Photograph by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

President Barack Obama takes part in a tree planting ceremony with Israeli President Shimon Peres at his residence on March 20, 2013 in Jerusalem.

President Barack Obama brought a magnolia tree, a descendant of a White House magnolia, to the home of President Shimon Peres.

The Israelis have planted it in their president’s garden with a plastic wrapper around the roots until it can be inspected by the Agriculture Ministry.

“They will come in two or three weeks to see that there’s nothing unhealthy in the roots,” said Peres spokeswoman Ayelet Frisch, maintaining this was the plan all along. “All countries have such rules.”

Unplanned: One of the president’s armored limousines broke down in Tel Aviv before he ever rode in it.

Prepared: The Secret Service explained, that’s why they travel with a lot of them.

From the moment Obama stepped off Air Force One in Tel Aviv, his first presidential visit to Israel has been scripted with imagery and statements aimed at showing his support for Israel and its people. That didn’t prevent him from wandering off script.

Off-script: He told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it was “good to get away from Congress.”

On-air: Back home, House Speaker John Boehner said: “So much for the charm offensive.”

Laugh line: Obama, instructed by an official to follow a thin, painted red line to a structure that housed part of a missile-defense system he was touring, joked, with Netanyahu by his side, that the prime minister is always talking to him about ”red lines.”

At this hour, however, there is a “lid” on the president’s travels in Jerusalem, where it is past bedtime.

Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

Original post is Obama’s Magnolia Bagged in Jerusalem — and More Off-Script by Political Capital.

Photograph by Getty Images

President Barack Obama on the golf course in Palm City, Florida, Feb. 16, 2013. Photo by Getty Images.

More fun facts on the Floridian in Palm City, Florida, where President Barack Obama is having his guys’ golf getaway this President’s Day weekend.

Jim Crane, the avid golfer who owns the club and also the Houston Astros baseball team, has been an Obama campaign backer, according to donor records.

Houston, 59, chairman and chief executive officer of Crane Capital Group, and his wife, Franci, have donated $57,700 to Obama and the Democratic National Committee since 2007, when Obama announced his candidacy for president, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. Crane also hosted a campaign fundraiser for Obama last March at Minute Maid Park, the Astros’ home field.

Crane bought the club from Florida-based entrepreneur Wayne Huizenga, founder of Waste Management, Blockbuster Video and AutoNation, in 2010. Huizenga is also a longtime donor to Republican candidates and the party.

Among the club’s members at the time were talk radio host and Obama critic Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh, on his show yesterday, noted the connection.

“I was a proud and honored member of the Floridian,” Limbaugh said. “Then Wayne sold it to a nice guy by the name of Jim Crane, who’s the owner of the Houston Astros.”

“The president’s got himself a good, old-fashioned guys golf weekend,” Limbaugh said, according to a transcript posted on his Web-site.

“You know, it’s shame,” he said. “We’ve got what’s for us a major cold front going through here tonight. Tomorrow, the temperature will barely hit 75, and then Sunday it will barely hit 60. It’s gonna be very, very chilly. Now, for the president that probably won’t be too chilly because he’s coming from a Northern clime. But for us, that’s fireplace and sweater weather.”

Original post is Obama’s Florida Golf Weekend — Limbaugh’s Sweater Weather by Political Capital.

Photograph by Byron Cohen/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

The cast of "1600 Penn."

“Lincoln” it’s not.

Still, the cast and crew of NBC’s new comedy “1600 Penn,” which premieres tomorrow, are being feted this evening at the White House, where President Barack Obama is hosting a private screening.

The show chronicles a fictional First Family, the Gilchrists, who neither in race nor hammy demeanor appear to have much in common with the Obamas.

One of the executive producers is former White House speechwriter Jon Lovett.

Obama hosted a screening of “Lincoln” late last year.

