1st Lady Michelle Obama,
Laura Bush Honor Flight 93 Heroes
Read: Remarks of 1st Lady
(full transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the First Lady

________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release September 11, 2010

REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY

AT SEPTEMBER 11th MEMORIAL SERVICE

Flight 93 National Memorial Site

Shanksville, Pennsylvania

10:28 A.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you so much, Joanne, for that very kind introduction. It is a privilege and an honor to be here today as we pay tribute to the men and women of Flight 93.

I want to acknowledge Secretary Salazar, Governor Rendell, and Gordon Felt, and I want to thank them all for their leadership and for their service.

I also want to thank Reverends Britton and Way, for leading us in prayer.

And I want to particularly recognize and thank Mrs. Bush –- not just for her moving words today, but for being such a source of love and support for the families of Flight 93, and for all her work to help our nation heal in the days and months after the attack. Thank you so much. (Applause.)

I come here today not just as First Lady, on behalf of my husband and a grateful nation. I come as an American, filled with a sense of awe at the heroism of my fellow citizens. I come as a wife, a daughter, and a sister, heartbroken at the loss so many of you have endured. And I come as a mother, thinking about what my daughters, and what all of our sons and daughters, can learn from the 40 men and women whose memories we honor today.

The men and women of Flight 93 were college students and grandparents. They were businessmen, pilots, and flight attendants. There was a writer, an antique dealer, a lawyer, an engineer.

They came from all different backgrounds and all walks of life, and they all took a different path to that September morning.

But in that awful moment when the facts became clear, and they were called to make an impossible choice, they all found the same resolve.

They agreed to the same bold plan.

They called the people they loved –- many of them giving comfort instead of seeking it, explaining they were taking action, and that everything would be okay.

And then they rose as one, they acted as one, and together, they changed history’s course.

And in the days that followed, when we learned about the heroes of Flight 93 and what they had done, we were proud, we were awed, we were inspired, but I don’t think any of us were really surprised, because it was clear that these 40 individuals were no strangers to service and to sacrifice. For them, putting others before themselves was nothing new because they were veterans, and coaches, and volunteers of all sorts of causes.

There was the disability rights advocate who carried a miniature copy of the Constitution everywhere she went.

There was the Census director who used to return to the homes she’d canvassed to drop off clothing and food for families in need.

There was the couple who quietly used their wealth to make interest-free loans to struggling families.

And to this day, they remind us -– not just by how they gave their lives, but by how they lived their lives -– that being a hero is not just a matter of fate, it’s a matter of choice.

I think that Jack Grandcolas put it best –- his wife, Lauren, was one of the passengers on the flight -- and he said: “They were ordinary citizens thrown into a combat situation. No one was a general or a dictator. Their first thought was to be selfless. They knew ‘There was a 98 percent chance we’re not going to make it, but let’s save others’.”

The men and women on that plane had never met the people whose lives they would save -– yet they willingly made the sacrifice.

And before September 11th, the people of this community didn’t know any of the families here today -– yet they embraced them as their own, inviting them into their homes, guarding this sacred spot day after day, lovingly cataloguing every item –- memento, every photograph, every letter left at the temporary memorial.

And over the past nine years, more than 1 million people have come here to pay their respects, to express their gratitude, and to try, in their own small way, to ease the burden of these families’ grief by honoring the people they loved.

And all of this reminds us that while this memorial begins here in Shanksville, it doesn’t end at the edges of this field.

It extends to all those they saved, whose lives today are possible because they gave theirs.

It extends to all those they inspired, who thought to themselves: If they can do something that extraordinary with their lives, then maybe, just maybe, it’s time I made something more of mine.

Maybe it’s time I wore my country’s uniform. Maybe it’s time I gave more to my community. Maybe it’s time for me to be a better friend, a better neighbor, a better American.

And most of all, this memorial extends to all their families, whose lives were shaped by their love.

And I’m thinking especially today of the children -- toddlers who have grown into young men and women, teenagers who’ve become adults who will one day bring their own children to this place and tell them about the proud legacy they inherit.

Sonali Beaven was just five years old when she lost her father. And even in the midst the shock and the heartbreak of first hearing the news, she said to her mother: “I am so sad…but I am not the saddest girl in the whole world, because children lost their mommy and daddy.”

Muriel Borza, who’s here with us today, was just 10 when she lost her sister, Deora. And in a speech on the one-year anniversary, she called for a worldwide moment of peace, and she asked people –- and this is her quote -- to “…make a pledge to do a good deed that will help mankind in some small way, even if it’s a hug, a kiss, a smile or wave, a prayer or just silent thought of those they love.”

And I know that all the young people here have done their very best to be strong for their families, and to hold the memories of their loved ones close, and to live their lives in a way that would make them proud.

And I know it hasn’t been easy.

While grief has its own course for each of us, and no one can presume to know what your families have felt, I can imagine that there are days when the pain is still raw, when the time and distance of those nine years falls away, and that loss is still fresh.

But I can also imagine that as time has passed, there have been more good days, more moments when you’re able to find joy and comfort in happy memories.

And I can imagine that, on those better days, maybe sometimes you worry about whether, in moving on, you may in some way be leaving your loved ones behind.

But I can’t help but think that it’s actually just the opposite –- that in having the courage to move forward, you honor their courage; that in choosing to live your own lives as fully as you can, you’re celebrating theirs; that in coming together, and pushing ahead to build this permanent memorial, you’re ensuring that their memory will always be a part, not just of your own lives, but of the life of this nation.

And know that because you kept going, and because you persevered, that long after you’re gone, people will come here -- continue to come here -- to Shanksville.

And they will stand at this plaza, and listen to the echoes of those chimes, and gaze out at this field.

And they will see how a scar in the earth has healed; how it has grown back as a peaceful resting place for 40 of our nation’s heroes.

They will understand that because of all of you, a site of devastation and destruction was transformed into a place of reverence and remembrance.

And it is truly my prayer today that in the years ahead, all who come here -– and all of you –- may be filled with the hope that is written in the Book of Psalms: “Though you may have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.”

May the memories of those who gave their lives here continue to be a blessing to all of you, and an inspiration to all Americans.

Thank you all, God bless you, and God bless America. (Applause.)

END 10:40 A.M. EDT

-----

So Proud of Our 1st Lady !

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President Barack Obama, flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, at the Pentagon Memorial, marking the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Read:

9/11 Remarks by The President at the

Pentagon Memorial

(FULL TRANSCRIPT)

****************

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release September 11, 2010

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT THE PENTAGON MEMORIAL

The Pentagon

Arlington, Virginia

9:34 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Secretary Gates. Admiral Mullen and members of the Armed Forces. My fellow Americans. Most of all, to you -- survivors who still carry the scars of tragedy and destruction; to the families who carry in your hearts the memory of the loved ones you lost here.

