for not doing enough to stop Qadhafi's upcoming visit
The mayor of the North Jersey town where Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi might stay next month during a diplomatic visit to nearby New York City blasted federal officials on Tuesday, from members of Congress all the way up to President Barack Obama, for not doing enough to stop the visit.
“The truth is that it seems like they’re just going through the motions and it’s a fait accompli,” Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes told POLITICO. “I’m disappointed that nobody’s got moxie.”
“If this is the change that our president has endorsed and is directing our country where we’re reaching out to countries like Iran, Syria and Libya,” he added, “I would have bargained for another one.”
Wildes, a Democrat who supported Obama, said he continues to “have great confidence in his leadership. It’s just that there’s collateral damage that is unfathomable.”
But Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), an early Obama supporter who represents Englewood, dismissed Wildes’s characterization, contending the mayor hasn’t reached out to federal officials and doesn’t know what they’re doing.
“This matter has received the attention of senior people at the White House” and the State Department, said Rothman, who began his political career as mayor of Englewood and is also opposed to Qadhafi staying in the town during next month’s United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Read more ...
“The truth is that it seems like they’re just going through the motions and it’s a fait accompli,” Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes told POLITICO. “I’m disappointed that nobody’s got moxie.”
“If this is the change that our president has endorsed and is directing our country where we’re reaching out to countries like Iran, Syria and Libya,” he added, “I would have bargained for another one.”
Wildes, a Democrat who supported Obama, said he continues to “have great confidence in his leadership. It’s just that there’s collateral damage that is unfathomable.”
But Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), an early Obama supporter who represents Englewood, dismissed Wildes’s characterization, contending the mayor hasn’t reached out to federal officials and doesn’t know what they’re doing.
“This matter has received the attention of senior people at the White House” and the State Department, said Rothman, who began his political career as mayor of Englewood and is also opposed to Qadhafi staying in the town during next month’s United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Read more ...
Source: Politico
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