As for “Zero Dark Thirty,” the film about the killing of Osama bin Laden that has generated controversy for its depictions of torture and for questions about the access Obama administration officials gave the director and screenwriter, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today he didn’t know whether the president has seen it. While the movie opens Jan. 11 in theaters, it has already has been showing in New York and in screenings including one in Washington last night that drew journalists and administration officials.

Original post is White House Popcorn Roasting: `Gilchrists’ Perform for Obamas by Political Capital.

Photograph by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo

President Barack Obama greets people as he visits Island Snow for shave ice in Kailua, Hawaii, during his holiday vacation, on Jan 3, 2013.

President Barack Obama returns to Washington today from his annual family vacation in Hawaii for a week expected to include Cabinet nominations, a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and preparations for a second-term inauguration.

Obama is scheduled to return to the White House before noon. Before his departure last night from Honolulu, the president also was gearing up for a political fight next month with Republicans over raising the U.S. debt limit. In his weekly radio address, which was taped from Hawaii and aired yesterday, the president reiterated a warning that he will not negotiate with Republicans over borrowing authority.

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, 66, is expected to be named as soon as tomorrow as Obama’s choice to be the nation’s next defense secretary, according to a person familiar with the cabinet-selection process.

The president is to meet with Karzai on Jan. 11. As the U.S. war in Afghanistan winds down, Karzai is visiting Washington to discuss concerns including the size of U.S. troop levels in his country after 2014 and the future U.S. financial commitment.

Obama has yet to name a new head of the Central Intelligence Agency. John Brennan, the president’s counterterrorism chief, is said to be among the leading candidates. Other pending announcements include a replacement for Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, and may include a new chief of staff if Jack Lew is named as Geithner’s replacement.

In December, the president announced his choice of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

Obama originally was set to spend two weeks in Hawaii, where he was born and raised, to recharge following his re- election campaign and work on the Jan. 21 address he is to deliver for his second-term inauguration.

That plan was interrupted when the congressional standoff over how to prevent automatic tax hikes and spending cuts from going into effect beginning Jan. 1 forced him to cut short his trip on Dec. 26. Obama, who arrived in Hawaii on Dec. 22, to returned to Washington and then, after Congress passed a budget deal late Jan. 1, flew back to Hawaii for another four days.

During the second part of his Hawaii trip, Obama took his daughters bowling, ate shave ice with his daughters, golfed, and dined out with his wife and friends.

Obama on Jan. 2 signed the law raising income-tax rates on couples to 39.6 percent for annual income above $450,000 while extending tax cuts for lower incomes and delaying automatic spending cuts until March 1.

Markets rallied in response to the agreement, even as Obama and congressional Republicans are poised for a new fight over the U.S. government’s debt ceiling.

The U.S. reached its $16.4 trillion legal debt limit on Dec. 31, and the Treasury Department began using extraordinary measures to finance the government. It will exhaust that avenue as early as mid-February, the Congressional Budget Office says.

In the radio address, Obama said, “One thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they’ve already racked up.

“If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic.”

Obama said rich Americans and companies should pay more taxes beyond the fiscal cliff accord as part of a balanced approach with spending cuts.

“The last time Congress threatened this course of action, our entire economy suffered for it,” the president said in the address from Hawaii.

Original post is Obama Home from the Holidays: Hard New Year’s Nights Ahead by Political Capital.

In a wide-ranging interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” airing today, Obama calls Dec. 14, the day a gunman in Newtown, Connecticut, killed himself and 27 others, mostly children, “the worst day of my presidency.”

Warning of the adverse market reactions possible if Congress fails to reach a bipartisan deal before Jan. 1 to avert the so-called fiscal cliff , the president issues a call for action in the interview taped yesterday. The Republican-run House is set for an evening session, with little more than 24 hours left for the expirations of Bush-era tax cuts and automatic spending cuts set to take effect.

Obama also defends former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel’s character against critics of his past stances on gays and Israel. The criticisms surfaced after Hagel was floated as a leading contender for defense secretary. Obama said while he’s not aware of anything in Hagel’s record that would disqualify him to serve as defense secretary he’s not yet decided whom to nominate.