For our nation, this is a day of remembrance, a day of reflection, and -- with God’s grace -- a day of unity and renewal.

We gather to remember, at this sacred hour, on hallowed ground -- at places where we feel such grief and where our healing goes on. We gather here, at the Pentagon, where the names of the lost are forever etched in stone. We gather in a gentle Pennsylvania field, where a plane went down and a “tower of voices” will rise and echo through the ages. And we gather where the Twin Towers fell, a site where the work goes on so that next year, on the 10th anniversary, the waters will flow in steady tribute to the nearly 3,000 innocent lives.

On this day, it’s perhaps natural to focus on the images of that awful morning -- images that are seared into our souls. It’s tempting to dwell on the final moments of the loved ones whose lives were taken so cruelly. Yet these memorials, and your presence today, remind us to remember the fullness of their time on Earth.

They were fathers and mothers, raising their families; brothers and sisters, pursuing their dreams; sons and daughters, their whole lives before them. They were civilians and service members. Some never saw the danger coming; others saw the peril and rushed to save others -- up those stairwells, into the flames, into the cockpit.

They were white and black and brown -- men and women and some children made up of all races, many faiths. They were Americans and people from far corners of the world. And they were snatched from us senselessly and much too soon -- but they lived well, and they live on in you.

Nine years have now passed. In that time, you have shed more tears than we will ever know. And though it must seem some days as though the world has moved on to other things, I say to you today that your loved ones endure in the heart of our nation, now and forever.

Our remembrance today also requires a certain reflection. As a nation, and as individuals, we must ask ourselves how best to honor them -- those who died, those who sacrificed. How do we preserve their legacy -- not just on this day, but every day?

We need not look far for our answer. The perpetrators of this evil act didn’t simply attack America; they attacked the very idea of America itself -- all that we stand for and represent in the world. And so the highest honor we can pay those we lost, indeed our greatest weapon in this ongoing war, is to do what our adversaries fear the most -- to stay true to who we are, as Americans; to renew our sense of common purpose; to say that we define the character of our country, and we will not let the acts of some small band of murderers who slaughter the innocent and cower in caves distort who we are.

They doubted our will, but as Americans we persevere. Today, in Afghanistan and beyond, we have gone on the offensive and struck major blows against al Qaeda and its allies. We will do what is necessary to protect our country, and we honor all those who serve to keep us safe.

They may seek to strike fear in us, but they are no match for our resilience. We do not succumb to fear, nor will we squander the optimism that has always defined us as a people. On a day when others sought to destroy, we have chosen to build, with a National Day of Service and Remembrance that summons the inherent goodness of the American people.

They may seek to exploit our freedoms, but we will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust. They may wish to drive us apart, but we will not give in to their hatred and prejudice. For Scripture teaches us to “get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

They may seek to spark conflict between different faiths, but as Americans we are not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam. It was not a religion that attacked us that September day -- it was al Qaeda, a sorry band of men which perverts religion. And just as we condemn intolerance and extremism abroad, so will we stay true to our traditions here at home as a diverse and tolerant nation. We champion the rights of every American, including the right to worship as one chooses -- as service members and civilians from many faiths do just steps from here, at the very spot where the terrorists struck this building.

Those who attacked us sought to demoralize us, divide us, to deprive us of the very unity, the very ideals, that make America America -- those qualities that have made us a beacon of freedom and hope to billions around the world. Today we declare once more we will never hand them that victory. As Americans, we will keep alive the virtues and values that make us who we are and who we must always be.

For our cause is just. Our spirit is strong. Our resolve is unwavering. Like generations before us, let us come together today and all days to affirm certain inalienable rights, to affirm life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. On this day and the days to come, we choose to stay true to our best selves -- as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

This is how we choose to honor the fallen -- your families, your friends, your fellow service members. This is how we will keep alive the legacy of these proud and patriotic Americans. This is how we will prevail in this great test of our time. This is how we will preserve and protect the country that we love and pass it -- safer and stronger -- to future generations.

May God bless you and your families, and may God continue to bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

END 9:43 A.M. EDT

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President Obama's Milwaukee Speech
FULL TRANSCRIPT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________
September 6, 2010



REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT LABORFEST



Henry Maier Festival Park

Milwaukee, Wisconsin





2:11 P.M. CDT



THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Milwaukee! (Applause.) Hello, Milwaukee! (Applause.) Thank you. It is good to be back in Milwaukee. It is good to be -- I’m almost home. (Applause.) I just hop on the 94 and I’m home. (Applause.) Take it all the way to the South Side.



It is good -- it is good to be here on such a beautiful day. Happy Labor Day, everybody. (Applause.) I want to say thank you to the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and all of my brothers and sisters in the AFL-CIO for inviting me to spend this day with you -- (applause) -- a day that belongs to the working men and women of America.



I want to acknowledge your outstanding national president, a man who knows that a strong economy needs a strong labor movement: Rich Trumka. (Applause.) Thank you to the president of Wisconsin AFL-CIO Dave Newby. (Applause.) Our host, your area Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Sheila Cochran. I hear it’s Sheila’s birthday tomorrow. Where is she? (Applause.) Happy birthday, Sheila. (Applause.) I’m proud to be here with our Secretary of Labor, a daughter of union members, Hilda Solis. (Applause.) And our Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is in the house. (Applause.) And I want everybody to give it up for people who are at the forefront of every fight for Wisconsin’s working men and women -- Senator Herb Kohl; Congresswoman Gwen Moore. (Applause.) Your outstanding mayor and I believe soon to be outstanding governor Tom Barrett is in the house. (Applause.) And I know -- I know your other great senator, Russ Feingold, was here earlier standing with you and your families just like he always has. Now he’s in his hometown of Janesville to participate in their Labor Day parade.



So it is good to be back. Now, of course, this isn’t my first time at Laborfest. Some of you remember I stood right here with you two years ago when I was still a candidate for this office. (Applause.) And during that campaign, we talked about how, for years, the values of hard work and responsibility that had built this country had been given short shrift, and how it was slowly hollowing out our middle class. Listen, everybody who has a chair, go ahead and sit down, because everybody’s all hollering. (Applause.) Just relax, I’m going to be talking for a while now. (Applause.) Everybody take -- (applause) -- got a lot of hardworking people here, you deserve to sit down for a day. (Applause.) You’ve been on your feet all year working hard.



But two years ago, we talked about some on Wall Street who were taking reckless risks and cutting corners to turn huge profits while working Americans were fighting harder and harder just to stay afloat. We talked about how the decks all too often were stacked in favor of special interests and against the interests of working Americans.



And what we knew, even then, was that these years would be some of the most difficult in our history. And then, two weeks later -- two weeks after I spoke here -- the bottom fell out of the economy. And middle-class families suddenly found themselves swept up in the worst recession of our lifetimes.



