that means building on progress that put strong trade deals in place, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which “sets a high bar that ensures that trade is fair and free,” the President said.

    “And for those of us who abide by high labor standards and high environmental standards, obviously being able to lock in those kinds of high standards in the fastest-growing region of the world and the most populous region of the world can yield enormous benefits and help to generate billions of dollars in trade and millions of jobs.”

    President Obama also discussed expanding trade with Europe through efforts to lock in the EU-U.S trade deal he announced in his State of the Union Address.


  • Weekly Address: End the Sequester to Keep Growing the Economy

    In his weekly address, President Obama says that businesses have created jobs every month for three years straight – nearly 6.4 million altogether, and have added 246,000 new jobs in February. We must keep this momentum going, and that’s why the President recently met with Republican leaders to discuss how we can replace the harmful, arbitrary budget cuts, called the “sequester,” with balanced deficit reduction. 

    Transcript | Download mp4 | Download mp3


  • West Wing Week: 03/08/13 or “Jedi Mind-Meld”

    This week, the President urged Congress to resolve harmful budget cuts and reduce the deficit in a way that helps grow the economy and strengthen the middle class, held his first Cabinet meeting of the second term, announced three key Cabinet nominations, and signed the Violence Against Women Act. 


  • No One Should Have to Live in Fear of Violence

    Ed. note: This article by Valerie Jarrett was first published on the Huffington Post. You can read it hereOn Friday, March 8th at 3:45 p.m. ET, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, will participate in a session of White House Office Hours to answers your questions about the Violence Against Women Act on Twitter. Ask questions now with #WHChat, and then follow the Q&A live.

    Today, President Obama signed a bill that both strengthened and reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  Thanks to this bipartisan agreement, thousands of women and men across the country who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking will be able to access resources they need in their communities to help heal from their trauma. In addition, thousands of law enforcement officers will be better equipped to stop violence before it starts, and respond to calls of help when they are needed.

    President Obama and Vice President Biden have steadfastly supported reauthorization—it’s what’s right for our country. We thank Senators Patrick Leahy, Mike Crapo, and Patty Murray and Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Gwen Moore for guiding this legislation to passage.

    For the past 18 years, since Vice President Biden initially wrote the Act in 1994, VAWA has helped to decrease the rates of domestic violence across the country. Three years ago, our federal interagency group on violence against women began meeting to consider gaps in our country’s response to this violence and make recommendations to Congress to fill those gaps. We are proud that many of these recommendations were included in the final bill. Now, we will be better equipped to recognize violence in its early stages, and help to reduce the number of domestic violence homicides.