In the interview, Obama describes himself as “a pretty practical guy” who is “not driven by some ideological agenda.”

Obama says it’s “just not true” that the gridlock in Congress is the result of an unwillingness by both parties to cooperate, laying the balance of the blame on Republicans and saying the fiscal cliff impasse reflects “how far certain factions inside the Republican Party have gone.”

On gun control, Obama says he is “skeptical” of gun advocates’ support for placing armed guards at schools throughout the country.

“I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools, and I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem,” he says.

The Newtown shootings strengthened his resolve for an assault rifle ban and other measures, Obama says, and he expects to ask Congress to pass early next year.

“I’m going to be putting forward a package and I’m going to be putting my full weight behind it,” the president says.

At the same time, he says, “This is not going to be simply a matter of me spending political capital.” He says Congress will act only if Americans make it a priority.

Asked whether he will commit to getting “significant” reform on entitlements passed by Congress in the first year of his second term, Obama says no. Noting he has shown a willingness to cut how inflation is calculated on Social Security, against the wishes of other Democrats, Obama says he’s also made clear to Republicans that “you are not only going to cut your way to prosperity.”

“It is very difficult for me to say to a senior citizen or a student or a mom with a disabled kid, ’You are going to have to do with less but we’re not going to ask millionaires and billionaires to do more.’”

Original post is Obama: `Pretty Practical Guy’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

President-elect Barack Obama steps out of his vehicle as he arrives at the University of Chicago Lab School to play basketball on Nov. 23, 2008.

Updated at 4:45 pm EST

President Barack Obama played basketball today at the same Chicago gym where he played on Election Day 2008.

He was joined in the afternoon game by staff and friends including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a former Chicago schools superintendent, the president’s former personal assistant Reggie Love and friends Mike Ramos and Marty Nesbitt, and Scottie Pippen, a former Chicago Bull.

The Attack Athletics facility, acquired by an investor in a foreclosure auction, is in the process of being donated to a Christian high school, according to the Chicago Real Estate Daily Web site.

Illinois Democrat Alexi Giannoulias also was playing, according to his Twitter message @Giannoulias about the lineup: “Okay, good news: Pippen and B.O. are both on my team! Reggie, Sec Duncan- here we come…”

Giannoulias provided this post-game report: Two five-player teams played four 12-minute quarters.

Referees were brought in to call fouls.

The president’s team won by “like 20,” with a score of “like 102, 105, 108 or so to 80-something.”

Obama coached his team, which included Giannoulias and Pippen.  Duncan, Nesbitt and Randy Brown played on the other side.

“It was a lot of fun,” Giannoulias said. “We won. I scored more points than Scottie Pippen, which was my dream come true.”

Giannoulias scored 32, he said, and Pippen 21.

Obama “played very well,” his friend added,  but did not say how many points he scored.

Original post is Obama’s Team Wins By `Like 20′ — Election Day Chicago Hoops by Political Capital.

Photograph by Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images

President Barack Obama calls volunteers as he visits a campaign office in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 5, 2012.

“We feel confident we’ve got the votes to win,” President Barack Obama told reporters in Chicago today.

“I expect we’ll have a good night,” he said.

The results of today’s election “hinge on turnout,” the president said of a contest which national polling has portrayed as close.

The president congratulated Republican challenger Mitt Romney for a “spirited campaign.”

“We feel confident we’ve got the votes to win, but it’s going to depend ultimately on whether those votes turn out, and so I would encourage everybody on all sides just to make sure that you exercise this precious right that we have that people fought so hard for us to have,” Obama told reporters while visiting one of his campaign offices in Chicago to thank volunteers in person and by phone. He said he knows Romney’s volunteers are as enthusiastic, and: “I want to congratulate Governor Romney and his team for a hard fought race as well.”

While Romney headed out from Boston this morning for two final campaign rallies in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Obama visited campaign volunteers at home.

