President and First Lady to Host Concert Honoring Carole King in the East Room

The White House

Office of the First Lady

Wednesday, May 22 * White House – As part of their “In Performance at the White House” series, the President and First Lady will host a concert in the East Room honoring singer-songwriter Carole King, who will be awarded the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.  President Obama will present the award as he did when the Library of Congress honored Stevie Wonder (2009), Sir Paul McCartney (2010), and the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David (2012). The program will include performances by King, as well as Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel, Jesse McCartney, Emeli Sandé, James Taylor and Trisha Yearwood.

The President’s remarks will be pooled press and the entire event will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov/live starting at 7:00 PM ET.  “Carole King: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize In Performance at the White House” will be broadcast Tuesday, May 28 at 8:00 PM ET on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings).  The program will also be broadcast at a later date via the American Forces Network to American service men and women and civilians at U.S. Department of Defense locations around the world.

This will be the first time the Gershwin Prize honor has been awarded to a woman.  The Gershwin Prize commemorates George and Ira Gershwin, the legendary American songwriting team whose extensive manuscript collections reside in the Library of Congress. The prize is awarded to musicians whose lifetime contributions in the field of popular song exemplify the standard of excellence associated with the Gershwins. 

The White House concert caps off two days of events celebrating the recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. On Tuesday, May 21st at 7:00 PM ET, the Library of Congress will host an invitation-only concert at their Coolidge Auditorium in honor of Carole King. The all-star tribute will include performances by Patti Austin, Colbie Caillat, Michael Feinstein, Siedah Garrett, Louise Goffin, Shelby Lynne, Gian Marco, Arturo Sandoval and a special performance by honoree Carole King. This event will be open to press, but space is limited. Members of the media who wish to cover this event must contact Sheryl Cannady at 202-707-6456 or scannady@loc.gov.

 “Carole King: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize In Performance at the White House” will be the eleventh “In Performance at the White House” program hosted by the President and Mrs. Obama.  Starting in February 2009, these events have honored the musical genius of Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David; celebrated Hispanic musical heritage during Hispanic Heritage Month; marked Black History Month with events featuring music from the Civil Rights Movement, Motown, Memphis Soul and the Blues; spotlighted Broadway and the unique spirit of the American musical; and explored the rich roots and resiliency of Country Music.

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

The President and the Department of Defense are taking unprecedented steps to protect our environment, achieve significant cost savings, and give our military better energy options.

Today at the White House, we convened the 10th annual meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

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Presidential Proclamation -- Honoring the Victims of the Explosion in West, Texas

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

HONORING THE VICTIMS OF THE EXPLOSION IN WEST, TEXAS

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

     As a mark of respect for the memory of those who perished in the explosion in West, Texas, on April 17, 2013, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at all public buildings and grounds and at all military facilities and naval stations of the Federal Government in the State of Texas on April 25, 2013.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

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President Obama travels to Waco, Texas to speak at a memorial service for those lost and injured in the deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in nearby West, Texas.

President and Mrs. Obama joined all the former living Presidents -- and four previous First Ladies -- for the event in Dallas, Texas.

Shaun Donovan and Cecilia Munoz highlight the impact of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative.

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Remarks by the President Honoring the Stanley Cup Champion LA Kings and MLS Cup Champion LA Galaxy

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

East Room

2:00 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  (Applause.)  Welcome to the White House.  And welcome back to the back-to-back MLS champion, the L.A. Galaxy.  (Applause.)  I was telling these guys, they’re starting to get a little comfortable around here because they just keep on coming back.

But this time they brought some company -- the Stanley Cup champion, L.A. Kings.  (Applause.)  

Now, it is great to have both teams here not just because they share a hometown.  I’m a little resentful coming from Chicago that L.A. seems to be getting all these championships.  But they don’t just share a hometown, they also share a pretty good comeback story.

When it comes to the Galaxy, a team with Landon Donovan on it is rarely the underdog.  But when the Galaxy was here last year, their chances of repeating as champions didn’t look all that good.  The injury bug plagued the team.  It seemed like it might be a rebuilding year.  But right after that visit, they turned things around.  And you can call it a coincidence, but I just want to point out that right after they visited with me -- (laughter) -- the Galaxy built the best record in the league.

