Obama on NATO Summit: It’s no Taste of Chicago
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter apallasch@suntimes.com May 20, 2012 1:32PM
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive at Chicago O'Hare International Airport to attend the NATO Summit Saturday, May 19, 2012 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
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Updated: July 1, 2012 12:42PM
Deal with it.
In a nutshell, that was President Barack Obama’s kidding message to Chicagoans carping about all the traffic restrictions and security measures in place for the NATO Summit.
“I’ve been asking: Why is everybody making such a big fuss? This isn’t as big as Taste of Chicago,” the president quipped to a Sun-Times reporter.
Of course, NATO doesn’t come with ribs and turkey legs, either.
Obama chatted briefly after a meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
Obama said he looked foreward to 2014 when “We have ended our combat role, The Afghan war as we understand it is over.”
Karzai said he agreed.
“Afghanistan, as you rightly put it, is looking forward to an end to this war,” Karzai said.
As for more light-hearted skirmishes, Obama said he had no plans to slip away and watch his beloved White Sox battle the Cubs in the Crosstown Classic.
“No, they don’t let me have fun,” he told the Sun-Times.
And did he feel left out that protesters targeted Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s North Side house and not the president’s Kenwood digs?
Obama just laughed.
Abdon M. Pallasch