So the problems facing working families, they’re nothing new. But they are more serious than ever. And that makes our cause more urgent than ever. For generations, it was the great American working class, the great American middle class that made our economy the envy of the world. It’s got to be that way again. (Applause.)



Milwaukee, it was folks like you that built this city. It was folks like you that built this state. It was folks like you who forged that middle class all across the nation.



It was working men and women who made the 20th century the American century. It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. (Applause.) The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label. (Applause.)



And it was that greatest generation that built America into the greatest force of prosperity and opportunity and freedom that the world has ever known -- Americans like my grandfather, who went off to war just boys, then returned home as men, and then they traded in one uniform and set of responsibilities for another. And Americans like my grandmother, who rolled up her sleeves and worked in a factory on the home front. And when the war was over, they studied under the GI Bill, and they bought a home under the FHA, and they raised families supported by good jobs that paid good wages with good benefits.



It was through my grandparents’ experience that I was brought up to believe that anything is possible in America. (Applause.) But, Milwaukee, they also knew the feeling when opportunity is pulled out from under you. They grew up during the Depression, so they’d tell me about seeing their fathers or their uncles losing jobs; how it wasn’t just the loss of a paycheck that hurt so bad. It was the blow to their dignity, their sense of self-worth. I’ll bet a lot of us have seen people who’ve been changed after a long bout of unemployment. It can wear you down, even if you’ve got a strong spirit. If you’re out of work for a long time, it can wear you down.



So my grandparents taught me early on that a job is about more than just a paycheck. A paycheck is important. But a job is about waking up every day with a sense of purpose, and going to bed each night feeling you’ve handled your responsibilities. (Applause.) It’s about meeting your responsibilities to yourself and to your family and to your community. And I carried that lesson with me all those years ago when I got my start fighting for men and women on the South Side of Chicago after their local steel plant shut down. And I carried that lesson with me through my time as a state senator and a U.S. senator, and I carry that lesson with me today. (Applause.)



And I know -- I know that there are folks right here in this audience, folks right here in Milwaukee and all across America, who are going through these kinds of struggles. Eight million Americans lost their jobs in this recession. And even though we’ve had eight straight months of private sector job growth, the new jobs haven’t been coming fast enough. Now, here’s the honest truth, the plain truth. There’s no silver bullet. There’s no quick fix to these problems. I knew when I was running for office, and I certainly knew by the time I was sworn in, I knew it would take time to reverse the damage of a decade worth of policies that saw too few people being able to climb into the middle class, too many people falling behind. (Applause.)



We all knew this. We all knew that it would take more time than any of us want to dig ourselves out of this hole created by this economic crisis. But on this Labor Day, there are two things I want you to know. Number one: I am going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American Dream, not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations. That I can guarantee you. (Applause.)



Number two -- I believe this with every fiber of my being: America cannot have a strong, growing economy without a strong, growing middle class, and the chance for everybody, no matter how humble their beginnings, to join that middle class -- (applause) -- a middle class built on the idea that if you work hard, if you live up to your responsibilities, then you can get ahead; that you can enjoy some basic guarantees in life. A good job that pays a good wage. Health care that will be there when you get sick. (Applause.) A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. (Applause.) An education that will give your children a better life than we had. (Applause.) These are simple ideas. These are American ideas. These are union ideas. That’s what we’re fighting for. (Applause.)



I was thinking about this last week. I was thinking about this last week on the day I announced the end of our combat mission in Iraq. (Applause.) And I spent some time, as I often do, with our soldiers and our veterans. And this new generation of troops coming home from Iraq, they’ve earned their place alongside the greatest generation. (Applause.) Just like that greatest generation, they’ve got the skills, they’ve got the training, they’ve got the drive to move America’s economy forward once more. We’ve been investing in new care and new opportunities and a new commitment to our veterans, because we’ve got to serve them just the way they served us. (Applause.)



But, Milwaukee, they’re coming home to an economy hit by a recession deeper than anything we’ve seen since the 1930s. So the question is, how do we create the same kinds of middle-class opportunities for this generation as my grandparents’ generation came home to? How do we build our economy on that same strong, stable foundation for growth?



Now, anybody who thinks that we can move this economy forward with just a few folks at the top doing well, hoping that it’s going to trickle down to working people who are running faster and faster just to keep up, you’ll never see it. (Applause.) If that’s what you’re waiting for, you should stop waiting, because it’s never happened in our history. That’s not how America was built. It wasn’t built with a bunch of folks at the top doing well and everybody else scrambling. We didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world just by rewarding greed and recklessness. We didn’t come this far by letting the special interests run wild. We didn’t do it just by gambling and chasing paper profits on Wall Street. We built this country by making things, by producing goods we could sell. We did it with sweat and effort and innovation. (Applause.) We did it on the assembly line and at the construction site. (Applause.)



We did it by investing in the people who built this country from the ground up –- the workers, middle-class families, small business owners. We out-worked folks and we out-educated folks and we out-competed everybody else. That’s how we built America. (Applause.)



And, Milwaukee, that’s what we’re going to do again. That’s been at the heart what we’ve been doing over these last 20 months: building our economy on a new foundation so that our middle class doesn’t just survive this crisis -– I want it to thrive. I want it to be stronger than it was before.



And over the last two years, that’s meant taking on some powerful interests -- some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time. And they’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. (Applause.) That’s not in my prepared remarks, it’s just -- but it’s true.



You know, that’s why we passed financial reform to provide new accountability and tough oversight of Wall Street; stopping credit card companies from gouging you with hidden fees and unfair rate hikes. (Applause.) Ending taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street once and for all. They’re not happy with it, but it was the right thing to do. (Applause.)



That’s why we eliminated tens of billions of dollars in wasteful taxpayer subsidies, handouts to the big banks that were providing student loans. We took that money, tens of billions of dollars, and we’re going to go to make sure that your kids and your grandkids can get student loans and grants at a cheap rate and afford a college education. (Applause.) They’re not happy with it, but it was the right thing to do. (Applause.)



Yes, we’re using those savings to put a college education within reach for working families.



That’s why we passed health insurance reform to make coverage affordable. (Applause.) Reform that ends the indignity of insurance companies jacking up your premiums at will, denying you coverage just because you get sick; reform that gives you control, gives you the ability if your child is sick to be able to get an affordable insurance plan, making sure they can’t drop it.



That’s why we’re making it easier for workers to save for retirement, with new ways of saving your tax refunds, a simpler system for enrolling in plans like 401(k)s, and fighting to strengthen Social Security for the future. (Applause.) And if everybody is still talking about privatizing Social Security, they need to be clear: It will not happen on my watch. Not when I’m President of the United States of America. (Applause.)



That’s why -- we’ve given tax cuts -- except we give them to folks who need them. (Applause.) We’ve given them to small business owners. We’ve given them to clean energy companies. We’ve cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans, just like I promised you during the campaign. You all got a tax cut. (Applause.)



