NBC’s Domenico Montanaro looks ahead to the week in politics. President Obama travels to Oklahoma and the Jersey Shore to check on recovery efforts, politicians hit the money trail, Memorial Day, and Andy “The Candidate” launches his comeback bid.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

President Barack Obama speaks at the commencement ceremony for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Friday, May 24, 2013.

In a speech to the graduating class of 2013 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., President Barack Obama challenged the 1,047 graduates to “live with integrity” and help restore trust in a military that has been stained by recent charges of sexual assault, just as other American institutions have been shaken by misconduct. “We need your honor… we need values now more than ever,” he urged them. “Even more than physical courage, we need your moral courage.”

“Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that make our military strong,” he said.

He drew a parallel between financial chicanery on Wall Street, the recent Internal Revenue Service scandal of targeted scrutiny of conservative groups, and the sexual assault incidents in the military, saying “If we want to restore the trust that the American people deserve to have in their institutions, all of us have to do our part -- and those of us in  leadership, myself included -- have to constantly strive to remain worthy of the public trust.”

“In recent decades many Americans have lost confidence in many of the institutions that help shape our society,” Obama noted. But “institutions do not fail in a vacuum. Institutions are made up of people – individuals – and we’ve seen how the actions of a few can undermine the integrity of those institutions .”

“Our military remains the most trusted institution in America,” he declared. “When others have shirked their responsibilities our armed offices have met every mission we’ve given them.”

But he added, “we must acknowledge that even here – even in our military -- we’ve seen how the misconduct of some can have effects that ripple far and wide.”

In recent weeks members of Congress have reacted in dismay to spate of military sexual misconduct scandals, including two cases in which the officers in charge of dealing with sexual assault cases were allegedly involved in crimes against women.

A recent Defense Department report estimated that 26,000 cases of sexual assault occurred in Fiscal Year 2012, a 37 percent increase from FY2011.

Two bills have been introduced to try to remedy the sexual assault problem. One by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D- Mo., would require a dismissal or a dishonorable discharge for a member of the military found guilty of rape or sexual assault.

Another bill offered by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. would remove the decision whether to take a case to special or general court-martial out of the military chain of command and give discretion to military prosecutors for crimes punishable by one year or more in confinement, except crimes uniquely military in nature.

“Just as you’ve changed over the past four years, so too have the challenges facing our military,” Obama told the Annapolis graduates. He touched on the themes he had addressed on Thursday when he delivered a major speech at the National Defense University re-orienting his strategy on terrorism.

He said Friday, “Let me say as clearly as I can: the United States of America will always maintain our military superiority, and as your commander in chief, I am going to keep fighting to give you the equipment and support required to meet the missions we ask of you and also make sure you are getting the pay and benefits and support that you deserve.”

The president said he would carry out a ship-building schedule that would achieve a 300-ship fleet with capacities that exceed the power of the next dozen nations’ navies combined.

Obama said in his speech Thursday that while “our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue,” that “this war, like all wars, must end.” He also warned against being “drawn into more wars we don't need to fight.”

Obama narrowed the parameters for the use of remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, to kill terrorists overseas and renewed his efforts to persuade Congress to agree to close the Guantanamo detention site in Cuba.

This story was originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 11:51 AM EDT

Obama’s speech reframed the rules of engagement on terrorism for the United States … Two White House reviews coming within three weeks of each other ... Lerner put on leave at IRS, more to come... The trickiness of immigration politics ... Weiner's tough rollout ... Walker's, Paul's differing views on the future of the GOP ... Christie would welcome Obama, calls climate change "esoteric" as it relates to Sandy.

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

President Barack Obama tries to speak as Medea Benjamin, an activist from the organization called Code Pink, shouts at him while he spoke at the National Defense University May 23, 2013 in Washington, DC.

*** Rules of Engagement: The news of President Obama’s speech Thursday was thought to likely be about drones – and that he would acknowledge for the first time the widely reported killing of an American citizen overseas, Anwar al-Awlaki. And it was, but only in part. And, yes, he was interrupted three times by an anti-war activist, but don’t get distracted by that. What was important was the text of Obama’s speech, the breadth of what he laid out, the marker it set in American foreign policy, and how it re-framed how the United States should go about fighting terrorism. The New York Times editorial page called Obama’s 6,500-word speech “the most important statement on counter terrorism policy since the 2001 attacks, a momentous turning point in post-9/11 America. For the first time, a president stated clearly and unequivocally that the state of perpetual warfare that began nearly 12 years ago is unsustainable for a democracy and must come to an end in the not-too-distant future.” The speech was notable in the arc of a presidency, and one that historians will look back on. In fact, historian Michael Beschloss, an NBC contributor, noted that it “would be fascinating to hear some past Presidents discuss w[ith] similar nuance their secret consideration of possible plots vs. foreign leaders.”

