Obama plays peacemaker in French-Chinese smackdown over tax havens

[HopeOverFear]

The issue: Sarko wanted "a list of non-compliant jurisdictions," tones that allow tax havens, he senior official said. "Other countries wanted it too, but (Sarkozy) was the most outspoken."

"China tends to have a problem endorsing the documents of organizations like the OECD that they're not a party to," the senior administration official said.

But Mr. Obama, according to this account, stepped between the two men, urging them to try to find consensus, and giving them a "pep talk" about the importance of working together.

The senior adminstration official said that Mr. Obama pulled Mr. Sarkozy aside, took him to a corner, "and discussed possible alternatives," the senior official said.

Once they arrived at one, President Obama "sent a message to the Chinese" that a counter-offer was on the table. The Chinese spent some time considering the offer. But they took a few minutes.

So Mr. Obama, with the assistance of translators, suggested that he and Mr. Hu have a conversation as well. They, too went to the corner to talk. After a few minutes, Mr. Obama called upon Mr. Sarkozy to join them.

"Translators and sherpas in tow, they reached an agreement," the official said. "There was a multiple shaking of hands."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/source-obama-pl.html

[lamp_shade]

1. Our lowly community organizer.

[Historic NY]

6. "World Community Organizer"

[BeyondGeography]

2. Just like Dubya woulda handled it

[HopeOverFear]

3. you forgot the sarcasm thingy

[pnorman]

4. Was it even needed?

n/t

pnorman

[HopeOverFear]

7. lol

[pnorman]

15. All these years here on DU, and I've FINALLY earned me an LOL!

Thank you very kindly!

pnorman

[drm604]

5. This makes me grin!

:D

[Occam Bandage]

8. Consensus and working together? That stuff's for wimps. Bad form, Obama.

[Wetzelbill]

9. Now how would Bush have handled it?

First he would have sat around chewing a biscuit with his mouth open like an idiot. Then he would have tried to give somebody an ill-conceived back rub. Then he would have decided to lecture everybody on how China is a big country so that's why it takes Hu Jintao such a long time to fly to and from there. And in closing he would have tried to walk out of a closed door.

Don't forget that sometime during the trip he would have severely injured somebody while riding his bike.

Damn, Obama is boring. Granted he's not an embarrassing idiot so I guess we can be thankful for that.

[DrToast]

11. Bush would have escalated it into WW3.

[JimWis]

14. Now that cracked me up. Well said.

:rofl:

[Top Cat]

10. Just think some of the msm laughed at the community organizer. It was often mentioned during the

campaign as a negative. The skills the the President learned early in his career will help get the USA back on track.

[jefferson_dem]

12. Great post.

Barack America. I love this man... Perfect president at the perfect time.

[JimWis]

13. Excellent post. Thanks for that info. I wish you would hear more

of that kind of stuff, front and center on the news.