And instead of giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas, we’re cutting taxes to companies that are putting our people to work right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)



See, we want to invest in growth industries like clean energy and manufacturing. You’ve got leaders here in Wisconsin -- Tom Barrett, Jim Doyle -- they’ve been fighting to bring those jobs to Milwaukee, fighting to bring those jobs here to Wisconsin. I don’t want to see solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars made in China. I want them made right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)



I don’t want to buy stuff from someplace else. I want to grow our exports so that we’re selling to someplace else -- products that say “Made in the U.S.A.” (Applause.)



AUDIENCE: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!



THE PRESIDENT: That’s right. There are no better workers than American workers. (Applause.) I’ll put my money on you any day of the week. And when the naysayers said, well, you can’t save the auto industry, just go ahead and let hundreds of thousands of jobs vanish, we said we’re going to stand by those workers. If the management is willing to make tough choices, if everybody is willing to come together, I’m confident that the American auto industry can compete once again -– and today, that industry is on the way back. They said no, we said yes to the American worker. They’re coming back. (Applause.)



Now, let me tell you, another thing we’ve done is to make long-overdue investments in upgrading our outdated, our inefficient national infrastructure. We’re talking roads. We’re talking bridges. We’re talking dams, levees. But we’re also talking a smart electric grid that can bring clean energy to new areas. We’re talking about broadband Internet so that everybody is plugged in. We’re talking about high-speed rail lines required to compete in a 21st century economy. (Applause.) I want to get down from Milwaukee down to Chicago quick. (Applause.) Avoid a traffic jam.



We’re talking investments in tomorrow that are creating hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs right now.



Because of these investments, and the tens of thousands of projects they spurred all across the country, the battered construction sector actually grew last month for the first time in a very long time. (Applause.)



But, you know, the folks here in the trades know what I’m talking about -- nearly one in five construction workers are unemployed. One in five. Nobody has been hit harder than construction workers. And a lot of those folks, they had lost their jobs in manufacturing and went into construction; now they’ve lost their jobs again.



It doesn’t do anybody any good when so many hardworking Americans have been idled for months, even years, at a time when there is so much of America that needs rebuilding.



So, that’s why, Milwaukee, today, I am announcing a new plan for rebuilding and modernizing America’s roads and rails and runways for the long term. (Applause.) I want America to have the best infrastructure in the world. We used to have the best infrastructure in the world. We can have it again. We are going to make it happen. (Applause.)



Over the next six years, over the next six years, we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads -– that’s enough to circle the world six times. That’s a lot of road. We’re going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways –- enough to stretch coast to coast. We’re going to restore 150 miles of runways. And we’re going to advance a next-generation air-traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays for American travelers. (Applause.) I think everybody can agree on that. Anybody want more delays in airports?



AUDIENCE: No!



THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t think so. That’s not a Republican or a Democratic idea. We all want to get to where we need to go. I mean, I’ve got Air Force One now, it’s nice. (Laughter.) But I still remember what it was like.



This is a plan that will be fully paid for. It will not add to the deficit over time -– we’re going to work with Congress to see to that. We want to set up an infrastructure bank to leverage federal dollars and focus on the smartest investments. We’re going to continue our strategy to build a national high-speed rail network that reduces congestion and travel times and reduces harmful emissions. We want to cut waste and bureaucracy and consolidate and collapse more than 100 different programs that too often duplicate each other. So we want to change the way Washington spends your tax dollars. We want to reform a haphazard, patchwork way of doing business. We want to focus on less wasteful approaches than we’ve got right now. We want competition and innovation that gives us the best bang for the buck.



But the bottom line is this, Milwaukee -- this will not only create jobs immediately, it’s also going to make our economy hum over the long haul. It’s a plan that history tells us can and should attract bipartisan support. It’s a plan that says even in the aftermath of the worst recession in our lifetimes, America can still shape our own destiny. We can still move this country forward. We can still leave our children something better. We can still leave them something that lasts. (Applause.)



So these are the things we’ve been working for. These are some of the victories you guys have helped us achieve. And we’re not finished. We’ve got a lot more progress to make. And I’m confident we will.



But there are some folks in Washington who see things differently. (Boos.) You know what I’m talking about. (Applause.) When it comes to just about everything we’ve done to strengthen our middle class, to rebuild our economy, almost every Republican in Congress says no. (Boos.) Even on things we usually agree on, they say no. If I said the sky was blue, they say no. (Laughter and applause.) If I said fish live in the sea, they’d say no. (Laughter.) They just think it’s better to score political points before an election than to solve problems. So they said no to help for small businesses, even when the small businesses said we desperately need this. This used to be their key constituency, they said. They said no. No to middle-class tax cuts. They say they’re for tax cuts; I say, okay, let’s give tax cuts to the middle class. No. (Laughter.) No to clean energy jobs. No to making college more affordable. No to reforming Wall Street. They’re saying right now, no to cutting more taxes for small business owners and helping them get financing.



You know, I heard -- somebody out here was yelling “Yes we can.” Remember that was our slogan? Their slogan is “No we can’t.” (Applause.) No, no, no, no.



AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!



THE PRESIDENT: I mean, I personally think “Yes we can” is more inspiring than “No we can’t.” (Applause.) To steal a line from our old friend Ted Kennedy: What is it about working men and women that they find so offensive? (Laughter.)



When we passed a bill earlier this summer to help states save jobs -- the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and nurses and police officers and firefighters that were about to be laid off, they said no. (Applause.) And the Republican who thinks he’s going to take over as Speaker -- (boos) -- I’m just saying that’s his opinion -- (laughter) -- he’s entitled to his opinion. But when he was asked about this, he dismissed those jobs as “government jobs” that weren’t worth saving. (Boos.) That’s what he said, I’m quoting -- “government jobs.”



Now, think about this. These are the people who teach our children. These are the people who keep our streets safe. These are the people who put their lives on the line, who rush into a burning building. Government jobs? I don’t know about you, but I think those jobs are worth saving. (Applause.) I think those jobs are worth saving. (Applause.)



By the way, this bill that we passed to save all those jobs, we made sure that bill wouldn’t add to the deficit. You know how we paid for it? By closing one of these ridiculous tax loopholes that actually rewarded corporations for shipping jobs and profits overseas. (Applause.)



I mean, this -- this was one of those loopholes that allowed companies to write off taxes they pay to foreign governments –- even though they weren’t paying taxes here in the United States. So middle-class families were footing tax breaks for companies creating jobs somewhere else. I mean, even a lot of America’s biggest corporations agreed that this loophole didn’t make sense, agreed that it needed to be closed, agreed that it wasn’t fair -– but the man who thinks he’s going to be Speaker, he wants to reopen this loophole. (Boos.)



