Americans miffed at Howard bumping Obamas out of home

Americans miffed at Howard bumping Obamas out of home

www.smh.com.au

John Howard's decision to stay at the luxurious Blair House mansion in Washington DC has sparked a firestorm of protest in the US, with outraged American taxpayers demanding the former Australian prime minister book a hotel or stay at the Australian embassy.

The story was also a hot topic on US radio and TV talkshows.

For weeks the name of the occupant booked at Blair House on January 12 was a mystery.

President-elect Barack Obama and his family asked to stay at Blair House before taking the keys to the White House but were told it was already booked.

It forced Obama, his wife Michelle and young daughters, Malia and Sasha, to stay at a DC hotel, the Hay-Adams.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Oh my god, has the world gone completely mad? Wait, stupid question...

Your economy is failing, you are living in a police state and you are losing your houses and jobs one by one and THIS is somehow important? Dear god American's (not all of you, just the ones complaining) , go out and get a reality check.

1. Who cares.
2. Who cares.
3. If all else fails, refer to points 1 and 2.

www.smh.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Oh dear lord. The president elect is only eligible to use the house for 5 days before the inauguration. After that, it's fair game! Howard had the house booked for weeks before the Obamas requested use of the house. Question (cause, you know, I have to ask) would anyone care if it were the McCains trying to use the house?

edit - haven't had my coffee yet

[edit on 1/8/2009 by CeltAngel]

reply to post by Kryties


I live in Australia and loathe mr Howard, but... i would be a little annoyed if I were an American, and even more if I was Obama.

Howard is a hasbeen, worst yet, he's hated in his own country, he's mocked in other countries.. and he's nothing but a lapdog who wants his kodak moment with Bush.

This, to me is an attempt at mocking Obama and his democratic party.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


I'm Aussie too mate, I helped vote John 'Little Bush' Howard out of office, in fact I am only a few suburbs outside of his former Epping area.. I am not talking about the fact that this is John Howard, I am talking about the fact that such a huge issue has been made of it in the states when, in all honesty, it means diddly squat in the greater scheme of things.

Really, those complaining need to take a good hard look at themselves and their priorities. Until the 15th, Blair House is open to anybody to stay and Howard had it booked for weeks and if I were John Howard (thank god I'm not) I'd tell Obama to bugger off and stay in a hotel too.

[edit on 8/1/2009 by Kryties]

yeah, i see what your saying, its a non issue that belongs on the smut rags outside a 711.

But still,

Obama is the most admired man in America.
He's going to be the most powerful man in the world, leading the strongest nation on Earth.

You'd think someone like that wouldnt be '' bumped '' from staying in a hotel that is used by president elects before they are innagurated.

And to be bumped by Howard?

Originally posted by Agit8dChop

And to be bumped by Howard?

Hehe, yeah well when you put it that way......

I cant see what people are complaining about, he wont be stopping in a 2 star motel. He will be in a pent house suite if a five star hotel somewhere. His family will be waited on hand and foot. His kids will love the pool.

So why complain, I doubt he even has to pay for it out of his own wages.

i find it laughable that he is actually get a freedom award.. what a crock of sh*t

Aren't there over 200 rooms in this place?

I'm just puzzled why they can't both stay there.

Of course Howard is a mean little prick who would hate seeing a black person having any authority in a western country, and who would be only too glad to go along with his idol, (Bush,) in inconveniencing the Obamas.

Sadly, Howard's replacement here in Australia is yet another prick.

This is the first I've heard of it. I dont care. I wouldnt care if Obama had to stay in some terrible D.C. motel paying hourly rates. Well, maybe. In a motel like that his security would probably be 5 times as big and cost me 5 times as much.

I wonder if war with Australia is coming down the pipe now?

I hope he and his supporters dont go around expecting preferential treatment or the world to stop spinning for the man. He's just that, a man. He looks at his own crap before he flushes and his carcass will rot in the same earth as mine. What the hell is so special about him? Oh, he's an uppity self-righteous politician with a law degree. Yeah, we have a serious shortage of those around here. The man is unicorn rare.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
I wonder if war with Australia is coming down the pipe now?

