No, not the eco-nuts, the opposition parties, specifically the Liberals, are jealous. You see in their minds, they should have been greeting Obama, they are the naturally ruling party you know. This is so unfair! Iffy should be the PM, he is a Harvard grad, just like Obama, and he understands the US soooo much better than PM Harper, because he has CONTACTS! He has lived in the US, more years than he has lived in Canada recently, so really, he deserves to be listened to by Obama. He has written books, just like Obama too. HA.
Poor babies, it is tearing them up to not be in power at the time of the Obama coming! They are left begging for time to meet Obama, and by then, PM Harper will have already clued Obama in, and most importantly, both President Obama and PM Harper will have issued a joint statement. So, for Iffy to come out later and state that he had influenced Obama in any way, will look foolish. Well, more foolish than he looks now, after this little whine fest.
Ignatieff expects longer meeting with Obama
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff wants to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama for at least 20 minutes, amidst reports he may only get half that time.
The meeting was initially supposed to be 30 minutes. Ignatieff, who has close friends in Obama's administration, hinted it may have been the Prime Minister's Office that influenced the time of the meeting.
"The question of how much time I have with the president of the United States is still being discussed," he told reporters Wednesday. The Americans have their interests; the prime minister, needless to say, has his political interests. I'm not going to let the prime minister's political interests spoil an important opportunity."
He noted that when Harper was leader of the opposition in 2004, he had a "good and extended meeting" with then-president George W. Bush.
"I will expect no less, and I'm sure I will receive no less," said Ignatieff. "The Americans have certainly been very co-operative and helpful."
Oh, cry me a river Iffy! What a baby. Read the comments, they mostly agree with me. Some very good points are made.
Obama Fan
It looks like the reporter failed to include the fact that Ignatieff stomped his feet and then rolled out his lower lip in a pout after making the comments.
Dan D.
I certainly agree that Ignatieff has got to put his personal aspirations aside and realize he is not the prime minister therefore there is no point in him meeting with the president of the United States. We can not have all the opposition leaders take up Mr. Obama's valuable time.
As for the comments regarding Harper's meeting with Bush, please keep in mind Bush spent much longer time in Canada then Obama is spending.
Obama is spending a mere five hours here in Canada. He doesn't have time to meet with every prime minister wannabee.
Very good point made by Dan D. This is a working visit, it is much shorter than a ceremonial visit, so if PM Harper is only getting a ten minute private chat with the President, why does Iffy deserve a 20 minute private chat? Also the Governor General, would normally get way more time as well, but won't because again this is not a ceremonial visit. When that happens, she takes the leading roll, funny how the media is forgetting all about that little detail.
The final point to be made, is that President Obama is dictating the timing and terms of his visit, so maybe Iffy should be blaming Obama, not PM Harper for his lack of time.
my 2 cents
Of course Iggy needs to spend time learning about all the issues by being involved in meetings...He hasn't lived in Canada for the past 30 years, so he has no idea what the issues are here.
If Ignatief gets to sit at the big people's table some day, then he can arrange his own meetings with Obama for as long as Obama wants to give him. In this case you can be assured that if Obama wants to spend more time with him, he will. The Conservatives are not dictating terms of this meeting as was mentioned in the story about today's press conference.
vince in trenton
Are people that gullable that they think Harper has that much power to tell Obama how long he meets with someone,even if it is tiny Iggy? You can bet the farm that the Canadians were given a timetable and told this is the way it is. But, all the whining about how Harper is robbing Iggy of his time in the spot light is being told by those who still think Harper has enough power that he caused the global economic problems...We Canadians are just a pawn in the great American chess game...always have been, always will be...BIG BROTHER IS KEEPING US IN CHECK....
Iffy and the Liberals are making themselves look real bad by whining and crying about how unfair it all is, poor things. Bet Layton will be seen prowling the halls of Parliament trying to get his photo taken with Obama. What an embarrassment the opposition is, I wonder if Iffy or Rae will ask Obama for an autograph? HA!
The green monster is loose, and it is making the Liberals look like the babies they are, pass them some soothers! Or maybe we should start mailing soothers to Iffy, now that would be funny!
12 comments:
Can you even imagine if the shoes were reversed and Stephen Harper was demanding more time and stamping his feet - the headlines would be vitrolic.
Mind you, Stephen Harper is just not the kind of person to do it in the first place so moot point.
Well then Iffy, pick up that phone, say
'look here Barry O, I demand 5 more minutes of your time,
what's with making plans without my consent! You're on probation !!
Oh, btw, I agree with everything Harper said.'
