Watch Obama’s Painfully Awkward Moment, Accidentally Ignoring Iraq’s Prime Minister For Over A Minute [Video]
Aside from a gaffe, one of the biggest things the President of the United States wants to avoid during press conferences and public appearances is a painfully awkward moment. Especially if that awkward moment happens with the leader of an entire nation.
President Obama was caught on tape this week, accidentally causing a prolonged awkward moment between himself and the prime minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi. According to the Blaze, the awkward moment took place at the G-7 summit in Germany on Monday. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi sat down beside Obama with his translator in a clear attempt to start up a discussion. However, for one long minute, President Obama either completely ignored or completely failed to notice that Iraq’s prime minister was sitting right behind him, waiting.
Obama was so engrossed in conversation that he never even acknowledged al-Abadi. The awkward moment continued when Obama stood up to leave, prompting the Prime Minister to stand as well–trying to get Obama’s attention. But when the president once again failed to notice him, Haider al-Abadi glanced at his watch uncomfortably while his translator gave an exaggerated shrug.
What makes the awkward moment even more insulting to al-Abadi is that Obama was distracted by a conversation with another prime minister, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. This sends an unfortunate message that Obama was willing to talk to one leader of a nation, but not another.
The awkward moment was especially bad timing because President Obama and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi are attempting to work together to assess ways to take on the Islamic State. Later that day, Obama held a press conference and admitted to the media, “We don’t yet have a complete strategy” on how to combat ISIS.
However, according to Haaretz, the awkward moment was only temporary. Obama did get the opportunity to meet with Haider al-Abadi one-on-one before the president returned to Washington to discuss a collaborative strategy going forward. Both world leaders promised they would find a way to defeat ISIS in the coming months.
“I’m confident that although it is going to take time and there will be setbacks and lessons learned, that we are going to be successful, ISIL is going to be drive out of Iraq, and ultimately it is going to be defeated.”
You can see the full, minute-long awkward moment unfold in the video above, courtesy of ABC News.
[Image credit: ABC]
