Paraolympic team honored at White House

Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson

(From White House website)

Today, the President and First Lady welcomed the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams to the White House to honor their participation and success in this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

At an event on the South Lawn, Mrs. Obama told the athletes that she was impressed not only by the 200-plus medals they brought home, but also by their dedication and hard work leading up to the games.

"I want you to know how inspired we are by all of you -- your passion, your dedication, your courage," said the First Lady. "This summer, people across the country -- including some of the young people with us today -- watched you compete and thought to themselves, you know what, if they can set a goal and work hard to reach it, maybe I can too, and maybe I can go a little farther and do a little better than people think I can. They saw all of you out there giving 100 percent, overcoming all kinds of obstacles, representing our country with such determination and pride."

President Obama -- who shared that he was able to catch some of the Olympic events thanks to mastering his DVR -- told the athletes that they “could not have been better ambassadors and better representatives for the United States and what we stand for.”

This was indeed meaningful since our Ambassador in Libya was killed this week, and his body was returned home today.