*** Two White House-mandated internal reviews of IRS, Justice due out within three weeks of each other: Obama also used the speech to address one of the controversies that has dogged his administration in the past week -- the Justice Department’s obtaining emails and phone calls of reporters for the Associated Press and Fox News. He called for an internal review at the Justice Department, with media input, on how to improve the relationship. The report is due out July 12, he said. So mark your calendars… in the span of three weeks – from June 22 when the White House-mandated IRS review will be completed to July 12 – there will be two more reports on what happened with two of the controversies of the past two weeks.

*** Another move at IRS: IRS official Lois Lerner was put on administrative leave Thursday. “This can only really be the beginning,” Robert Gibbs said on Morning Joe of what will be the Obama administration’s response to the IRS. Gibbs noted that there are only a couple of political appointees at IRS, making it tougher to oust officials who are civil servants and that there is a process. But more moves are likely coming.

*** Immigration politics are still very tricky: NBC’s Carrie Dann has a must read on the state of play on immigration reform and how many moving parts still remain despite progress: “After clearing the first hurdle in some of the most delicate legislative jockeying in recent memory, advocates of a comprehensive immigration reform bill are already looking to the next stage of the legislation’s progress as it heads toward a high-profile airing in the full Senate. While some groups aligned with Democrats failed to secure their desired changes to the sweeping Senate legislation as it worked its way through 30 hours of debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, many are looking to the floor debate as a second shot to include their priorities in a final bill.”

*** Weiner’s rough rollout: In New York, Anthony Weiner’s rollout of his campaign to run for mayor began with a slickly produced, very New York ad that could be described as “boroughs and businesses.” But yesterday, the wheels on the campaign bus looked shaky. His campaign website incorrectly displayed, not the skyline of New York, but that of PITTSBURGH (!!!). A media crush surrounded him at his first campaign stop, turning into something of a New York circus, as was to be expected. And he just couldn’t escape questions about the scandal that led him to resign from Congress, in which he Tweeted lewd photos of himself. In fact, on WNYC – New York public radio, not exactly tabloid central – after questioning about the scandal, why voters should trust him, and if there are more pictures or emails that could come out, Weiner acknowledged that it’s possible more is to come. “People may decide they want to come forward and say, here’s another email that I got or another photo,” Weiner said. To top it off, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said if Weiner’s elected mayor, “Shame on us.” His staff later said Cuomo was only joking, though it hardly came off as a joke. Step back for a minute, and realize, that was only DAY ONE. There’s a lot of talk about the tabloids in New York, but there’s more media than just that – and as evidenced by the WNYC interview – even the most benign outlets are going to be focused on Weiner’s scandal, and it’s going to be hard for him to turn the page to issues.

*** Christie would welcome Obama back; calls climate change “theory” on Sandy “esoteric”: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) was on NBC’s Today, and asked about his saying that there’s no proof Superstorm Sandy was caused by climate change, Christie said he doesn’t have time for “esoteric theories.” “All I said was I haven’t been shown any definitive proof that that’s what caused it -- and this is,” he said, per NBC’s Sarah Blackwill. “This is a distraction. I’ve got a place to rebuild here and people want to talk about esoteric theories.” Christie also said he’d welcome another visit by President Obama to see the progress of rebuilding – regardless of the political consequences. “I think that what people in my state want me to do more than anything else is for me to do my job,” he said. “The fact of the matter is he's the President of the United States, and if he wants to come here and see the people of New Jersey, I'm the governor. I'll be here to welcome him.”