Iffy may win his 5 minute battle, but he sure looks 'American' in the process.
Saw this in Wente's column today,
didn't know Iffy agreed with PMSH on abortion and ssm, that must be going over realy well in Liberaland, eh:
''Anyway, he (Iffy) agrees with Mr. Harper on just about everything, including Afghanistan, abortion, Quebec, gay marriage and the economy.''
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090219.wcowent19/BNStory/specialComment/home
Except, unfortunately for you folks since you seem to care so deeply about this whole charade, despite Harper's best efforts to make this all about Harper, Obama over-ruled the PM's efforts to minimize time with the Leader of the Opposition and has decreed that the President gets to decide who he will meet and for how long, not some self-declared "economist" who cuts and runs from Parliament at the first sign of a confidence vote. And Obama has decided to spend "at least" 20 minutes with Ignatieff.
Obama knows where Canadian politics are headed and he wants to start building his relationship with the Prime Minister who will be making the decisions during his 4-8 tenure. Hope Harper enjoys his visit. It is probably the last time he will get to see Obama in person.
Must be frustrating for poor wilson, I mean Kory, that "how many minutes Iggy will talk with Obama" is the main story today.
Not the press conference. Well maybe the part about the press conference, with Kory/Harper running it like a banana dictator would. A "press conference" where only questions previously submitted on bended knee with an offering to the Harper elite are allowed.
What if Obama delays his flight to talk with Iggy a couple of minutes longer? Nobody is going to tell him he has to get his plane out of there are they?
And the quote of the day will come from Iggy after the brief meeting, echoing Obama's comments during the Election to Inauguration period:
"We only have one Prime Minister at a time"
Watch for the wink when he says that.
Hahahahaha!
I get such a kick out of the usual suspects - teddy and LS who are trying in vain to justify Iggy's temper tantrum as somehow being Harper's fault.
Unless you have proof that Harper sets the agenda and personally dictated that Obama couldn't talk to Iggy for any length of time he wanted to, you just need to get over yourselves.
It's so amazing that commenters know exactly what Obama is thinking, doing, and saying. Same as the same commenters (not just on this blog) knew exactly what the GG and the PM discussed during their meeting prior to proroguation. We don't need the media or even inside scoops - we have them here and on other blogs.
For the record, the PM and the POTUS do not, themselves, decide on times and locations. These things are choreographed down to the minute or even second. The amount of advance planning and prep work is astounding. The security precautions, alone, would blow you away.
So, as for Obama deciding how much time he'd spend with Ignatieff - I believe that this would be up to the people who organized the whole thing.
Obama would never overrule the leader of another country, much as you may wish it to be so. It's called diplomacy and no competent leader (as is Obama) would be so crass and offensive as to overrule our PM. Dream on.
Do note that, despite LPC supporters' assertions to the contrary, Obama does NOT have contempt for our PM. Do note, also, that our PM is the FIRST leader to whom he paid an official visit.
Our PM is not a self-declared economist - he has the paper to prove that he is, indeed, an economist. Please, critique his policies but don't presume to make up this sort of fantasy - especially on a Conservative blog.
So does that make Obama a "peek-a-boo" president?
And (yawn) as predicted, not only did "Iffy" get the 20 minutes he wanted, he got 30. HObama just had to wait until Kory's courtiers and minders were gone and it was time for the real meeting. Too bad other planes had to wait for Air Force One, eh?
Seriously though, what a breath of fresh air Obama is. Harper looked good today.
Hey! "HObama" was a typo!
Well, I'm glad that you weren't referring to Obama as a "ho".
Yes, Harper looked good, today. It is unfortunate that Ignatieff took the opportunity to waste Obama's time by complaining that he has a hard time working with the current government. I'm sure that was of great interest to Obama. After all, the economy and unemployment can be swept aside to take care of Ignatieff's little problem.
As for Ignatieff's 30 minutes - it's not really a huge deal. Obama also made an "unscheduled" stop in the By Ward Market. There is nothing unscheduled about any such visit. The POTUS cannot ever deviate from the plan for security reasons. As for the time alloted to Ignatieff - it wasn't the PMO, if I recall, that originally said 15 minutes. Seems to me it was the media who came out with that.
I think that Obama and Harper make a great team - two great thinkers, two diplomatic leaders .
"Harper looked good today."
And you seem surprised - actually, this is HARPER - this is how he always is, unfortunately, most people do not get to see this HARPER because the media does their best to hide this Harper from Canadians. This is how Harper is on the world stage. We just never get to see him.
Unfortunately, today they could not, and they grudgingly had to show the real Harper.
Kudos to you for admitting that he did do a good job.
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