Look, the bottom line is this: These guys, they just don’t want to give up on that economic philosophy that they have been peddling for most of the last decade. You know that philosophy -- you cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; you cut all the rules and regulations for special interests; and then you just cut working folks loose -- you cut them loose to fend for themselves.



You remember they called it the ownership society, but what it really boiled down to was, if you couldn’t find a job, you couldn’t afford college, you were born poor, your insurance company dropped you even though your kid was sick, that you were on your own.



Well, you know what, that philosophy didn’t work out so well for middle-class families all across America. It didn’t work out so well for our country. All it did was rack up record deficits and result in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I mean, think about it, we have tried what they’re peddling. We did it for 10 years. We ended up with the worst economy since the 1930s and record deficits to boot. (Applause.) It’s not like we haven’t tried what they’re trying to sell us.



Now, I’m bringing this up not because I’m trying to re-litigate the past; I’m bringing it up because I don’t want to re-live the past. (Applause.)



It’d be one thing, Milwaukee, if Republicans in Washington had some new ideas, if they had said, you know what, we really screwed up, and we’ve learned from our mistakes; we’re going to do things differently this time. That’s not what they’re doing.



When the leader of their campaign committee was asked on national television what Republicans would do if they took over Congress, you know what he said? He said, we’ll do exactly the same thing we did the last time. (Applause.) That’s what he said. It’s on tape.



So basically, here’s what this election comes down to. They’re betting that between now and November, you’re going to come down with amnesia. (Laughter.) They figure you’re going to forget what their agenda did to this country. They think you’ll just believe that they’ve changed.



These are the folks whose policies helped devastate our middle class. They drove our economy into a ditch. And we got in there and put on our boots and we pushed and we shoved. And we were sweating and these guys were standing, watching us and sipping on a Slurpee. (Laughter.) And they were pointing at us saying, how come you’re not pushing harder, how come you’re not pushing faster? And then when we finally got the car up -- and it’s got a few dings and a few dents, it’s got some mud on it, we’re going to have to do some work on it -- they point to everybody and say, look what these guys did to your car. (Laughter.) After we got it out of the ditch! And then they got the nerve to ask for the keys back! (Laughter and applause.) I don’t want to give them the keys back. They don’t know how to drive. (Applause.)



I mean, I want everything to think about it here. When you want to go forward in your car, what do you do?



AUDIENCE: D!



THE PRESIDENT: You put it in D. They’re going to pop it in reverse. They’d have those special interests riding shotgun, then they’d hit the gas and we’d be right back in the ditch. (Laughter.)



Milwaukee, we are not going backwards. That’s the choice we face this fall. Do we want to go back? Or do we want to go forward? I say we want to move forward. America always moves forward. We keep moving forward every day. (Applause.)



Let me say this, Milwaukee. I know these are difficult times. I know folks are worried. I know there’s still a lot of hurt out here. I hear it when I travel around the country. I see it in the letters that I read every night from folks who are looking for a job or lost their home. It breaks my heart, because those are the folks that I got into politics for. You’re the reason I’m here. (Applause.)



And when times are tough -- when times are tough, I know it can be easy to give in to cynicism. I know it can be easy to give in to fear and doubt. And you know, it’s easy sometimes for folks to stir up stuff and turn people on each other, and it’s easy to settle for something less, to set our sights a little bit lower.



But I just want everybody here to remember, that’s not who we are. That’s not the country I know. We do not give up. We do not quit. We face down war. We face down depression. We face down great challenges and great threats. We have lit the way for the rest of the world.



Whenever times have seemed at their worst, Americans have been at their best. That’s when we roll up our sleeves. That’s when we remember we rise or fall together –- as one nation and as one people. (Applause.) That’s the spirit that started the labor movement, the idea that alone, we may be weak. Divided, we may fall. But we are united, we are strong. That’s why they call them unions. That’s why we call this the United States of America. (Applause.)



I’m going to make this case across the country between now and November. And I am asking for your help. And if you are willing to join me and Tom Barrett and Gwen Moore and Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, we can strengthen our middle class and make this economy work for all Americans again and restore the American Dream and give it to our children and our grandchildren. (Applause.)



God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)



END 2:50 P.M. CDT

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Wow ! The Truth About Lebron: selfish, scheming-immaturity and disrespectfulness forced Olympic Team USA to tell him to
'change or stay home' !

Inside Look at Lebron's free-agent coup

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports Jul 16, 4:17 pm EDT

At the Beijing Olympics, where LeBron James(notes) was surrounded by such talent and possibility, the Cleveland Cavaliers began to lose their star to free agency. The beginning of his departure came in small moments on the daily bus rides through the city’s choking smog and bigger ones on the basketball court. Together, Dwyane Wade(notes), Chris Bosh(notes) and James kept talking about the summer of 2010, about the chance of a lifetime to chase championships and roll like a touring rock band.

And yet before Pat Riley’s free-agency vision for the Miami Heat could ever be validated, James had to first become a member of that 2008 Olympic team. The public never knew what those on the inside of American basketball’s elite power structure did: In the years and months before Beijing, that was very much in doubt for James.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have already made the Heat the favorite to win the 2011 championship, according to Las Vegas odds makers.
(Getty Images)

Back when the Heat’s three new superstars had signed short contract extensions and started to explore the idea of free agency thrusting them together, a different discussion had played out within the NBA and USA Basketball: What should we do with LeBron?

From Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski to managing director Jerry Colangelo to NBA elders, the issue of James’ immaturity and downright disrespectfulness had become a consuming topic on the march to the Olympics. The course of history could’ve changed dramatically, because there was a real risk that James wouldn’t be brought to Beijing based on fears his monumental talents weren’t worth the daily grind of dealing with him.

When the mandate had been to gather these immense egos and get the NBA’s greatest players to fit into a program, no one had a more difficult time meshing into the framework than James. Other players made it a point to learn the names of staffers and modestly go about their business without barking orders and brash demands.

No one could stand James as a 19-year-old in the 2004 Athens Olympics, nor the 2006 World Championships. Officials feared James could become the instigator of everything they wanted to rid themselves for the ’08 Olympics. For as gifted as James was, Krzyzewski and Colangelo subscribed to a belief that with Kobe Bryant(notes) joining the national team in 2007, they could win a gold medal in ’08 with or without LeBron James. Behind the scenes, officials had taken to calling James’ inner circle, “The Enablers.” No one ever told him to grow up. No one ever challenged him. And yet, James was still a powerful pull for his teammates, and everyone had to agree they could no longer let his bossy and belittling act go unchecked. These weren’t the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Team USA wasn’t beholden to him.

After the NBA witnessed the behavior of James and his business manager Maverick Carter during the 2007 All-Star Weekend, the commissioner’s office sent word to USA Basketball the league wouldn’t force James on them for the Olympics. Before Team USA gathered for the 2007 Tournament of the Americas in Las Vegas, an unmistakable message had been delivered to James through Nike: Unless you change, we’re serious about leaving you home.