*** Two different messages on the future of the GOP: With 1,264 days until the 2016 election, Gov. Scott Walker (R-IA) was in Iowa Thursday, and on Monday Rand Paul was in New Hampshire. Both delivered very different visions of the Republican Party going forward. Walker didn’t mention how the party should change, just that it should follow the lead of governors. Walker, of course, was embroiled in controversy over collective bargaining and union rights in Wisconsin and survived a recall bout, endearing him to the conservative base. “The president and his allies they simply measure success by how many people are dependent on the government, how many people are on Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment compensation,” Walker said, per NBC’s Alex Moe, sounding notes of the 2012 campaign. “We should measure success by how many people are not.” Rand Paul, on the other hand, was in New Hampshire Monday and said the GOP does need to change. "If you want to be the party of white people, we're winning all the white vote,” he said, adding, “We need to be white, we need to be brown, we need to be black, we need to with tattoos, without tattoos, with pony tails, without pony tails, with beards, without."

*** More 2016 roundup: Ted Cruz said he doesn’t “trust” Republicans. “I don’t trust the Republicans. And I don’t trust the Democrats,” he said on the Senate floor Wednesday. Cruz doesn’t want Republicans to go to conference on the budget, wanting the GOP to hold the line on the debt ceiling, something establishment Republicans like John McCain want to avoid.  … Despite the Benghazi hearings, Hillary Clinton maintains very high approval ratings – 62%/28% from a Washington Post/ABC poll. … Marco Rubio’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting to try and sell conservatives on immigration reform. He’ll be on FOX for an hour-long town-hall special to make the case for it. … Jeb Bush also wrote an op-ed boosting the Senate’s work on immigration reform. He didn’t mention Rubio, by the way. … Vice President Joe Biden flubbed again during a commencement speech at the Coast Guard Academy and called Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, “Governor O’Malley.” Martin O’Malley is the governor of Maryland, of course. AP looks at O’Malley laying the groundwork for a 2016 bid.

*** In Decision 2013 news… Cuccinelli ordered investigation of McDonnell: The Richmond Times Dispatch: “Gov. Bob McDonnell is under investigation over the statements of economic interest he has filed. The investigation was initiated by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who sent a letter in early November 2012 to Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring, appointing him to review McDonnell’s statements. By law, elected officials are required to account for all gifts received in excess of $50. ‘I did what I have consistently tried to do as attorney general, which is to uphold the law impartially,’ Cuccinelli said in a statement.”

*** The rundown: President Obama delivers the commencement address at the Naval Academy at 10:00 am ET, then signs the Congressional Gold Medal Bill, honoring the lives of the four girls killed at a church in Birmingham, AL, in 1963. The bombing is seen by many as the impetus for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

President Barack Obama was repeatedly interrupted by a heckler whose taunts slowed the delivery of a major national security speech in the Washington, D.C. area.

The unidentified heckler began shouting at the president toward the tail end of his highly-anticipated address, when he touched upon U.S. policy toward detainees suspected of terrorist acts.

Obama was forced to pause three separate times and talk over the protester, interrupting the flow of the closing section of the speech at National Defense University.

“I'm about to address it ma'am, but you've got to let me speak,” Obama scolded the woman. “Why don't you sit down and let me tell you exactly what I'd do."

The antiwar group Code Pink, which often interrupts high-profile political events with vocal protests against U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy, said its founder Medea Benjamin was the person responsible for the interruption.

Though the president appeared somewhat irritated by the interruption, he said he was willing to cut the woman “some slack, because it’s worth being passionate about.”

He added after another interruption: “The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to. Obviously I do not agree with much of what she said. And obviously she wasn’t listening to me and much of what I said. But these are tough issues, and the suggestion that we can gloss over them is wrong.”

Thursday wasn’t the only instance in which Obama was interrupted during a high-profile speech. During remarks last year about immigration at the White House, a conservative reporter, Neil Munro, heckled the president with a question about the impact of his announcement that day.

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 3:06 PM EDT

Obama to scale back his administration’s drone policy… Also expected in his 2:00 pm ET national security speech: better securing diplomatic facilities and stating his desire to close Gitmo… About that Holder letter… WaPo on the White House trying to shield Obama from IRS investigation… Cruz: “I don’t trust the Republicans”… Scott Walker heads to the Hawkeye State… And Happy (upcoming) Memorial Day weekend.

Pool / Getty Images

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a concert honoring singer-songwriter Carole King with the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at the White House on May 22, 2013.

