Despite pressure from activists groups, President Obama will not make an appearance at the 19th International AIDS Conference next week, according to the White House.
He will instead tape a short video message for conference attendees, and the White House will host a reception "to honor those living with HIV."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and other officials will represent the Obama administration. Former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Laura Bush are also set to speak at the conference, which will take place at Washington D.C.'s convention center.
Obama had been under pressure by activists to make an appearance at the event — the first time the conference has taken place in the United States since 1990.
"We are here to express our concern and dismay that, less than two weeks from the start of the conference, President Obama has yet to commit to attending it," Tom Myers, chief of public affairs and general counsel for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, was quoted in the Washington Blade as saying last week. “In the 20-odd year history of this conference, it is virtually obligatory for the head of state of the host nation to address the conference at its opening.”
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/07/obama-to-skip-aids-conference-129106.html
LOL
Suckers, you gave Obama your money and you thought he would show up at your conference. Probably got another golf game scheduled that day.
He will instead tape a short video message for conference attendees, and the White House will host a reception "to honor those living with HIV."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and other officials will represent the Obama administration. Former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Laura Bush are also set to speak at the conference, which will take place at Washington D.C.'s convention center.
Obama had been under pressure by activists to make an appearance at the event — the first time the conference has taken place in the United States since 1990.
"We are here to express our concern and dismay that, less than two weeks from the start of the conference, President Obama has yet to commit to attending it," Tom Myers, chief of public affairs and general counsel for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, was quoted in the Washington Blade as saying last week. “In the 20-odd year history of this conference, it is virtually obligatory for the head of state of the host nation to address the conference at its opening.”
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/07/obama-to-skip-aids-conference-129106.html
LOL
Suckers, you gave Obama your money and you thought he would show up at your conference. Probably got another golf game scheduled that day.