TPMDC Presidential vacation
Faith in the White House
Obama Prays With Rev. Billy Graham
Christina Bellantoni | April 26, 2010, 7:18AM
President Obama meets with the Rev. Billy Graham in his North Carolina home.
President Obama met Sunday in a private prayer session with the Rev. Billy Graham at his North Carolina home before heading to deliver the eulogy at a memorial for coal miners killed in the West Virginia mine accident last month.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters that Obama and Graham met for conversation and prayer, with son Franklin Graham also in attendance. The president "is extraordinarily gratified that he took the time to meet with him," Burton said.
The visit capped a brief weekend vacation for Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The president hit the golf links twice and the first couple played tennis, hiked in the Blue Ridge Mountains and ate dinner with friends.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (17) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Billy Graham, Faith in the White House, Franklin Graham, Presidential vacation
Supreme Court vacancy
Supreme Selection: What Obama's Reading
Christina Bellantoni | April 23, 2010, 5:32PM
President Barack Obama reads in the Treaty Room Office of the Private Residence
President Obama thoroughly scoured files of Supreme Court nominee shortlisters in 2009, and is getting his reading in now as he considers contenders for the latest vacancy.
Staff work is going on behind the scenes as chief counsel Bob Bauer and his team prepared thick documents with research on potential nominees. An official told me that staff is reaching out to "a broad cross-section" outside groups such as the American Constitution Society and other judicial advocacy organizations as a sort of listening tour. Obama also huddled with the top judiciary panel members and Senate leaders this week before starting a phone call blitz to Democrats and Republicans on the committee.
Aides say advocacy group lobbying won't influence Obama, and that he wants to drill down into his research files on his own. He likes to do such reading late at night in his White House study. He's likely to bring some material on his nominees with him to read this weekend as he vacations with his family in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (13) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Presidential vacation, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Supreme Court vacancy, U.S. Supreme Court
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