*** Obama to scale back drone policy: In his first major national security speech of his second term, President Obama today is expected to both defend -- but also announce changes to -- his administration’s use of drones to kill suspected terrorists and foreign enemies. “A new classified policy guidance signed by Mr. Obama will sharply curtail the instances when unmanned aircraft can be used to attack in places that are not overt war zones, countries like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia,” the New York Times reports. “The rules will impose the same standard for strikes on foreign enemies now used only for American citizens deemed to be terrorists” -- i.e., force can be used against targets who are 1) an imminent threat against Americans, and 2) cannot be feasibly captured. The Times also says that the Obama administration will shift control of drone strikes from the CIA to the U.S. military. “The significance is the Pentagon will now control the drone program, which increases transparency both for Congress and the American people,” NBC terrorism analyst Roger Cressey said on “TODAY” this morning.

*** What’s also expected in the speech: A White House official, per NBC’s Shawna Thomas, says that the president’s speech also will discuss better securing U.S. diplomatic facilities (after the 2012 Benghazi attack), balancing security while protecting civil liberties at home (see the leak investigations), and stating his desire to close the Guantanamo Bay prison (an action which Congress opposes). Don’t be surprised if Obama says something along the lines of, “We will never send another detainee to Gitmo” as a way to express his willingness to close the facility. And don’t be surprised if he addresses -- head on -- the Justice Department’s seizure of reporters’ phone records in its prosecution of national security leaks. Obama delivers his remarks at 2:00 pm ET at the National Defense University in DC.

*** About that Holder letter: Obama’s remarks come a day after Attorney General Eric Holder released a letter acknowledging -- for the first time by the administration -- that four American citizens were killed in U.S. drone strikes. NBC’s Pete Williams says the letter discloses what had been widely reported and known: that three citizens were killed in counter-terrorism operations, including Anwar al Awlaki. The letter also gives the legal justification for those drone strikes. And finally, Williams adds, it discloses the death of an additional U.S. citizen, Jude Kenan Mohammed, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina for taking part in a plot to stage a terror attack against US military targets. Speaking of drones, the Feb. 2013 NBC/WSJ poll found that 64% of Americans favored using them to target suspected members of Al Qaeda and other terrorists, while 12% opposed and another 22% didn’t have an opinion. And in a separate question, 42% said the program should be continued, and 28% said it should be changed or modified.

*** The Shield: Turning from national security to the domestic/political controversies hitting the Obama administration, the Washington Post notes what we did yesterday about the IRS story -- that the White House’s top goal was to ensure that Obama had nothing to do with it. “This account of how the White House tried to deal with the IRS inquiry … shows how carefully Obama’s top aides were trying to shield him from any second-term scandal that might swamp his agenda or, worse, jeopardize his presidency.” The Post story also reveals that the White House brought in many of the old hands to manage the P.R. relating to the inspector general’s report. “Late last week, [White House Chief of Staff Denis] McDonough summoned Plouffe and a cadre of former Obama and Clinton advisers — including Stephanie Cutter, Robert Gibbs, Anita Dunn, Paul Begala and Mike McCurry — to the White House for two separate public relations strategy sessions. White House aides said they urged getting out information about the IRS situation as quickly as possible, and provided advice on refocusing attention on Obama’s jobs agenda.”

*** Cruz: “I don’t trust the Republicans”: Here’s something you don’t see every day: A U.S. senator announcing, on the Senate floor, that he doesn’t trust his own party. Of course, in his first few months in office, Ted Cruz isn’t your average senator. “The senior senator from Arizona urged this body to trust the Republicans,” Cruz said, per Politico referring to Sen. John McCain in the debate over whether to go to conference in the budget negotiations. “Let me be clear, I don’t trust the Republicans. I don’t trust the Democrats and I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don’t trust the Republicans or the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has got us into this mess.”

*** Scott Walker heads to the Hawkeye State: Meanwhile, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker today travels to Iowa, where he addresses the Polk County, IA GOP dinner that begins at 7:00 pm ET. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Walker could very well be the most significant 2016er on the GOP side that no one is talking about right now. There is A LOT of room for a presidential candidate who hails from outside of Washington.

*** State shopping isn’t the best policy for success: Don’t miss the piece on the “Daily Rundown” site about how politicians who run for office in one state and then another usually don’t have that much success.

*** Happy Memorial Day: Lastly, to get an early start on the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, your morning First Read note won’t be publishing on Friday. We’ll return on Tuesday. Happy Memorial Day!!!

