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Barack Obama? Not bothered... Schoolgirl left wondering what all the fuss is about after meeting president amid crowd frenzy
One little girl was distinctly unimpressed with all the excitement when President Barack Obama came to town.
Many supporters in the crowd in Portland, Massachusetts queued up for hours for the chance to meet the president.
Some even camped out overnight in torrential rain to be first in line for a front row place.
But for this schoolgirl, at least, it all dragged on a little too long.
She was part of an adoring audience that greeted Mr Obama after his latest speech touting his health reforms yesterday.
The president has embarked on a series of appearances across the U.S. to rally support for his controversial health overhaul and other key domestic initiatives.
He told a – largely – cheering crowd of about 2,500 people at the Portland Expo Centre that he was convinced the new measures passed into law last week would benefit everybody and he blasted Republicans for declaring they planned to repeal the bill if they return to office.
‘It’s only been a week, folks,’ he said. ‘Before we find out if people like health care reform, maybe we should wait until it actually happens.’
Today, before heading from Washington to Charlotte, North Carolina, he also vowed to ‘ratchet up the pressure’ on Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Mr Obama called for a ‘unified international community’ to join forces to crack down on Tehran.
‘All the evidence indicates that the Iranians are trying to develop the capacity to develop nuclear weapons,’ he said in a TV interview.
The president’s appeal for support came as he lobbied China to throw its weight behind a new set of sanctions against the defiant Iranian regime.
Mr Obama spent an hour on the phone with Chinese President Hu Jintao stressing the importance of working together to bring Iran into line.Mr Obama doesn’t believe Iran’s claims that its nuclear programme is to provide cheaper electricity rather than nuclear warheads.
He warned that urgent action is needed to prevent Tehran from developing atomic bombs that would throw the Middle East into chaos and trigger a regional arms race.
Mr Obama said on the CBS breakfast show that he believes Iran has become ‘further isolated’ from the rest of the world since he took office.
Earlier this week, Mr Obama said he wanted to see new UN sanctions against Iran ‘within weeks.’
China, which relies on Iran for oil and has strong ties with Tehran, has resisted sanctions in the past.
But aides suggested the Chinese government was open to discuss the possibility.
The phone talks between the two leaders marked a thaw in tensions between the superpowers, who have clashed in recent months over the plight of Tibet and Taiwan and the censorship row involving internet giant Google.
But Chinese officials said Mr Hu expressed his desire for a ‘healthy and stable’ relationship with the US.
Iran’s top nuclear official Saeed Jalil insisted today that sanctions were ‘not effective.’
‘In our talks with China, it was agreed that tools such as sanctions have lost their effectiveness,’ he said in Beijing.
The Chinese government has yet to respond.
Source: dailymail
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