on 13-06-2014 08:25 AM
PM Abbott is blowing away all the misconceptions and fantasy of the ALP/ABC/Faifax/Guardian/Laurie Oakes and the rest of the left wing chatterati and is representing Australia with absolute distinction. No one hates like the left and I'm sure the aforementioned will be working overtime to put a negative spin on Abbott's spectacularly successful overseas tour....
BARACK Obama’s advice to Tony Abbott after their first meeting in the White House this morning was to take a break and go surfing in Hawaii.
“You work too hard,” the US President told him after one of the highest level meetings in the oval office ever afforded an Australian Prime Minister.
When Mr Abbott told the President he had to stop by Honolulu to refuel on his way home, the President’s eyes lit up.
“You work too hard Tony,” the President said.
“You should try and get a surf in while you are there,” he said.
It had been standing room only in the Oval Office this morning when the two met at 11am Thursday.
Not only did the US President extend the planned one hour meeting with the PM, he had brought in six of his most senior Cabinet members and several advisors.
“It’s not unheard of, but it’s certainly not common,” one official said of the meeting.
Sources said that the meeting was one of the most high powered, afforded rarely to world leaders on visits to Washington.
The President described Australia as America’s best friend and a nation that “likes a fight”.
He praised the PM for restoring defence spending and offering a greater commitment to military partnership with the US.
on 13-06-2014 10:25 AM
on 13-06-2014 10:27 AM
on 13-06-2014 10:30 AM
Australian Taxpayers work an extra 2 hour a week to pay for P.M.'s to go on overseas jaunts. 😉
on 13-06-2014 10:31 AM
on 13-06-2014 10:32 AM
on 13-06-2014 11:07 AM
What I said in my OP... Its happening before our eyes on here ..... Well done and thank you for proving me correct....
PM Abbott is blowing away all the misconceptions and fantasy of the ALP/ABC/Faifax/Guardian/Laurie Oakes and the rest of the left wing chatterati and is representing Australia with absolute distinction. No one hates like the left and I'm sure the aforementioned will be working overtime to put a negative spin on Abbott's spectacularly successful overseas tour....
on 13-06-2014 11:09 AM
The ABC is now forced to report the truth as opposed to the beat-up - deeper ties, no climate change showdown and expressions of warmth:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and US president Barack Obama have agreed to a new defence initiative which paves the way for extra American military forces and activity in Australia.
During wide-ranging talks at the White House, the pair also discussed their different approaches to climate change, with both agreeing they would like energy efficiency on the G20 agenda… Mr Obama reportedly said he understood the Australian Government had a mandate for its policy, while Mr Abbott said the fuel excise is already acting as a carbon price signal to improve energy efficiency.
Perhaps tellingly, the topic was not raised in front of the cameras. Regional trade and investment came first....
... the meeting of political opposites appeared warm.
Publicly, there were only expressions of warmth and a deepening of ties:
Obama described Australia as one of a handful of countries that the U.S. can always count on. “And Aussies know how to fight, and I like having them in a foxhole if we’re in trouble. So I can’t think of a better partner,” he said.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: So thank you, Tony.
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT: Well, thank you so much, Barack.
Yeah, here’s Obama showing Abbott his “lack of regard”: NOT
When Mr Abbott told the President he had to stop by Honolulu to refuel on his way home, the President’s eyes lit up.
“You work too hard Tony,” the President said.
“You should try and get a surf in while you are there,” he said.
It was a jovial end to what was a successful first meeting between the two since Mr Abbott was elected. And it had been a similar start to their summit as they joked about the fact that the 9 foot Malibu Mr Abbott had given the President as an official gift from Australia, was too big to fit into the oval office.
So all those preview pieces predicting tensions proved ill-informed, driven by prejudice rather than analysis. Yet another example of how global warming evangelism blinds believers and the hate from the left
on 13-06-2014 11:54 AM
Every minute of every day of the President calendar has been committed to some meeting or event. Therefore for him to allocate extra time to this meeting, means he had to cancel something else, something which in itself may have been of equal or greater importance, than a simple heads of state photo opportunity, which is pretty much all these meets are designed to do. That is, ordinarily all the work is done by others well before meeting, with the meeting being pretty much nothing more than a meets and greet PR exercising.
Therefore, if the President cancelled something else so he could spend more time with Abbott it almost certainly wasn’t so that he and Tony could shoot a few hops or have a mutually satisfying private back slapping sausage sizzle. Instead the fact that the time was extended and advisers and cabinet members were called to assist has all the hallmarks of there being unresolved issues between two, issues which were serious enough to require face to face negotiations/discussions between the two.
As to what those issue were, we’ll have to wait 25 or so years to find out, because that is about how long it takes for cabinet documents to be realised.
As for the surfboard, there may be a Freudian here. Big surf, shallow water over coral reefs…
13-06-2014 11:59 AM - edited 13-06-2014 12:03 PM
on 13-06-2014 12:05 PM