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“President Barack Obama on Thursday is expected to address some of the thornier aspects of national security policy, including drone strikes, the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the dire threats Americans continue to face — even from fellow citizens,” AP writes. “On the eve of the president’s speech at the National Defense University, the Obama administration revealed for the first time that a fourth American citizen had been killed in secretive drone strikes abroad. The killings of three other Americans in counterterror operations since 2009 were known before a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy acknowledged the four deaths.”

As for what Obama will say: “Obama’s speech is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities — from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants held at the military-run detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — but make no new sweeping policy announcements.”

The New York Times: “President Obama plans to open a new phase in the nation’s long struggle with terrorism on Thursday by restricting the use of unmanned drone strikes that have been at the heart of his national security strategy and shifting control of them away from the C.I.A. to the military.”

Political Wire: “The Obama administration is set to restart transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ‘kick-starting a long-stalled drive to close the prison,’ the Wall Street Journal reports.”

“The economy is recovering, the White House is dealing with multiple controversies, and President Barack Obama appears generally unaffected either way,” AP writes. “Several recent polls show the president sustaining an overall approval rating around 50 percent, with no major uptick from gains in housing, jobs and the stock market, and no downtick from the recent storms over the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS and a leak investigations that has swept up the phone records of Associated Press journalists. The data suggests the economy could be insulating Obama from the immediate troubles confronting his administration. But it also indicates that while a growing number of those surveyed are more optimistic about the economy, they are evenly split on whether they approve or disapprove of his handling of it.”

Time has Obama prom photos from 1979 when he was 17.

At the White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Jay Carney announced that President Obama will travel to Oklahoma on Sunday, May 26 to inspect the damage from the tornado that hit the state on Monday.

Carney added that the president will visit with affected families and thank first-responders.

The White House finds itself in a public relations mess… Even as it argues that the press is seeing the trees (like the IG report) but missing the forest (Obama had no role in IRS controversy)… Issa’s committee knew about the IG report, too?... Senate Judiciary Committee clears immigration bill, which now moves to the Senate floor… NYT: The number of drone strikes declines… WaPo on Petraeus’ role in the Benghazi talking points… Florida shooting connected to Boston bombing… Will Weiner get his second chance?... And Garcetti wins LA mayoral run-off.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

President Barack Obama meets with Myanmar's President Thein Sein in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, May 20, 2013.

*** The White House’s public relations mess: While there is still no evidence connecting the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups directly to the White House or to the president personally, or to his re-election campaign, it doesn’t mean the White House doesn’t have a PR problem on its hands. And this PR mess is largely self-inflicted. For starters, its explanation about when it learned of the inspector general’s IRS investigation keeps changing. “Just a day after telling reporters that chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior White House staff learned of the situation nearly a month ago, press secretary Jay Carney revealed Tuesday that White House officials had consulted with the Treasury Department on how to make the findings public,” Politico writes. Then we discover that the IRS official Lois Lerner plans to plead the 5^th Amendment at today’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Both developments make it SEEM like the White House or the administration has something to hide -- even if the evidence (so far) is that Team Obama wasn’t directly connected to this IRS story. And speaking of a PR mess, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney didn’t help things when he compared a question about HHS’s fundraising to questions about the president’s birth certificate. That’s the way a White House acting as if it’s in a bunker mentality responds to legitimate questions.

*** White House: Press is seeing the trees but missing the forest: All that said, the White House believes reporters are seeing the trees but missing the forest. According to an administration official, its P.R. priorities were 1) demonstrating that the president had NO role in this controversy and 2) demanding accountability and new hires immediately. And this official believes both of those priorities have been met. For the White House, all other questions -- including who knew about the IG report and when they knew it -- are secondary, and it has taken them time to get their facts straight. But that explanation also assumes that the White House’s story won’t continue to change. And that gets at the issue of a credibility problem. And right now, the White House press shop has a credibility problem with many reporters in that press room. And assuming they have nothing to hide, it’s a self-inflicted credibility problem.

*** Issa’s committee knew about the IG report, too? Speaking of the IG report, the inspector general who investigated the IRS’s targeting of conservative-sounding groups testified at the Senate Finance Committee yesterday that Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee also knew about the report back in 2012 and communicated with the IG’s office. So Democrats argue something along the lines of, “Issa’s committee knew about it, too, and didn’t say anything public!!!” But an Issa spokesman tells First Read, “The administration is trying to draw a false a parallel between its own responsibilities and an Oversight Committee that requested the IG audit. This includes a false characterization that the Committee voluntarily waited for [the IG’s office] to complete its investigation. In reality, the committee made extensive efforts to ask [the inspector general] if wrongdoing had been found but was rebuffed on multiple occasions. Administration officials drawing a false parallel have offered no evidence that they made a similar effort to learn all that they could about wrongdoing.” 

