Following up on former President George W. Bush’s heart procedure, CBS-Houston reports:
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that President Barack Obama was briefed on Bush’s procedure and “obviously wishes him well.” He didn’t believe Obama and Bush had spoken, Carney said.
CBS-Houston waited ten paragraphs to inform their readers that Mr. Obama had snubbed a phone call to his predecessor, whom he views as the locus of evil in 21st century.
In contrast, JWF notes that Vladimir Putin at least sent a telegram:
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram on Thursday to his old sparring partner, former U.S. President George W. Bush, wishing him a quick recovery from heart surgery.
It may have been coincidence that the Kremlin released details of the telegram a day after Barack Obama pulled out of a planned summit with Putin, but little is left to chance in Russian politics.
The warm words to the man who once said he looked Putin in the eye and got a “sense of his soul” highlighted how different the relationship is between the leaders in the Kremlin and the White House now.
Bush described Putin years later as cold blooded, and ties soured over the war between Russia and Georgia which began five years ago this week, but there was respect and camaraderie on display when they first met as presidents in June 2001.
Certainly more so than Mr. Obama shows Mr. Bush these days, despite the fact that the latter man has been retired from office for over five years.
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