Week ahead: Obama to Denver, Phoenix, Ottawa. Clinton to Asia

After a soft holiday start, President Obama has scheduled another week of campaigning on the awful economy, signing a big bill and slipping in a day of foreign affairs next door.

The president and family are enjoying a long holiday weekend back home in balmy Chicago, where he'll get in a little basketball action himself today before, who knows, watching a little of the NBA All-Star Game where Obama no doubt favors Pittsburgh again. (He also likes Pittsburgh in the Daytona 500.)

During the game Obama will see himself in a taped promo for community service with another reminder of how awful times are in this country:

"In this time of so much need in our communities and across the country, we are blessed with endless ways to restore hope and opportunity in places that yearn for both."

Monday afternoon, Obama returns to the White House. Tuesday off to Denver, scene of his Democratic National Convention, Greek-columned stadium triumph over the forces of intra-party evil last August that made Oprah cry her false eyelashes off.

The president will do another event there to highlight how bad economic times are and then whip out the huge $787-billion economic recovery bill that's worth about $1 billion per page and is so urgent it wasn't signed over the weekend.

Obama will take his immense airplane on to Phoenix late Tuesday, where with the tall NBA crowd cleared out, he'll be able to find a hotel room and talk about...

... energy conservation. No, actually, his Wednesday event is to discuss relief for the ongoing housing foreclosure crisis, since Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's presentation didn't go over too well in the markets last week.

Back to his White House housing Wednesday night. And then because it's Ottawa and so close and cold up there, a quick day trip Thursday to meet in the scenic capital with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and discuss their struggling North American economies (And Ottawa's NHL team isn't doing so well either).

In the Oval Office Friday.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now an Obama teammate, left today for Asia on her first official foreign trip -- Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia, where Obama spent childhood years. Her message: "We need strong partners across the Pacific, just as we need strong partners across the Atlantic."

And speaking of partners, ex-President Bill Clinton visits Nevada this week to help Rory Reid raise campaign cash for his anticipated run for governor, political payback for Reid's ardent support of Mrs. Clinton during last year's hard-fought Democratic primary season.

Rory, as the Ticket's Canary Island reader may not recall, is currently chairman of the powerful Clark County Commission (Las Vegas) and the son of angry Harry, the Senate majority leader, who's acquiring his own campaign bucks for next year's reelection bid. Republicans would love to knock him off as they did Tom Daschle in 2004. Now, all the GOP needs is an actual statewide corruption-free candidate. And a bunch of money.

--Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Ben]

There could be no better investment in America than to invest in America becoming energy independent! We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources. Create cheap clean energy, new badly needed green jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. The cost of fuel effects every facet of consumer goods from production to shipping costs. After a brief reprieve gas is inching back up. OPEC will continue to cut production until they achieve their desired 80-100. per barrel. If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV's instead had plug-in electric drive trains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. There is a really good new book out by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now.

[jimi]

what's the cost to the federal government (taxpayers) for the prez to travel to denver to sign the stimulus bill? to travel to phoenix to discuss foreclosures? he dosen't seem to be leading by example if things are as bad as he's been telling us. instead of spending all the money to travel to phoenix to discuss foreclosures, why dosen't he take that money and pay off the mortgages for a few unemployed arizona citizens instead! actions speak louder than words.

[Jen]

Barack Obama does not know how to govern. That's the job he should be doing as president. Instead, he's doing the two things he knows how to do, campaign and give a speech full of promises and lies. He has no record of leadership or accomplishing anything politically. He's leaving all the decisions to his cabinet and congress. This is a arrogant president mainly interested in campaigning, flexing his power and signing bills put before him by his democratic party. Obama is a empty suit about to take this country backward. Check his stimulus bill, it puts americans in heavy debt forever and he will ask for more money later.

[Geepa]

Hey, wonder where Ron Paul will end up in the C-SPAN ranking of presidents when he gets thru with his term in 2016? No doubt: #1!