*** Senate Judiciary Committee clears immigration bill: Despite everything else happening (IRS, the Oklahoma disaster, etc.), the immigration train keeps moving forward. By a 13-5 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved the sweeping bipartisan immigration-reform legislation, which now heads to the Senate floor. Per NBC’s Carrie Dann, “Three Republicans -- Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah -- joined the panel's 10 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. Flake and Graham are both members of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" that originally drafted the 844-page immigration legislation. Hatch's support was won after the Utah lawmaker secured changes to the bill's provisions for the hiring of high-skilled foreign workers.” But there also was some drama, Dann notes. “In an emotional moment shortly before final passage, committee chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont announced that he would not call for a vote on an amendment that would have recognized the marriages of same-sex spouses in immigration law. Republicans in the bipartisan Gang of Eight said the LGBT measure would have broken apart the fragile coalition crafted by the bill's drafters.” The decision to pull the same-sex amendment only highlights the fact that Leahy wasn’t in charge of his own committee hearing; Chuck Schumer was.  

*** NYT: The number of drone strikes decline: A day before Obama’s speech on national security at the National Defense University, the New York Times reports that the number of drone strikes overseas has declined. “Strikes in Pakistan peaked in 2010 and have fallen sharply since then; their pace in Yemen has slowed to half of last year’s rate; and no strike has been reported in Somalia for more than a year.” We expect that the president will discuss the drone wars, as well the Guatanamo Bay prison. But it would also be a smart place for Obama to discuss and either defend, denounce, or explain the Justice Department tough actions against national-security leaks, which seem to have infringed on press freedoms. If he fails to use tomorrow’s speech to deal with the press’ growing anger about the targeting of individual journalists, it could be a missed opportunity.

*** On Petraeus’ role in the Benghazi talking points: We’ve told you that the fight over the Benghazi talking points seemed to be more bureaucratic politics than electoral politics. And this Washington Post article seems to further confirm that. “A close reading of recently released government e-mails that were sent during the editing process, and interviews with senior officials from several government agencies, reveal [former CIA head David] Petraeus’s early role and ambitions in going well beyond the committee’s request, apparently to produce a set of talking points favorable to his image and his agency. The information Petraeus ordered up when he returned to his Langley office that morning included far more than the minimalist version that [Rep.] Ruppersberger had requested. It included early classified intelligence assessments of who might be responsible for the attack and an account of prior CIA warnings — information that put Petraeus at odds with the State Department, the FBI and senior officials within his own agency.” 

*** Florida shooting connected to Boston bombing: Don’t be surprised if this story grabs a lot more attention later today. “An FBI agent was involved in a fatal shooting in Orlando early Wednesday that a local TV station says may have ties to the Boston Marathon bombings,” USA Today writes. “FBI officials have confirmed that a man died while one of its agents was "conducting official duties," the Orlando Sentinelreports, but would not elaborate. WESH-TV [an NBC affiliate] identifies the victim as 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev.” NBC’s Richard Esposito reports that the shooting IS connected to Boston bombing case. “It is connected in that the person shot is linked to Tsarnaev and has associates who are extremists overseas. They were interviewing him regarding his connections to Tsarnaev. He had been interviewed before. He started out cooperative. Flipped out. Went to attack agent. Then was shot.”

*** Will Weiner get his second chance? Anthony Weiner has released a slick two-minute video announcing his bid for New York mayor. "Look, I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down,” he says in the video, which also features his wife Huma Abedin and young son. “But I've also learned some tough lessons. I'm running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you." Later in the video, wife Huma adds, “We love this city, and no one will work harder to make it better than Anthony.” While we still have our doubts that Weiner becomes NYC’s next mayor, his presence in the race likely means that front-runner Christine Quinn would face a run-off -- one in which she could struggle.