You got nothing to worry about there mate, according to this article Australia 'destroying life on earth' we are already destroying the whole planet anyways!!

Take a look at this website....

www.hayadams.com...

Wow, the poor guy, he had to move to this dump of a rat-infested hotel where the prostitutes give you HIV just by looking at them and the cockroaches snore at night!

Unbelievable.

reply to post by Kryties


What a dump!

I had to laugh when I saw the "carbon neutral" option. So they charge you more and give the difference to some snake-oil salesman selling "carbon offsets."

I wonder, did Obama choose the "carbon neutral" option?

Oh, the scandal!

Originally posted by Kryties
Wow, the poor guy, he had to move to this dump of a rat-infested hotel

He is paying ~$5K per night to stay there. He wanted his kids to start school in their new school after the Christmas break, so asked to stay at the Blair House and was snubbed by Bush.

I'm not upset about it. Obama's Mr. Cool. If his feathers are ruffled, it's not showing, so why should I be concerned? He's above it all. He'll do whatever he has to do. On Jan. 20th, things will change.

I think Bush and Howard are both little worms, still trying to throw their weight around. Fine.

The Blair house has 4 "townhouses", with 119 rooms and 35 bathrooms... I think they both could have stayed there. It's just Bush getting his high-school jollies, snubbing the new guy who won the election with the platform of "anti-Bush". Let the baby have his bottle.

what a great moral standard this sets for the populace.

important politicians with their familys, from 2 friendly countries cannot share a luxurious 119 room mansion with a massive property but instead have to sleep at different locations.

is there something wrong with the other 115 rooms?



[edit on 8/1/09 by Obliv_au]

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
, so asked to stay at the Blair House and was snubbed by Bush.

Uh .. no.

Obama wanted to move in 3 weeks early. It is unprecidented.
The rules are that the POTUS elect gets to move in 5 days before.
Otherwise it sets up something that could look like duel POTUS's.
One in the White House - one in the Blair house.

It isn't a matter of your messiah being snubbed.
It's a matter of tradition and the rules.

And Obama did just fine - moving into the Hay Adams Hotel - as is proper and as is following tradition and the rules.

Originally posted by Kryties

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
I wonder if war with Australia is coming down the pipe now?

You got nothing to worry about there mate, according to this article Australia 'destroying life on earth' we are already destroying the whole planet anyways!!

Yes, how is that? How dare you destroy the WHOLE planet?

anyway,

I am not miffed, who's miffed? I don't know anyone that is miffed. Who are all these miffed people?

Twelve people froze to death in Europe.



[edit on 083131p://bThursday2009 by Stormdancer777]

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

The Blair house has 4 "townhouses", with 119 rooms and 35 bathrooms... I think they both could have stayed there. It's just Bush getting his high-school jollies, snubbing the new guy who won the election with the platform of "anti-Bush". Let the baby have his bottle.

I think it's a combination of Bush/Howard vs Obama connection and the fact that Howard and Obama had a little fight over troop deployments in Iraq or some crap back when Howard was in power and Obama was running for President.

"Howard has never hidden his distaste for Obama and his crazy policies like withdrawing from Iraq."

Oh, I found this out too, Howard is only staying 1 night anyways, that has been his plan for weeks. I mean what the hell? All this kerphuffle over 1 stinking night?

reply to post by FlyersFan



No danger of "duel Presidents" as Bush threw in the towel months ago when the economic crisis started and he abdicated all control to Paulsen so he could play his shell game.

If anything, Obama has taken great pains to reiterate time and again that there is only one President. Why? Because it's painfully obvious no one is steering the ship. Obama doesn't want his enthusiasm to upstage Bush's obvious lack of interest.

Besides, it's 2009. Do we really need archaic customs that get in the way of practicality? Maybe that's why the government is so ineffective.