After months of aggressive campaigning on jobs and the economy, President Obama and Mitt Romney, his likely Republican challenger, are locked in a dead heat over who could fix the problem foremost on voters’ minds, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
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JOPLIN, Mo. —President Obama took a break from the world stage and the campaign trail late Monday to heap praise on this southwestern Missouri city a year after a giant tornado cut a deadly path through the area, claiming 161 lives.
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Obama praises Joplin high school graduates after a 'long and improbable journey' as he delivers commencement address
It falls to the speaker at any high school graduation to inspire the young people as they set out into the adult world with a sense of purpose and hope for the future. But as Barack Obama made clear at the commencement ceremony at Joplin high school in Missouri, on this occasion the inspiration flowed wholly in the other direction.
A year ago, virtually to the hour, Joplin students collected their diplomas on the same stage at Missouri Southern State University on which Obama stood now. As they were driving home the worst tornado since US records began in 1950 struck their town; one graduate, Will Norton, was sucked to his death through the sun-roof of his father's car.
In the space of 32 minutes, as Obama recalled, the storm took "thousands of homes, hundreds of businesses, and 161 of your neighbours, your friends, and your family members".
This was Obama's second visit to Joplin in a year, the first a week after the twister left its deadly calling card on 22 May 2011. By any measure, the intervening months have been extraordinary.
"In a town of 50,000 people," Obama recalled, "nearly 50,000 more came to help in the weeks after the tornado – perfect strangers who've never met you, and would never ask for anything in return."
The president invoked the volunteer who came from Japan to pay back to America the help his country had received after its tsunami. He namechecked Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for their $500,000 support for Joplin, but also mentioned the nine-year-old boy who raised $360 by washing cars.
United Arab Emirates got a shout out too, for donating a brand new laptop to every Joplin high school student, as did a local baker, Liz Easton, who lost her home and her business but still had the energy to make 1,500 cupcakes for the school prom.
It is perhaps too much to expect a sitting president in an election year to deliver a whole commencement speech, in front of TV cameras at prime time, without having one dig at his opponent. "I imagine that as you begin the next stage in your journey," Obama said to the Joplin graduates, "you will encounter greed and selfishness; ignorance and cruelty. You will meet people who try to build themselves up by tearing others down; who believe looking after others is only for suckers."
But that was the only whiff of politicking. The rest was devoted to the spirit of Joplin and its students, rising again against the odds.
"Some of life's strongest bonds are the ones we forge when everything around us seems broken. And even though I expect some of you will ultimately end up leaving Joplin, I'm convinced that Joplin will never leave you."
Today, Joplin high school is nothing more than a mammoth pile of rubble. It sits in the centre of the city as a jolting reminder of the huge challenge that still lies ahead and of the tragedy that came before.
In total, seven Joplin schoolchildren lost their lives as well as one teacher. Half the district's school buildings were damaged or destroyed, and 3,200 students lost their classrooms.
Those receiving their diplomas on Monday had to spend the year cooped up in a converted corner of the main city shopping mall.
In the audience at the commencement was James Dobbs, 19, who had come to watch his twin brother Andrew receive his diploma. Andrew had been forced to resit his final year, and the going, James said, had been tough.
"It was hard studying in the mall. It was definitely a temporary arrangement. But he got through it, and I'm proud of my brother for doing it."
Ashley Taylor, 16, has one more year to go before she graduates. She said the school was stronger for having survived the trauma.
"We really pulled through. We are still going strong a year afterwards."
Also among the Class of 2012 sitting in front of Obama was Quinton Anderson, whose story is exceptional even for such an exceptional year. He was picked up by the tornado and tossed like a rag doll, and woke up three days later in hospital to be told both his parents had died in the storm.
After six weeks of surgery, he had to teach himself to walk again. But he persisted and went on to captain the school football team and has now graduated with honours.
Obama recalled Anderson's motto: "Always take that extra step".
"Today, after a long and improbable journey for Quinton, for Joplin, and for the entire class of 2012, that extra step is about to take you towards whatever future you hope for; toward whatever dreams you hold in your hearts."
