Tales from the Trail

At one point, business isn’t just about money.

President Barack Obama just assembled corporate heavyweights to advise him on the economy.

It was the president’s latest move to show that he is trying to get the economy rolling and is reaching out to business.

Those who made the honor list included an eclectic bunch: Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons, American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, AOL co-founder Steve Case, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, and Kodak CEO Antonio Perez.

In addition to the corner office set, the advisory panel also includes union leaders: Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, and Joseph Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

That should make for some interesting roundtable chatter, if that’s how the panel works.

The head of the largest U.S. labor federation went to Alaska, “The Last Frontier,” to address local members Thursday and take on a self-proclaimed “Mama Grizzly” — Sarah Palin.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka mocked the former Alaska governor, a 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee who is seen as a conservative power broker and potential 2012 White House hopeful.

“Sometimes — about Sarah Palin — you just have to laugh. But it’s not really funny,” Trumka said.

In the immortal words of Marilyn Monroe (although not in quite the same tone of voice): Happy Birthday Mr. President.

Barack Obama is spending his 49th birthday away from his family, and by the sound of it is in need of a little bit of TLC. At an AFL-CIO event earlier today, his host union President Richard Trumka joked that they had wanted to give the president a cake, but the Secret Service nixed the idea.

“I’m a little disappointed there wasn’t a cake, though,” Obama said. “I’m going to have to talk to Secret Service.”

President Barack Obama turned 49 years old today, which gives him a whole year to contemplate the BIG ONE coming next.

His birthday horoscope (Leo) in The Washington Post was quite glowing and befitting a Nobel Peace Prize winner: “You have given your love to the loveless and befriended the friendless — the fantastic karma comes back to you this year.”

It’s the next bit we found  puzzling – “A dream job is on the horizon. Hard work this month brings the perfect offer by the end of September.” What are the stars trying to say? Is there a message in there to be applied to the November midterm elections?