'Obama too busy for GMA'

MANILA, Philippines - United States Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney came to President Arroyo’s defense over her failure to meet US President Barack Obama, saying there was just no time for Obama to deal with matters outside of the US in his first few months in office.

Kenney said that the missed opportunity for the two leaders to meet during the recent National Prayer Breakfast in Washington was understandable, considering that there were more than 3,000 officials and dignitaries who attended the event.

Malacañang reported that Obama came late and had to leave right away.

Kenney explained that the US Congress handled the planning for the entire event so the State Department had no control over meetings between the heads of state.

According to Kenney, there is a huge possibility that Presidents Obama and Arroyo would meet later this year, perhaps at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

Kenney said Obama’s travels would be limited during his first few months in office because he would be busy handling domestic matters like the recession and unemployment in the US.

“Usually US presidents spend their first couple of months of office in Washington, because as you can see, the stimulus bill, the economic recovery, is a huge priority so I don’t think you’ll see him traveling anytime soon,” Kenney said.

But Obama is set to visit Canada in a few weeks.

“But in the course of the average year, our leaders meet up during the UN General Assembly, at a whole variety of things, so let’s see how it goes,” Kenney added.

As for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is visiting Asia the middle of the month, Kenney said that a stopover in Manila would be difficult in spite of Mrs. Arroyo’s request for her to drop by.

Mrs. Arroyo personally asked Clinton to visit the Philippines during their meeting at the State Department in Washington last week but Clinton made no promises, saying she still has to check her schedule.

Clinton will visit China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia.

“She made it very clear, she doesn’t have as much time as she’d like to. There are many friends and allies she’d like to visit. She’s visiting the three big northeast Asian countries and the President asked her to visit the world’s largest Muslim country. You know Obama has a new and wonderful outreach to the Muslim world and so she is going to stop in Indonesia to help launch that,” Kenney added.