Gloria’s 2nd call to Obama ignored again

11/07/2008

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

This appears to be the motto of President Arroyo who seems to be desperately trying to speak to US President-elect Barack Obama to personally congratulate him on his electoral victory.

Malacañang Wednesday admitted that Mrs. Arroyo placed a call to Obama but there was no response from him or his camp, with her chief Palace aide saying that she instead called the State Department, leaving a message that she had called to congratulate the president-elect.

DzBB radio yesterday quoted presidential deputy spokesman Lorelei Fajardo as saying Mrs. Arroyo had tried calling Obama yesterday morning for the second time to personally convey her congratulations to him but, again, she was unable to speak to him.

Earlier, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who bared the first failed phone call made by the President on Wednesday, said that Mrs. Arroyo will still try to meet the new US President when she leaves for New York on Nov. 12 for a special United Nations (UN) meeting.

This, despite the US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney having told the President that Obama is not scheduled to meet with any foreign leaders during the special session of the UN, adding that requests to meet with Obama have been denied.

Obama has been reported to be busy chosing his team.

It will be recalled that in another trip to the US, Mrs. Arryo move to have a meeting arranged between her and Obama, as well as McCain. She met with McCain, after waiting several days, but ended up with only a phone call from Obama, of which the Palace made such a big deal.

After the euphoria of his historic election win Obama got down Thursday to choosing a presidential team that faces a mountain of problems, not least the economic crisis and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Democrat ducked out of the limelight after becoming America’s first black president, but behind-the-scenes activity picked up with the formal creation of a team to handle his transition to power ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration.

In an immediate reminder of the mammoth task ahead, the Dow Jones share average plummeted nearly 500 points on resurgent fears of a deep recession followed by large sell-offs and a raft of negative financial data in Asia.

Democrats said Obama had asked combative congressman and former Clinton White House aide Rahm Emanuel, 48, to be his chief of staff, a vital post that helps set the tempo of the administration.

While Bill Clinton, the last Democrat in the White House, took weeks to announce his Cabinet, Obama does not have the luxury of time with the US administration now dispensing a $700-billion bailout for Wall Street.

Obama has hinted at possible names to take over as Treasury secretary.

He noted to CNN last week that his economic advisers include Clinton’s last Treasury secretary Larry Summers, 53, as well as former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, 81; and mega-rich investor Warren Buffett, 78.

Another name being mentioned in the media for Obama’s economic overseer is Timothy Geithner, 47, who as president of the New York Federal Reserve has been in charge of executing the US central bank’s sudden explosion of market activity.

Obama made note of the acute set of challenges he faces in his victory speech late Tuesday before 240,000 people in Chicago and millions more watching at home in the United States and around the world.

“Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” he said.

“But America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you — we as a people will get there.”

Obama, a 47-year-old Illinois senator, crushed Republican John McCain, 72, with an inspirational message of hope and change. But now the hard part begins as he confronts the stricken economy along with war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While his aides made no announcements of any briefings for Thursday, Obama cannot stay silent for too long as both Wall Street and voters suffering from the financial crisis look to their next president for reassurance and guidance.

A day after triggering a political earthquake not seen since Ronald Reagan’s 1980 landslide, Obama named key figures of the transition team that will spend the next 75 days preparing for his inauguration and presidency beyond.

The transition office in Washington will be run by co-chairmen John Podesta, a former chief of staff to Clinton; Pete Rouse, who was Obama’s Senate chief of staff; and the Democrat’s close friend Valerie Jarrett.

The transition team will oversee the job of vetting cabinet nominees and preparing the vital first political moves of the new administration.

US President George W. Bush offered generous praise to his successor. Pledging his “complete cooperation” in the transition of power, Bush invited the Obamas to the White House at their earliest convenience.

In another sign of the changing of the guard, Michelle Obama spoke by telephone with First Lady Laura Bush, who offered her own invitation.

CIA director Mike Hayden also said the US intelligence agency would begin sharing classified information with Obama.

The incoming president has promised to renew bruised ties with US allies, and to engage some of the nation’s fiercest foes such as Iran and North Korea.

He has vowed to tackle climate change, cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans, and guarantee near-universal health care at a time when many thousands are losing their insurance as their jobs disappear.

Congratulations poured in from world leaders, along with demands to turn a page on Bush’s divisive foreign policy. China and Russia both pledged “constructive” dialog.

Top Obama advisers will attend a White House summit being convened by Bush on Nov. 15, as 20 world leaders thrash out a response to the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev may meet Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow. The Democrat’s aides said they had no comment.

Meanwhile, Obama’s historic surge to the White House will hopefully signal a friendlier and more inclusive US approach to its international partners, Asian press commentators said Thursday.

After eight years of George W. Bush, newspapers across Asia hailed Obama’s victory over John McCain, which will make him the first black US leader, as a sign of deep-rooted — and welcome — change.

Some commentators however worried how he would handle issues such as free trade, North Korea and relations with China.

“As we sift the cliches and exuberance of the Obama victory, it is clear that Nov. 4, 2008, was a defining day for the US and the world,” said The Australian.

“In Australia, the Obama win will do a lot to sweep away the negativity and cynicism towards the US that has built up during the Bush-Cheney years,” said the Sydney Morning Herald.

A new White House team, it cautioned, “must adjust to changes under way in Asia, to which, as someone partly raised in Indonesia, we can expect Senator Obama to be receptive.”

The Age saw an Obama presidency as a chance for Washington to revive faith in a US leadership that had been “shredded” under Bush.

In China, most national newspapers highlighted Obama as the first black US president-elect.

Some commented on his likely policies towards China, although they agreed there would be little change from the Bush administration.

“Change has come,” the English-language China Daily reported, although the People’s Daily — the mouthpiece of the Communist party — was less effusive, focusing more on China’s top legislator meeting Algeria’s premier.

“On the whole, Sino-American relations will not change too much, but on product safety issues, Obama’s attitude toward China might be tougher than that of the Bush administration,” the official Beijing News said.

South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo thanked America “for courageously choosing the change that is needed in the United States and in the world as a whole” and forecast “a sea change in Northeast Asia” under an Obama presidency.

While it predicted improved ties between the United States and North Korea given Obama’s willingness to talk to enemies, the Dong-A Ilbo thought such a policy might actually disrupt six-nation disarmament talks. With reports from AFP

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