*** Garcetti to become LA’s next mayor: And in Los Angeles’ mayoral run-off, City Councilman Eric Garcetti defeated City Comptroller Wendy Greuel by eight percentage points, 54%-46%, succeeding outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Los Angeles Times: “Garcetti will be the first elected Jewish mayor of the city. At 42, he will also be the youngest in more than a century. He is scheduled to take office July 1.” More: “At $33 million, the mayoral campaign was the most expensive in city history. The flood of money and advertising from those groups largely went toward tearing down the two contenders, alienating many Angelenos who hadn't already been left cold.”

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“A top IRS official scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight committee has notified Congress that she will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions,” NBC’s Lisa Myers reports.  “Lois Lerner, head of the IRS unit which handled tax-exempt organizations, won't answer questions about what she knows about the improper screening of conservative groups or about why she repeatedly failed to tell Congress that such targeting was going on, according to a letter from her lawyer, William W. Taylor 3rd.”

The RNC is making a Freedom of Information Act request into the IRS. 

USA Today: “President Obama has formally appointed the 10 members of a special commission designed to look for improvements in U.S. election systems. The assignment of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration is to ‘identify non-partisan ways to shorten lines at polling places, promote the efficient conduct of elections, and provide better access to the polls for all voters,’ said a White House statement. The bipartisan co-chairs are Robert Bauer and Benjamin Ginsberg, attorneys who worked for the Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns during last year's presidential election.” 

Vice President Biden speaks at the Coast Guard Academy commencement today. 

Dana Milbank on the government obtaining phone records of journalists and snooping on emails: “Here's why you should care … The Rosen affair is as flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by George W. Bush's administration, and it uses technology to silence critics in a way Richard Nixon could only have dreamed of." 

Oh Joe… Biden made a teleprompter joke… "You can't tell Barack that the teleprompter's down. The standing joke in the office is Barack's learning to speak without a teleprompter; I'm learning to speak with one."

WASHINGTON – This past Sunday while in Atlanta speaking at the Morehouse College commencement, President Barack Obama used one of his powers that is not diminished by the controversies swirling around the White House: the power of the bully pulpit. 

In a speech at the historically black, all-male college, the president delivered some tough love to the 500 or so black men seated in front of him.

First, he heaped praise on the class of 2013. “Your generation is uniquely poised for success unlike any generation of African Americans that came before it,” he said.

But then he said they – and others in the black community -- needed to keep striving for more and used himself as an example.

“We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices,” the president said. “And I have to say, growing up, I made quite a few myself.  Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. … But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is there's no longer any room for excuses.”

This message of empowerment, delivered directly to the black community, is not a new theme for this president; it’s just the latest iteration of the effort.

In 2008, while first campaigning for the presidency, then-Sen. Obama said this during a Father’s Day speech at a church in Chicago: “There's a reason why our families are in disrepair and some of it has to do with a tragic history, but we can't keep on using that as an excuse.”

It’s clear that Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have realized that even as the president has to face tough questions about mismanagement at the Internal Revenue Service and resources at diplomatic facilities around the world, they can still use their notoriety to encourage blacks to help themselves.

And, in the last week, it seemed like a coordinated effort by the First Couple to push this message. On Friday, the first lady got into the act while speaking at another historically black university in Maryland, Bowie State University. 

“We need to once again fight to educate ourselves and our children like our lives depend on it,” she said, “because they do.”

And she paraphrased this line her husband used back in 2004 when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention: “Children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white." 

Even if Washington can’t get anything done, it seems both the president and the first lady are determined – with just three years to go until they leave the White House -- not only to inspire, but to inform.  By deliberately choosing to speak at historically black universities, they force a light to be shined on these places that represent some of the best of the African-American community. 

President Obama usually includes specific references to the stories of graduates in the audience during commencement speeches and Sunday’s was no different.

“When Leland Shelton was 4-years-old, social services took him away from his mama, put him in the care of his grandparents,” Obama said. “By age 14, he was in the foster care system. Three years after that, Leland enrolled in Morehouse. And today he is graduating Phi Beta Kappa on his way to Harvard Law School.”

The words are important, but what was captured on video was a teary Leland Shelton surrounded by his capped-and-gowned Morehouse brothers cheering him on. 

The importance of cameras capturing African Americans celebrating education and beaming that around the world is not lost on this First Couple, and it’s one of the goals of these speeches. The other goal: to make sure everybody, but particularly African Americans, keep striving for excellence and helping each other succeed in a world that is still full of challenges.