Both candidates are conducting several media interviews today in key swing states.

Original post is Obama `Confident,’ Turnout the Key by Political Capital.

Photograph by Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images

Bruce Springsteen campaigns on behalf of President Barack Obama and the democratic party at Cuyahoga Community College, on October 18, 2012 in Parma, Ohio.

Updated at 12:40 pm and 2:50 pm EST

The Boss is flying Air Force One.

No — not that boss, though, of course the president will be there too.

With Bruce Springsteen performing at all three of President Barack Obama’s rallies on the last day of the campaign today, he was also hitching a ride with the president from Madison, Wisconsin, to Columbus, Ohio, then flying on his own to meet the president at the final rally in Des Moines. Jay-Z will also be appearing in Columbus for the president.

“It was pretty cool,” Springsteen said after stepping off the plane with wife Patti. He said he had chatted with the president about the effects of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. He also said he’s “feeling pretty hopeful” about the Jersey Shore’s recovery.

Springsteen, a guitar slung over his shoulder on stage with an audience of 18,000 in Madison, said that  “for the last 30 years I’ve been writing in my music about the distance between the American dream and the American reality.”

“Our vote tomorrow is the one undeniable way we get to determine the distance in that equation,” said the balladeer, drawing an on-stage hug from the president. Obama called Springsteen “an American treasure.”

The Obama campaign has used the time-honored tactic of drawing big, young crowds to rallies and keeping them engaged for hours by getting big-name artists who support them to perform there.

Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews are among the others who have performed for Obama  in the closing days. Republican Mitt Romney has had Meat Loaf on his team, and will close tonight with Kid Rock in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Original post is Born to Fly Air Force One: `Pretty Cool’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Damage in the Rockaway neighborhood, on Oct. 31, 2012, where the historic boardwalk was washed away during Hurricane Sandy in the Queens borough of New York City.

Superstorm Sandy “tended to freeze” the presidential race while Americans focused on the storm, President Barack Obama’s strategist David Axelrod said on a conference call with reporters today.

Axelrod, saying he was reluctant to discuss the political impact of an incident that resulted in “the death of 50 people and the loss of $50 billion in property,” said Obama was doing “what his responsibilities require,” including traveling to New Jersey today.

As for the president’s decision to return to campaigning tomorrow, Axelrod said:“Our judgment was that, until we got a handle on the scope of this disaster, the president’s job — and this was his judgment — was to remain in Washington and in face-to-face touch with those who were responsible” for relief efforts.

Now, Axelrod said, “We’ve passed a threshold here and, you know, we do have an election on Tuesday, so we owe it to folks to make the final arguments and we’re going to do that.”

The storm and the lull in campaigning by both the president and Republican Mitt Romney “ tended to freeze this race,” Axelrod said. “Wherever you think the race is, it tended to freeze the race, because people are focused on the storm. That’s what’s been in the news.

“Normally the election would have been in the news. So I think it’s fair to say that that is the case. But in the final days of this campaign, I’m sure both Governor Romney and the president will be out making their final arguments and they should.”

Original post is `Frozen’ Presidential Race Thaws, Heating up for Homestretch by Political Capital.

Photograph by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Election cookies of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney at the Oakmont Bakery in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.

If Cincinnati cookie sales are any indication, the contest between President Obama and Mitt Romney does indeed remain close in Ohio.

Reporters traveling with Romney arrived in Dayton, Ohio, midday to be greeted with cookies with hand-decorated Romney faces painted onto a white fondant covering the top of each one, with a delightful almond aftertaste.

CBS’ pool reporter, Sarah Huisengas, looked into the cookie story and shared that the maker, Busken Bakery, has eight locations around Cincinnati and one in northern Kentucky.

They make Obama cookies too, and, in a presidential cookie-sales contest, Obama was leading as of yesterday — 10,857 to 8,794.

Original post is Obama: Ohio Cookie Contest Edge by Political Capital.