“Legacies were on the line,” one league official said, “and they weren’t going to let LeBron [expletive] it up for everyone in China.”

Through Nike, James ultimately heeded the message and became more tolerable to coaches, teammates and staff. Team USA assigned Jason Kidd(notes) to babysit him at the Tournament of the Americas in 2007, to try to teach him something the Cavaliers never had a veteran to do: professionalism.

When James returned to the Cavaliers, the franchise hoped that he had grown, matured and maybe learned some lessons. Only James understood the angles and leverage he had in Cleveland. Every day, owner Dan Gilbert and general manager Danny Ferry wondered: What must we do to get him to re-sign in 2010?

What will make him happy?

The answer, as the Cavaliers eventually discovered, was nothing. James lived to make demands, but those with knowledge of his plans insist he never intended to re-sign with the Cavaliers.

One week after James joined Wade and Bosh in Miami to potentially alter the NBA’s balance of power for years, Yahoo! Sports has shaped a story of how events unfolded in the free-agent frenzy of 2010 based on interviews with several sources who were either involved in or have direct knowledge of the process.

---

Within an hour of the Cavaliers’ season ending in Boston, James’ inner circle, including power broker William Wesley, agent Leon Rose and business manager Maverick Carter, stood outside the visiting locker room grumbling about coach Mike Brown.

James had wanted Brown gone a year earlier after the Cavs lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the Orlando Magic – despite Brown guiding Cleveland to 66 victories while winning the league’s Coach of the Year award. Ferry debated Gilbert to keep Brown. He won out, but Ferry knew it would be tough to make that case again in 2010. Every decision the Cavaliers made had to be run past James. He didn’t always get to decide, but he had to be consulted.

Former Cavs GM Danny Ferry (center) never wanted to fire coach Mike Brown, but owner Dan Gilbert (left) knew LeBron James and his business manager Maverick Carter (right) wanted Brown out as far back as 2009.
(Getty Images)

This time, Gilbert believed he had to fire Brown to have a chance of re-signing James. When he was fired, Brown purposely left his star’s name out of a public statement of thanks. He knew James had led the movement for his dismissal for more than two years and Brown no longer needed to pretend that he liked, or respected James.

Ferry warned the owner there wouldn’t be a better coach available to hire. Eventually, Gilbert pushed out Ferry, too. The owner wanted to take over a bigger portion of the basketball decision-making and Ferry’s stubbornness made that difficult for him.

The franchise was in complete upheaval, and Gilbert had the Cavaliers trying everything possible to impress a non-responsive James. The Cavaliers star had started to fully distance himself from the organization. He refused to get on the phone and discuss his future with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, whom Gilbert had offered $30 million to take over as coach.

Before the Cavaliers ever reached out to him, Izzo turned down a less lucrative offer to coach the Chicago Bulls. James wasn’t returning Gilbert’s calls and messages – never mind willing to talk with Izzo. Before Izzo finally turned down Gilbert, he was delivered a direct line to two of James’ close NBA friends, who told him he should only take the job with an expectation he’ll never coach James in Cleveland. Gilbert tried to sell Izzo, but the coach feared there wasn’t a single influential official in the Cavs organization who truly had a relationship with James.

---

No one had more intelligence and better monitored the disconnect between James and the Cavaliers than Miami Heat president Pat Riley. He had informants and spies everywhere, including his own star, Wade, who had been telling Riley for most of two years they could lure James to South Beach. The Heat had everything they needed to sell James, except for what finally arrived on the eve of the NBA draft: salary-cap space.

On the night before the draft, Riley hung up on a call with Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti to complete a salary dump of Daequan Cook(notes). It wouldn’t be long until word traveled to everyone. LeBron James. Dwyane Wade. Chris Bosh. The Heat had the salary-cap space to make this happen. All these months of planning, all these contingencies, and now the greatest free-agent coup in history was within reach.

When the NBA powerbroker and adviser to James, William Wesley – famously known as Worldwide Wes – heard the news, he was duly impressed. After all these months, all this careful planning, Riley had cleared the cap space to give the three stars of free agency contracts starting at about $15 million.

For months, Wesley had believed James’ choice would be the Chicago Bulls, but no one had counted on Riley’s relentlessness in clearing enough cap space to accommodate the three stars. Free agency wouldn’t officially start for another week on July 1, but from then on, Wesley had two words about LeBron and the Heat for the closest of associates: done deal.

Worldwide Wes had understood something about James the Cavaliers refused to believe, and even James’ childhood buddies from Akron were still somewhat unwilling to accept: LeBron James was never re-signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and now it was a matter of securing him the proper complement of teammates for the greatest free-agent haul in history.

Riley was 65, a five-time NBA champion, a Hall of Famer and he wanted a dynasty to fade into the sunset of his basketball life. He had kept his word, continuing to dump contract upon contract in a high-wire act that left him without a safety net.

Riley believed he could unload those contracts. And mostly, he believed in his own power of persuasion. He is still the biggest presence, biggest voice in the room. Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey, a statistics analyst, met with Chris Bosh at 12:01 a.m. on July 1 armed with an iPad. Morey’s cult followers on the web hailed it as a resounding success, but Riley never believed he was losing Bosh to the MIT gang.

Riley believed in his ability to get into the room with James and sell him on the way the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers sacrificed salary, shots and statistics for the greater good of a dynasty. Most of all, Riley believed he could benefit on the close relationship that James had with Wade, and that there wasn’t a franchise with cap space that could offer such a compelling case to the two-time defending MVP.

Riley ran the Heat franchise in a bold way. He had two things to sell the best players in the NBA: South Beach and his bigger-than-life persona. The Heat don’t bother scouting internationally. They didn’t believe much in the college draft. They constantly planned around free agents and trades, a high-risk, high-reward way to steer an organization.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will be under pressure to win with president Pat Riley always a possibility to return to the bench.
(Getty Images)

All along, teams believed Bosh would choose to play with James or Wade. What Bosh truly wanted was to play with James and Wade. It was commonly accepted that Bosh’s time with the Toronto Raptors taught him he couldn’t be the centerpiece player, and so he embraced the idea of playing the part of Robin to James’ and Wade’s Batman.

Wade had come to believe James would likely leave Cleveland, but became largely certain once the Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. For the first time, James could no longer blame his supporting cast and coaching for a playoff exit. His peculiar performance in a Game 5 blowout, lethargic and distant, pushed James on trial.

Within days of the season’s end, James and Carter traveled to Winston-Salem, N.C., for the birthday party of New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul’s(notes) young son. With James on the premises, rules for the toddler’s birthday party included no photos, no video.

