I have a feeling that Obama's likelihood of coming to Vancouver 2010 has increased significantly:
Obama told Jean he wants to return to Canada with his family. "He told her he would like to see her again,"
The 2010 Games would sure make a pretty good reunion, with Jean declaring the Games open and the big party going on. :p
Jean and Obama really hit it off....
"He said to her that he knew that, that he'd been informed that he was very popular in Canada. Then he joked and he added, `Well, it's good to know because if things do not go well for me in the States, I know I can come to Canada.'
"That's why she was laughing so much."
Quote:
Obama invites Michaëlle Jean to Washington
Feb 21, 2009 04:30 AM
Tonda MacCharles
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA–Governor General Michaëlle Jean discussed the plight of her native Haiti with U.S. President Barack Obama, who invited her to come to Washington – an invitation that was not extended to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.:lol:
American aides to the president who briefed the travelling White House reporters en route back to Washington Thursday said Obama and the Governor General exchanged "views about how we could be helpful to the government there in dealing with economic and social issues."
"The president made clear that this is something that he did care about and wanted to confer and get the views of others about how we could do a better job in supporting economic and social development in Haiti," said James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state.
"President Obama told (Jean) that he'd like to talk further with her on this issue," said Marthe Blouin, an aide to the Governor General.
Obama told Jean he wants to return to Canada with his family. "He told her he would like to see her again," Blouin said.
"And he said to her that he would love to see her in Washington as well."
Asked yesterday to comment on Jean's discussions with Obama, a senior Conservative government spokesperson would not say whether Jean's interventions were requested by the Prime Minister, but he was quick to say they were not unwelcome either.
"I think that Canadians looking at the Governor General walking down the red carpet with the president of the United States yesterday probably felt very proud and well represented and I don't think we have any concern around the role that the Governor General played in the meetings yesterday. I think quite the opposite. I think she was doing her duty as head of state in Canada and doing it well."
It was clear Canada's first black governor general and Obama, the first black American president, hit it off. They beamed as they strode down a red carpet together.
At one point, cameras captured Jean tossing back her head in laughter. "At that moment she was telling him that she felt it was like a love affair between him and Canadians," Blouin said later.
"He said to her that he knew that, that he'd been informed that he was very popular in Canada. Then he joked and he added, `Well, it's good to know because if things do not go well for me in the States, I know I can come to Canada.'
"That's why she was laughing so much."
Steinberg said the two also discussed the Summit of the Americas in April in Trinidad "because of her background in the region" and spoke of "the importance of paying attention to the hemisphere."
Jean, who returned in January from a working visit to Haiti, told Obama about its new prime minister, Michèle Pierre-Louis, whom she described as "very dynamic and worth knowing," Blouin said.
While Jean emphasized that Haiti is politically stable, she said the situation is "terrible at the moment with the food crisis and it's even worse after the hurricanes and tropical storms of last summer and early fall and even worse with the economic crisis and the recession."
The Harper government spokesperson told reporters Thursday that Obama had not invited Harper to Washington at this time and their next meeting would be the international G20 and NATO meetings in April in Europe.
U.S. media reports on the visit were positive, focusing on Obama's stated affection for America's biggest trading partner during his first foreign trip as president.
Time magazine reported that the president expressed "an unprecedented depth of emotion for Canada, where Obama has a higher approval rating than any domestic politician."
The Christian Science Monitor wrote: "The trip offered balm to a relationship rocked in recent years by differences over the Iraq war and, more recently, worries over protectionism."
The main photo on the front page of the New York Times, meanwhile, was a shot of a woman carrying a cardboard cutout of Obama while walking past the Peace Tower.
With files from The Canadian Press
|
http://news.google.ca/news?q=obama%20jea...irefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wn
Prev
Linear Mode