In the MLS Cup Final, the Galaxy trailed at halftime, and it stayed that way until Omar Gonzalez, who is with the national team today, scored the equalizer in the 60th minute.  A few minutes after that, Landon did what he does best and scored the go-ahead goal.  And pretty soon, they were up 3-1, and then midfielder Juninho was probably dancing the samba -- (laughter) -- the MLS Cup belonged to L.A. for the second straight year, and that was the fourth in Galaxy history.

Now, the Kings’ story is a little bit different.  These guys were not defending champions.  In fact, before last year, L.A. had never won the Stanley Cup.  And after switching head coaches midseason -- a coach, I should add, who got good training from the Chicago Blackhawks -- (laughter) -- squeaking into the playoffs as a number eight seed, it looked like the streak of not winning was going to continue.  No eight seed had ever won a championship in any of our professional sports.

But something happened during the playoffs -- timing is everything.  And as center Jarret Stoll says, “We all came together at the right time, and we all peaked at the right time.”  With playoff MVP Jonathan Quick playing lights out in goal, these guys just kept winning game after game after game.  And eventually, the rest of the league started to take notice. 

Captain Dustin Brown put it best before the final game.  He said, “I don’t know what 45 years of energy sounds like.  But if we play our game, maybe we’ll find out.”  And that night at the Staples Center, they found out.  And America found out that Southern California actually has some pretty intense hockey fans.  (Applause.)

So I’m going to be a good sport -- these guys pointed out that they beat my Blackhawks last night.  I will also say that, given this season how rare it is to beat the Blackhawks, I want to congratulate them for that as well.  (Laughter.)

We also found out that both these teams are full of some pretty stand-up players and coaches.  They’re out in the community year-round.  They’re changing lives, they’re making a difference.  As Coach Arena of the Galaxy says, “The soccer is very much secondary.  If we can have an impact on the lives of young kids, we want to be a part of that.”

And that’s something we all appreciate, especially those of us who are parents.  And we are thrilled that you guys are sticking around to host a Let’s Move question-and-answer session with kids from all across the country.

So I want to give a hearty congratulations to both the Kings and the Galaxy one more time for bringing two championships to L.A. and for doing so much for your fans back in California. 

And we also know that there are a couple of Galaxy players who couldn’t be here because of World Cup qualifying, so I want to wish Team USA the very best of luck as they take on Mexico tonight.  I hope both these teams have a great rest of the season.

So everybody give them a big round of applause.  Congratulations.  (Applause.)

All right, are we going to do the jerseys at the podium?  So, Landon, what do we got here?

MR. DONOVAN:  We have a ball for you, and then we’ve got a -- (laughter) -- and then we’ve got a jersey for you.

THE PRESIDENT:  I hope you guys caught that.  (Laughter.)  That doesn’t happen very often.

MR. DONOVAN:  And a jersey.

THE PRESIDENT:  That is a nice-looking jersey.  Thank you.  (Applause.) 

So am I going to stand over here?  And what do we got here?

MR. BROWN:  Just a jersey here.

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s a good-looking jersey.  Forty-four -- it’s a lucky number.  All right, thank you.

END
2:06 P.M. EDT

During a ceremony in the Oval Office, President Obama praised the veteran agent for her dedication, professionalism and commitment to her work.

On Thursday, March 28th at 3:00 pm ET, White House innovation advisor Tom Kalil will join a Google+ Hangout to discuss the Maker Movement with leading innovators and Makers from around the country.

It was the second trip in two years for the Galaxy, while the Kings made their first visit after winning their first Stanley Cup in 2012.

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Remarks by the President at Dedication of Statue Honoring Rosa Parks -- US Capitol

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

United States Capitol

11:45 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Mr. Speaker, Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, Leader Pelosi, Assistant Leader Clyburn; to the friends and family of Rosa Parks; to the distinguished guests who are gathered here today. 

This morning, we celebrate a seamstress, slight in stature but mighty in courage.  She defied the odds, and she defied injustice.  She lived a life of activism, but also a life of dignity and grace.  And in a single moment, with the simplest of gestures, she helped change America -- and change the world.

Rosa Parks held no elected office.  She possessed no fortune; lived her life far from the formal seats of power.  And yet today, she takes her rightful place among those who’ve shaped this nation’s course.  I thank all those persons, in particular the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, both past and present, for making this moment possible.  (Applause.) 