Ed PilkingtonPresident Obama defended his campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s record as a private-equity executive at Bain Capital, telling reporters Monday that Romney’s history is fair game. The president’s remarks came in the face of criticism, some from within his own party, that the attacks were inappropriate.
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Nearly two years after the signing of a major law to boost oversight of Wall Street, two Democratic senators are calling on President Obama to speak out even more strongly in favor of a new federal rule that they say should have banned the trading that led to JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion or more loss.
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CHICAGO — NATO leaders endorsed a plan Monday to wind down the international combat mission in Afghanistan, giving President Obama a concrete exit strategy from an unpopular war as he seeks reelection partly on his record as an effective commander in chief.
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The Air Force said Monday that it had fined the former commander of the Dover Air Force Base mortuary $7,000 and suspended his top deputy for 20 days without pay for retaliating against whistleblowers, but it allowed both men to keep their jobs.
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Police say reasons for man who was seen climbing over a fence beside the falls jumping are as yet unknown
A man survived a plunge of at least 180ft (55 metres) over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt on Monday – only the third person known to have lived after going over the falls without a safety device.
Niagara Parks Police said witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing up to 30ft (9 metres) out over the Horseshoe Falls at 10.20am local time and "deliberately jump" into the Niagara River. Seriously injured, he surfaced in the lower Niagara River basin near the Journey Behind the Falls observation platform and managed to make it to shore on his own.
"He waded ashore," said platoon chief Dan Orescanin of the Niagara Falls fire department. "He must have gotten swept into an eddy, floated over there and was able to get out on his own.
"That's another stroke of luck," Orescanin said. "If he was in the main current, he would have been swept down river."
Orescanin said the man was conscious and talking at first but got quiet. He appeared to have chest injuries, including broken ribs and a collapsed lung, Orescanin said.
The man was airlifted to Hamilton general hospital with what police initially said were life-threatening injuries. Hospital spokeswoman Agnes Bongers said later that the man was critically injured, but was expected to survive.
Authorities did not release the man's name.
Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the river, is the tallest of the three main falls, higher than the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.
The man, believed to be in his 30s or 40s, was rescued about two hours later after fire department rescuers rappelled down the steep and rocky gorge and pulled him in a basket back up the cliff.
"It was very difficult. Between the shale and the boulders, and everything is wet and slick. It's slimy," Orescanin said.
About seven rescuers struggled to carry the basket up to a point where it could be lifted with ropes suspended from an aerial truck.
"We had to basically hand-carry him back up, a foot at a time, up the rope," the chief said.
The rescue came weeks before daredevil Nik Wallenda plans to walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope after convincing United States and Canadian officials to grant an exception to laws prohibiting stunting.
Although several daredevils have survived trips over the falls in barrels or other contraptions, beginning with Annie Edison Taylor in 1901, few have survived unprotected. In 1960, seven-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over the falls wearing a life jacket and survived.
Authorities don't believe Monday's plunge, on a warm and sunny Victoria Day holiday in Canada, was a stunt.
"Based on witness statements and surveillance video, it doesn't appear in any way, shape, or form that this was anything other than a suicide attempt," Niagara Parks police sergeant Chris Gallagher said.
More than 6m cubic feet (0.17m cubic metres) of water go over the brink of the Falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours, according to the Niagara Parks Commission.
The last person to go over the Falls unaided and survive was a 30-year-old Canadian man in March 2009. In October 2003, Kirk Jones survived his plunge over the falls.
After getting the call on Monday, rescuers didn't immediately know whether the man at the bottom of the gorge had gone over the brink or entered the water at the base.
"When we heard that he had gone over the falls we were shocked," Orescanin said.
Mitt Romney has been on a fundraising tear recently, drawing more than $10 million during a swing through New York this week and another $10 million in Florida last week.
With the primary challenge behind him, Romney is partnering with the national and state GOP fundraising apparatus to stretch donation limits beyond the $5,000 that any one person can give to his presidential campaign.
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