The White House’s best photos of 2012

>>> if someone asks me the question of who my favorite person in the white house is, and i go to kind of weird, boring talk, but it is pretty much somebody you never see, whose work you never see, pete souza , the photographer whose work you never see. i am a fan, he puts up his pictures pictures from the white house , they're great pictures, fascinating. this week he put up his favorite photos of 2012 . and with those photos he left his own thoughts and descriptions of the photos, what he was thinking, and how he captured it. and which one the president thought was great. we thought you would like to see why he thinks they're so great. and speaking of amazing people, the man you will hear reading the photo captions, he is a last word producer, who puts together the work. pete souza , so here are his best photos of 2012 .

>> january 24th , one of the most memorable moments was when the president hugged congresswoman gabrielle giffords as he walked out on to the floor in the chamber to deliver his annual state of the union address . february 7th , kids will be kids. after the president had welcomed lauren flemming, the ambassador and her family in the office, her brother started to play with the president's telephone. fortunately he was not able to get through to a head of state. april 24th , we were back stage at the university of north carolina in chapel hill for the president's appearance on late night with jimmy fallon , the president let out a big laugh as he was being briefed on the segment. june 15th , we had just arrived at the helicopter landing zone in chicago, and instead of walking right to the motorcade, the president and first lady walked to the edge of lake michigan , to view the skyline of their home town. september 5th , back stage at the convention, the president listens as bill clinton delivers the speech, before surprising the crowd with an on-stage appearance together. september 14th , the president takes the hand of the secretary of state after his remarks at the ceremony, marking the return to the united states of jay christopher stevens, the u.s. ambassador to libya, shawn smith , information senator, and security personality, glenn doherty, who were killed during the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. and the president pretends to be caught in spider-man's web, who had been trick-or-treating with his father in the executive office building. i can never commit to calling any picture my favorite, but the president told me this was his favorite picture of the year when he saw it hanging in the west wing a couple of weeks later. november 6th , the president and close friends were watching election results in a chicago hotel. the president had warned everyone that it could be a very late night . and yet only a few minutes later, the networks projected that he had been reelected and the president embraced the first lady, while in the background, daughter -- sasha hugged one of her cousins, the president reacts, december 14th , after the president was briefed on the shootings in newtown, connecticut. the president later said in a tv interview that this was the worst day of being in office. december 21th, after returning early, the president with the vice president meets in the oval office with congress to discuss the fiscal cliff. you can see all of pete souza 's newly released photos on the show's website, thelastword. that is "the last word" tonight. you

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