Obama ‘not invited’ to Chelsea Clinton wedding

Obama on the View show

Barack Obama tells TV hosts that one president at a wedding is enough

BY Rachel Helyer-Donaldson LAST UPDATED AT 14:04 ON Thu 29 Jul 2010

With only two days to go, the guest list for Chelsea Clinton's wedding on Saturday is still the subject of a media guessing-game in the US. But one person who has definitely not been invited is Barack Obama.

The US President revealed as much when he appeared on the chat show The View, which aired in the US yesterday.
 
While previous reports claimed that Obama had "politely declined" to attend the wedding, he told the daytime show's panel of hosts: "I was not invited to the wedding because I think Hillary and Bill, properly, want to keep this thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband."
 
He went on: "You don't want two Presidents at one wedding. All the secret service, guests going through [metal detectors], all the gifts being torn apart."
 
As reported on The First Post yesterday, it has been estimated that Chelsea Clinton's  wedding ceremony and reception will cost her parents around $3 million. Those rumoured to be attending include Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand and Steven Spielberg.

Obama's appearance on The View was a first for a sitting US president. The show has been compared to ITV's Loose Women, but in reality its hosts are a more formidable bunch.

Yesterday's hosts included veteran journalist Barbara Walters, who has interviewed Thatcher, Castro, Yeltsin and Gaddafi in her time, as well as TV presenter Joy Behar, currently standing in for outgoing chat show host Larry King. They were joined by the conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck and comedian Whoopi Goldberg.
 
Sitting between his hosts on a gold couch, Obama looked relaxed as he talked about his first 20 months as President. Asked about the challenges so far, he said they included "a non-stop effort to restart the economy, we have also had the oil spill, we have also had two wars, we have also had a pandemic – H1N1 that we had to manage”.
 
Obama clearly hoped to reach female voters by going on the daytime show, but some Democrats believe the appearance was unbecoming of the office. "I think the President of the United States has to go on serious shows," said Ed Rendell, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. · 

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Comments

A wediing is usually an occasion for freinds and family to get together and celebrate. It is only two years ago that the Clintons were very seriously at Obama's throat, trying their devilish best to deny him the Democratic presidential nomination. Politics does create strange bedfellows and Hillary Clinton's emergence as Secretary of State is one of those instances, but to sup together at a family wedding? Surely hypocrisy does not extend that far, even in America!

Posted by Yolande Agble, July 31, 2010 - 1:22am.

"Obama clearly hoped to reach female voters by going on the daytime show, but some Democrats believe the appearance was unbecoming of the office."

So who pays the President's wages? Clearly Mr Rendell thinks only serious minded males? We have an expression in UK = 'prat'!

Posted by Bill Fraser, July 29, 2010 - 9:08pm.

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