James was close with Paul, and free agency and the possible connecting of the players’ futures did come up in conversation. Paul was unhappy with the Hornets, and frustrated to see so many of his Team USA teammates on championship contenders and playoff teams. James and Carter long had been trying to recruit Paul to their LRMR marketing company and the Rose/Wesley/CAA cluster for his contract representation.

As a prelude to Paul eventually going into business with James, Wesley began working the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets to get them to try and trade for Paul with the strong suggestion that it could deliver James in free agency. Both tried, both failed.

As Wesley worked front offices, his stature started to rise out of the subculture of the sport and into mainstream news coverage. Carter wanted credibility beyond the public perception of him as merely James’ childhood buddy, and ultimately he could no longer hide his jealousy when Wesley started to get too much public recognition for packaging the players in free agency. Privately, everyone in the circle knew James was leaving Cleveland, and it would be harder for his Akron guys to get credit for the deal.

During the NBA Finals, Carter met entertainment mogul David Geffen at a party in Los Angeles. Carter talked informally with Geffen’s people about the possibility of them attempting to purchase a majority share of the Los Angeles Clippers and signing James with the team’s cap space. Carter even made sure to show up with Geffen courtside at Staples Center for a game in the Finals to elevate his stature as a major mover, but buzz died fast when Clippers owner Donald Sterling made clear he had no interest in selling his team.

After a Yahoo! Sports column detailing the strife within Team LeBron in late June, Carter unwrapped his jealousy and called the New York Times to insist Wesley would have nothing to do with choosing a team. Wesley had unsuccessfully shopped Kentucky coach John Calipari to the Chicago Bulls as a preferred coaching candidate for James, but the Bulls made a run for Izzo and ultimately settled on a less-expensive client of CAA, Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau.

Wesley wanted the commission on Calipari’s pro contract, but no one wanted to hire him. James did have a strong bond with Calipari, but ultimately he was much more interested with the ownership, front office and talent on the floor. James understood that coaches were easily disposable, but the rest had more staying power.

Nevertheless, Wesley reacted with caution over Carter’s public proclamation to back off, and slid further into the background. Still, he stayed in close contact with James through a Nike official, Lynn Merritt, and let Carter cool down from his public tantrum. Carter worried far more about Wesley than Wesley did about Carter. There were such doubts about the kinds of advice that Carter had been giving James, about the staying power of that bond, that Wesley was willing to play it out and see who would still be standing beside LeBron James.

---

The New Jersey Nets – with owner Mikhail Prokhorov and minority partner Jay-Z – were the first team to make a formal presentation to James at the offices of his LRMR marketing company in downtown Cleveland on July 1. This was the meeting that most intrigued James, because he had never been in the room with Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire and new Nets owner. This was a self-made global tycoon, different than the rest of the owners, and this surely intrigued James.

Prokhorov was long, trim and athletic, and at 6-foot-9 inches able to look James in the eyes when greeting him for the first time. The Nets made a pointed, flashy presentation on the franchise’s eventual move to a new arena in Brooklyn and delivered a creative, if not embellished, explanation of how Prokhorov held a international blueprint for James on how to catapult him someday into the billionaire athlete that he always wanted to be.

For James, the problem with back-to-back presentations was his short attention span. Cavaliers coaches had always tried to keep film sessions short because James would drift away and lose interest. As the New York Knicks followed the Nets by repeating those themes with an array of power points and charts about accumulating wealth, James drifted in and out of focus. Later, James would tell Jay-Z that parts of New York’s presentation felt too redundant to New Jersey’s.

In this free-agent push for James, the Nets were something of a wild card, largely because of his close relationship with Jay-Z. In so many ways, James wanted to emulate the music mogul’s platform. In pitching the Nets, who had won only 12 games, Jay-Z kept reminding LeBron that he cared too much about his own brand to ever associate it with something unworthy. The Nets were going to be a force, he promised. With a partnership together, they could own New York and someday the sporting world.

At the start of free agency, the Nets erected a 127-foot billboard of Prokhorov and Jay-Z across from Madison Square Garden. Knicks owner James Dolan was irate, called Jay-Z and told him the mural intimidated his employees.

As it started to get back to Jay-Z that the Nets were trailing to the Heat and Bulls, a Nets official close to ownership – against the wishes of several peers – hatched a plan to leak the notes of a Prokhorov staff meeting to a media outlet. The leaked notes indicated that Prokhorov believed James’ brand would be diminished as part of a three-star team in Miami. What’s more, the notes also indicated what great respect Prokhorov had for Maverick Carter.

The Bulls still believed they were strongly in the bidding for James. They met him on July 2, and for all the discussion later about the belief that Chicago wouldn’t give jobs and access to members of James’ inner circle, the issue had never been raised with team executives.

Most people figured Chris Bosh wanted to play with LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. He wanted to play with both.
(Getty Images)

For everything the Bulls tried to sell – from owner Jerry Reinsdorf to GM Gar Forman to coach Tom Thibodeau – there had been one thing that troubled James’ about the Bulls pitch: Derrick Rose(notes) never called and tried to recruit him.

Chicago officials never directly requested Rose to reach out with a call, and the young point guard felt James could’ve always reached out to him had he wanted to discuss the possibility of playing together. James needed to be courted, needed to be wooed and apparently it surprised him there was a star who wasn’t falling over himself to do that.

On the eve of the Bulls’ meeting with James, Forman and vice president John Paxson requested and received a second visit with Wade within 24 hours in Chicago. They met for a couple hours in the office of Wade’s agent, Henry Thomas. Chicago believed it needed badly to emerge out of the meeting with a commitment from Wade to take to James in Cleveland. The Bulls could still make a couple of moves to position them further under the cap and sign two maximum salary players.

Without James committed to joining him in Miami, Wade hadn’t completely let go of the Bulls as a bargaining chip. He knew Bosh would come with him, but LeBron still hadn’t told him that he was going to sign with Miami.

Nevertheless, Riley’s presentation on July 3 pushed James closer to committing than ever. Riley never did pitch James on his own return to coaching, and yet bringing those five championship rings into the meeting were his way of selling James on the fact that Riles’ prints would be all over the team. No other basketball executive in the process could tell James they understood what a title team needed, what it looked like and how they had already done it like Riley could. Riley had such credibility, such presence and he completely captivated James.

Want the best talent? It’s here. Want a Hall of Fame coach? He’s upstairs, waiting for your arrival. Nevertheless, Riley had backed far away from a news conference at season’s end when he suggested he would be willing to return to the bench should a free agent deem it a deal-breaker to sign with the Heat. For James, it wasn’t. Wade had sold him on Erik Spoelstra, and Wade didn’t want Riley hovering over this coach the way he had Stan Van Gundy before taking over on the title run in 2006.

Perhaps Riley could always be seduced to the bench, but he has privately told people he has come to cherish his ability to escape to his Malibu home for a few days here and there in the season. In a lot of ways, the grind no longer appeals to him and he’s wanted to give Spoelstra, his longtime apprentice and understudy, every chance to succeed.

