The TOTUS never blinks: Obama in the East Room.
President Obama today handed out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 16 recipients for their work in civil rights, entertainment and more. One was controversial.
“Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero knows the adversity that comes with a difficult name. I can relate.”
Chita Rivera (in white) played Anita in West Side Story, among many famous roles. Obama called her “sassy.”
TOTUS 2.0 sees all, conveys all.
For his second East Room event of the day, Obama stuck with the photog-friendly big-screen teleprompter.
“His work in theoretical physics — which I will not attempt to explain further here — has advanced our understanding of the universe,” Obama said of Stephen Hawking.
“From his wheelchair, he’s led us on a journey to the farthest and strangest reaches of the cosmos. In so doing, he has stirred our imagination and shown us the power of the human spirit here on Earth,” the president said.
She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one.
“What we honor are not simply her 12 Grand Slam titles, 101 doubles titles, and 67 singles titles — pretty good, Billie Jean — we honor what she calls “all the off-the-court stuff” — what she did to broaden the reach of the game, to change how women athletes and women everywhere view themselves, and to give everyone — regardless of gender or sexual orientation — including my two daughters — a chance to compete both on the court and in life,” Obama said of Billie Jean King.
Yes, getting the medal around the headdress proved challenging.
“Born just a generation past the Battle of the Little Big Horn, a grandson of a scout for General Custer himself, Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow was the first member of his tribe to attend college and earn a Master’s. Before completing his PhD, he left to serve in World War II,” Obama said. “Wearing war paint beneath his uniform, and a sacred feather beneath his helmet, Joseph Medicine Crow completed the four battlefield deeds that made him the last Crow war chief.”
“It’s been said that Sidney Poitier does not make movies, he makes milestones,” Obama said.
A moment: The first black Oscar winner for best actor and the first black president.
“The child of Bahamian tomato farmers, Poitier once called his driving purpose to make himself a better person. He did — and he made us all a little bit better along the way,” Obama said.
Break it up: The East Room.
Obama’s remarks and full list of recipients (Harvey Milk! Ted Kennedy! Jack Kemp!) here.
All photos by The Examiner’s Aleksandra Kulczuga. Holla!
