Great News!
John Howard, erstwhile Oz PM, towering figure of moral strength and clarity, stalwart ally, is coming to D.C. for a victory lap with Tony Blair and George Bush. Oh yeah, and that’s why the Messiah wasn’t allowed to ascend to Blair House ahead of time. WPost’s a little snippy about it:
The veil is lifted. We now know who is booked at Blair House, kicking President-elect Barack Obama and his family to the waiting list and across Lafayette Square to the Hay-Adams Hotel.
The only overnight visitor at the presidential guest manse is none other than John Howard, a former Australian prime minister and leading member of President Bush’s coalition of the willing in Iraq.
Howard and his entourage will be bunking at Blair House on Jan. 12, the night before he, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe are to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bush, said Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush. The three current and former heads of state are longtime political allies of the president’s, and Blair and Howard were key partners in the Iraq war.
Blair and Uribe also were invited to stay at Blair House but declined Bush’s invitation, said a second White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Blair, who traditionally stays at the British Embassy, and Uribe apparently found other accommodations, the source said.
What! No room at the inn for the MLK Jr II because Crocodile Dundee is being put up there? Crikey!
There are other scheduled events at Blair House, but no other overnight visits between now and Jan. 15, when the Obama family is scheduled to move in, McDonough said.
…
The incoming first family requested an early move-in at the 70,000-square-foot, 119-room mansion across the street from the White House so the children could settle in to start school this week at Sidwell Friends School. But the Obamas was told the residence had been booked, so they took a suite at the Hay-Adams.
Well, seeing as Obama has been trying to be like the cool guys, maybe they’ll let him hang out with them. Maybe some of the backbone, moral authority will rub off.
via Hot Air, apparently we’re “miffed” about this.
MSN with the “miffed” news. Hey, as a first-generation Australian-American, a small but fiercely proud minority, I’m not miffed at all.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:22 am on Wednesday, January 7, 2009
3 Responses to “Great News!”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
John Howard (aka “flak jacket johnny”) WOULD have been one of Australia’s great Prime Ministers if it wasn’t for his attacks on firearm owners.
((flak jacket johnny - public meeting with firearm owners in Sale, Victoria 1996 to discuss his ban on semi-automatic firearms - addresses them wearing a flak jacket - double insult to Civility & Marksmanship: a) No one was ever going to shoot him. b) If someone did it would have been a head-shot. He never faced his critics in a public forum like this again - weak as piss))
He would probably still be Prime Minister right now if he hadn’t messed so severely with the gun owning portion of the Coalitions supporter base. eg. since 1996 only one Coalition win in State Government Election (WA-2008 - voters get rid of one of the most corrupt and incompetent Labour governments ever).
Ironic that he’s staying at Blair House to receive a US Presidential Medal of Freedom when domestically amongst Australia’s Prime Ministers he probably ranks near the bottom because of his 1996 & 2001 Gun Laws.
Condi & John have apparently had an interesting discussion on this point and he still doesn’t get it.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
What Mr. Obama arrogantly and superciliously demanded, was beyond the norm and protocol.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I’ve quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms2.blogspot.com/2009/01/re-great-news.html