A childhood friend once said about Mrs. Parks, “Nobody ever bossed Rosa around and got away with it.”  (Laughter.)  That’s what an Alabama driver learned on December 1, 1955.  Twelve years earlier, he had kicked Mrs. Parks off his bus simply because she entered through the front door when the back door was too crowded.  He grabbed her sleeve and he pushed her off the bus.  It made her mad enough, she would recall, that she avoided riding his bus for a while. 

And when they met again that winter evening in 1955, Rosa Parks would not be pushed.  When the driver got up from his seat to insist that she give up hers, she would not be pushed.  When he threatened to have her arrested, she simply replied, “You may do that.”  And he did.

A few days later, Rosa Parks challenged her arrest.  A little-known pastor, new to town and only 26 years old, stood with her -- a man named Martin Luther King, Jr.  So did thousands of Montgomery, Alabama commuters.  They began a boycott -- teachers and laborers, clergy and domestics, through rain and cold and sweltering heat, day after day, week after week, month after month, walking miles if they had to, arranging carpools where they could, not thinking about the blisters on their feet, the weariness after a full day of work -- walking for respect, walking for freedom, driven by a solemn determination to affirm their God-given dignity. 

Three hundred and eighty-five days after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, the boycott ended.  Black men and women and children re-boarded the buses of Montgomery, newly desegregated, and sat in whatever seat happen to be open.  (Applause.)  And with that victory, the entire edifice of segregation, like the ancient walls of Jericho, began to slowly come tumbling down.

It’s been often remarked that Rosa Parks’s activism didn’t begin on that bus.  Long before she made headlines, she had stood up for freedom, stood up for equality -- fighting for voting rights, rallying against discrimination in the criminal justice system, serving in the local chapter of the NAACP.  Her quiet leadership would continue long after she became an icon of the civil rights movement, working with Congressman Conyers to find homes for the homeless, preparing disadvantaged youth for a path to success, striving each day to right some wrong somewhere in this world. 

And yet our minds fasten on that single moment on the bus -- Ms. Parks alone in that seat, clutching her purse, staring out a window, waiting to be arrested.  That moment tells us something about how change happens, or doesn’t happen; the choices we make, or don’t make.  “For now we see through a glass, darkly,” Scripture says, and it’s true.  Whether out of inertia or selfishness, whether out of fear or a simple lack of moral imagination, we so often spend our lives as if in a fog, accepting injustice, rationalizing inequity, tolerating the intolerable. 

Like the bus driver, but also like the passengers on the bus, we see the way things are -- children hungry in a land of plenty, entire neighborhoods ravaged by violence, families hobbled by job loss or illness -- and we make excuses for inaction, and we say to ourselves, that's not my responsibility, there’s nothing I can do.

Rosa Parks tell us there’s always something we can do.  She tells us that we all have responsibilities, to ourselves and to one another.  She reminds us that this is how change happens -- not mainly through the exploits of the famous and the powerful, but through the countless acts of often anonymous courage and kindness and fellow feeling and responsibility that continually, stubbornly, expand our conception of justice -- our conception of what is possible. 

Rosa Parks’s singular act of disobedience launched a movement.  The tired feet of those who walked the dusty roads of Montgomery helped a nation see that to which it had once been blind.  It is because of these men and women that I stand here today.  It is because of them that our children grow up in a land more free and more fair; a land truer to its founding creed.

And that is why this statue belongs in this hall -- to remind us, no matter how humble or lofty our positions, just what it is that leadership requires; just what it is that citizenship requires.  Rosa Parks would have turned 100 years old this month. We do well by placing a statue of her here.  But we can do no greater honor to her memory than to carry forward the power of her principle and a courage born of conviction.

May God bless the memory of Rosa Parks, and may God bless these United States of America.  (Applause.)

END                
11:55 A.M. EST

President Obama is on hand for the unveiling of the new Rosa Parks statue in the U.S. Capitol

February 27, 2013 12:00 PM EST

To mark African American History Month, as well as the 150th anniversary of the year the Emancipation Proclamation, we talked with White House Curator Bill Allman about a painting called Watch Meeting--Dec. 31st 1862--Waiting for the Hour that hangs near the Oval Office in the West Wing.

President Obama strongly believes we need to replace the arbitrary cuts known as the sequester with balanced deficit reduction, and today he was at a shipyard in Newport News, VA to talk about what failing to do so will mean for middle class families.

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