Former President Bill Clinton gives President Barack Obama an “A” grade (= a good mark) for his first month in office, but tells ABC News that Obama needs to put on a more positive face when speaking to the American people about the economy and must keep pressure on Republicans who try to obstruct his plans.

Barack and Michelle Obama !

Valentine’s Day is coming soon …

Instead of throwing shoes at Bush, send kisses at Obama : play here

Here is the transcript of his first speech as president :

This video is a parody of the series “The West Wing”. It has been said that this series inspired Barack Obama’s staff campaign and somehow prepared the American people because the actor playing the President of the USA is black.

This video features (présente) Barack Obama’s staff (except for Hillary Clinton ?).

Starbucks had already offered free coffee to all the voters in the presidential elections.

They now support the new National and Community Service programme. This is an initiative to make it easy to participate in President Obama’s call for national service. In participating Starbucks stores across the nation, the American public will have an opportunity to pledge five hours or more of community service toward a local volunteer opportunity of choice. Starbucks will honor each person who pledges with a free tall brewed coffee beginning Wednesday, Jan. 21 through Sunday, Jan. 25. More about it here

Watch MC Yogi’s video and his former and successful “Vote for Hope”

18,000: Volunteers provided support for the inaugural activities

13,000: Participants marched in the Inaugural Parade.

8,000: Members of America’s police departments provided security on Inauguration Day.

1,382: Applications received by the PIC, from groups requesting to march in the Inaugural Parade.

Over 1,000: Neighborhood Ball Parties organized across the country.

Over 90: Groups marched in the Inaugural Parade.

10: Jumbo screens on the National Mall broadcasted inaugural events.

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was a technologically successful one : using Facebook to rally more supporters, using Twitter to keep in touch, sending emails to raise funds and social networks to share ideas.

But arriving at The White House was quite a disappointment for his staff …

“It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new digs.

The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes, found computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software. Laptops were scarce, assigned to only a few people in the West Wing.

In many ways, the move into the White House resembled a first day at school: Advisers wandered the halls, looking for their offices. Aides spent hours in orientation, learning such things as government ethics rules as well as how their paychecks will be delivered. And everyone filled out a seemingly endless pile of paperwork.

After a long and hard-fought battle, Barack Obama will have a Blackberry and the compromise is : a limited number of contacts (only a select circle of people will have his address) and no forwarded emails.

read more about it here !

As a simple precaution, Obama took presidential oath again after he stumbled on the words of the presidential oath. 

 After the flub heard around the world, President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office. Again. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to Obama on Wednesday night at the White House — a rare do-over. The surprise moment came in response to Tuesday’s much-noticed stumble, when Roberts got the words of the oath a little off, which prompted Obama to do so, too.

Don’t worry, the White House says: Obama has still been president since noon on Inauguration Day.

Nevertheless, Obama and Roberts went through the drill again out of what White House counsel Greg Craig called “an abundance of caution.”

This time, the scene was the White House Map Room in front of a small group of reporters, not the Capitol platform before the whole watching world.

“We decided that because it was so much fun …,” Obama joked to reporters who followed press secretary Robert Gibbs into the room. No TV camera crews or news photographers were allowed in. A few of Obama’s closest aides were there, along with a White House photographer.

Roberts put on his black robe.

“Are you ready to take the oath?” he said.

“Yes, I am,” Obama said. “And we’re going to do it very slowly.”

Roberts then led Obama through the oath without any missteps.

The president said he did not have his Bible with him, but that the oath was binding anyway.

The original, bungled version on Tuesday caught observers by surprise and then got replayed on cable news shows.

It happened when Obama interrupted Roberts midway through the opening line, in which the president repeats his name and solemnly swears.

Next in the oath is the phrase ” … that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States.” But Roberts rearranged the order of the words, not saying “faithfully” until after “president of the United States.”

That appeared to throw Obama off. He stopped abruptly at the word “execute.”

Recognizing something was off, Roberts then repeated the phrase, putting “faithfully” in the right place but without repeating “execute.”

But Obama then repeated Roberts’ original, incorrect version: “… the office of president of the United States faithfully.”

Craig, the White House lawyer, said in a statement Wednesday evening: “We believe the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday. Yet the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of the abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath a second time.”

The Constitution is clear about the exact wording of the oath and as a result, some constitutional experts have said that a do-over probably wasn’t necessary but also couldn’t hurt. Two other previous presidents have repeated the oath because of similar issues, Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur.

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Associated Press