Nevertheless, the pressure on Spoelstra to win a championship in 2011 promises to be immense. To keep his job, he’ll probably have to win it all, especially because Riley has his eye on Doc Rivers to someday coach the Heat. Rivers has one year left on his Celtics contract, and has been heavily affected by the distance between him and his family still living Orlando.

Riley never sold any coach to James in the meeting, but the one sitting next to him. Yet, James understood that Riley ultimately had no loyalty to anything but winning.

Wade wasn’t allowed to recruit for the Heat before the end of the NBA Finals, because he was still a Heat employee. Yet before the end of the Finals, there were two June meetings that involved Wade and members of James’ inner circle – one in Ohio and another in Chicago. The NBA doesn’t seem interested in pursuing a tampering probe, but a senior NBA official wants the league to investigate whether Riley promised James employment and benefits to members of his camp.

“The bigger issue is salary-cap circumvention,” one top NBA front-office executive told Yahoo!. “You can’t promise jobs or preferential services outside of a contract or a job for a friend. If that’s part of the deal, it’s a violation.”

---

Dwyane Wade started dreaming of playing with LeBron James in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
(Getty Images)

The way James lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals turned out to be a boon to the Heat. The pressure was on James to start winning titles and Riley understood this was playing into his favor. The criticism of failing to win a title weighed on James, and Wade worked him over on it. All that would fade away with the Heat, and it wouldn’t be a matter of winning a single title but rather how many they would line up.

James, Wade and Bosh talked on the telephone late on July 6. Wade had gone back to Miami and met with Riley and Heat owner, Micky Arison, and was ready to formally commit to staying. He had Bosh in his pocket, and now they just needed James to make the move with them. They hung up the phone late that night and thought James was prepared to make the jump with them.

Wade and Bosh made public their choices on July 7 and waited for word that would soon quietly come to them: LeBron was on his way to Miami, the greatest coup in free-agent history complete. Later that day, Carter was on the phone with free agent Mike Miller(notes) telling him that James was going to Miami and that he needed to join them as a sharpshooter playing off the three stars.

Back in Akron, James still wanted to go through his live hourlong television show on July 8 to announce his decision. This had been Maverick Carter’s big idea, his production, and still people around him worried about the fallout in Cleveland. Several friends told James this was a bad idea to do to his hometown, that leaving the Cavaliers live on national television would make this a public-relations disaster for him.

James didn’t seem to agree, didn’t think it made a difference. Mad was mad, he thought. He would take a beating, but it would subside and people would love him again in Cleveland. The TV event had delivered hope to the Cavaliers that they would keep James because they never believed he would go on air and open himself to such a visceral reaction.

Better than anyone, they knew LeBron James could sometimes be so unaware of the world outside his own needs, his own yes men. Nearly two years later, the whispers in the back of the bus rolling through Beijing had become the loudest statement in free-agency history. The telephone call to the Cleveland Cavaliers came minutes before the 9 p.m. show, and somehow the news still shocked them. LeBron James was leaving, and the truth finally washed over owner Dan Gilbert and his front office: James had been gone a long time. They just never wanted to believe it.

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WATCH:
Miami Celebrates Lebron
THE CHOSEN ONE/third !

Us Clevelanders who know him can see in this video...
he ain't happy with this side-kick stuff.

WARNING: Possible ego problems ahead...
for the second fiddle.

B4B Home Page

CNN's DISGUSTING
Report on a 103 Year Old Woman Who Still Drives
Adds gangster-rap music, curse words and all !!!

By Greg Jones
Wednesday May 26, 2010

At 10:25 as I sat watching a bit of CNN this morning I found found myself going from....ahhhhh....isn't this sweet.....to absolute disgust and actual anger. The story CNN was reporting on was about a very sweet woman from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, who at age 103, still has this sharpness and mental awareness to drive. The piece showed her getting in her car...cruising down the road...just as sharp as ever. They mentioned how she could be easily noticed since her vehicle is a 1979 Cadillac with a two-tone white and red paint job. All one could say while watching this piece was wow...what a strong Black woman.

But then at the very end of the piece, as they showed the woman getting in her car, cane in hand...some absolute ignorant, racist moron at CNN decided to play some gangster rap music in the background....as if to imply that this sweet old wonderful lady is A GANGSTER ! To make it even WORSE...CNN didn't even edit the song so all I could hear was rapper Coolio saying "punk ass niggas" to a gangster beat !!! ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE !!!

CNN should be held accountable for this atrocity...should apologize to the woman and her family...should apologize to CNN viewers...and should explain to the public what exactly lead them to use profane gangster rap as part of the imagery of this wonderful Black woman. Here's a link to the story before CNN added it's "disgusting touch".
*************************************************

Greg Jones' B4B Main Page

About
Blacks4Barack !

Cleveland, Ohio native Greg Jones is National Director of The Blacks4Barack Organization, a multi-racial, net/grassroots organization created in February 2007 (when polls showed Hillary Clinton with 82% of the Black support and most folks were still learning how to pronounce Barack Obama's name). Greg felt strongly that despite the polls, as people became more familiar with Barack Obama, they would come to the conclusion that he was the best choice for President and for America. So Greg's original 1-man-mission was to encourage Blacks to be 4 Barack, thus B4B was launched.

B4B's Greg Jones

As Blacks4Barack membership rose into the multi-thousands nationwide throughout Campaign '08, Blacks4Barack was very involved in national voter registration drives, committed to sharing updated campaign news which often included the dispelling of lies and dedicated to invigorating and stimulating support particularly in the Black communities for Barack Obama as President 2008. We thank all of the Warriors of all races nationwide who worked tirelessly throughout the Historic Campaign....Yes We Did !

B4B's official site Blacks4Barack.com has been honored and selected to be a part of the U.S. Library of Congress Historic Collection due to it's in-depth coverage of the historic Campaign '08 and beyond. Jones is currently also a member of The White House Press Pool and receives daily updates directly from The White House and Obama Administration. Jones is also the producer and host of the Obama Talk Radio Show entitled Nothing But The Truth.

President Obama has stated that he cannot make change in America by himself. It's going to take the efforts of We The People. There is much work ahead which is why the Blacks4Barack motto is: Be Inspired...Be Informed...Be INVOLVED !!!

Together....We WILL (Continue To) Make A Difference !

What started as one man on a mission...Blacks4Barack has grown to becoming recognized in the national political arena as a constant voice Dedicated To Truth, Knowledge-which is Power...
and the promotion of activism, working in Unity toward The Recovery of America !

Contact B4B: Blacks4Barack(at)yahoo(dot)com

" In all we do, we must all be Thankful
that we have the power to help those who don't."
(Greg Jones)

People Power WORKS !

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