Florida Congresswoman Hangs Up On President Elect Obama TWICE!!
By anniepa
@anniepa (27955)
United States
December 4, 2008 4:22pm CST
This is just too funny and it's a great example of people from opposite sides of the aisle being able to laugh together! Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen received a call from someone claiming to be President Elect Barack Obama to congratulate her on her election win and to talk of his wish to work together. "I thought it was one of the radio stations in South Florida playing an incredible, elaborate, terrific prank on me," Ros-Lehtinen told the Miami Herald. "They got Fidel Castro to go along. They've gotten Hugo Chavez and others to fall for their tricks. I said, 'Oh, no, I won't be punked."'
http://cbs13.com/politics/ileana.ros.lehtinen.2.879682.html
She listened for about a minute as Obama talked before cutting him off and telling him he was one of the best Obama impersonators she'd ever heard, better than the one on SNL before hanging up. When Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, called back to tell her it wasn't a joke and that Obama really wanted to talk to her, she hung up again! It wasn't until Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee called that Ros-Lehtinen became convinced it really had been the President Elect who called.
The Congresswoman was just interviewed on TV and she said Obama told her that if he ever let his ego get too big Michelle would remind him that Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen had hung up on him not once but twice.
Annie
5 people like this
16 responses
@Undertheoath (365)
• United States
4 Dec 08
You have to love the game of politics. I bet she felt a bit foolish when she found out it was truly him. I personally think I would have laughed it off it I was Obama, which seems to be the case. Well thanks for bringing me a bit humour.
3 people like this
@luvandpower (2048)
• United States
4 Dec 08
Hello anniepa,
That is just a priceless piece of news! Just think a president -elect has impersonators, and then the representative hangs up on him! That is just so priceless. It makes me almost go into tears from reading that article. And then it took three different people to eve get anything across!
Sincerely,
Luvandpower
Life is short, live it.
@collieluv28 (388)
• United States
5 Dec 08
I saw the headline in our local newspaper & I thought, why would she do such a thing? As I read the story I realized that she thought it was some sort of prank. It was absolutely hilarious & really does make Obama & Rep. Ros-Lehtinen seem like everyday people. They both handled it very well - like grown-ups! I just can't see Pres. Bush laughing about someone hanging up on him. Obama has a great sense of humor & I do believe that Michelle Obama will keep him grounded!
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
4 Dec 08
I saw this and my first thought was that it ain't easy to pull the wool over Ileana's eyes! Some of the radio stations down here are are known for pulling pranks...now they'll REALLY want to get her!
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
5 Dec 08
I heard that. I was almost fell off my chair laughing. It's good that Obama had a sense of humor about it as well lol
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
7 Dec 08
When I read about this I thought it was hilarious. It's also probably exactly what I would have done. (Not that I'll ever get a call from a president elect) It's nice to know that the future Pres has a sense of humor about stuff like this.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Dec 08
This is hilarious. I guess congress people get these prank calls all the time, that they cannot tell whether it is real. I guess next time Obama should send a letter and an email saying when he will call. 
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
5 Dec 08
Hi anniepa! That is too funny! That poor woman! I wonder why
she was so sure that it wasn't the President-elect calling
her! I wonder why she had such a hard time believing that it
really was him! I guess she had to be a bit embarrassed when
she finally did realize that it really was him and that she
hung up on him twice! What a great story! Did she finally
get to talk to him or not?
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
5 Dec 08
Apparently these kinds of pranks, like what they did to Sarah Palin when they told her the President of France was calling, are fairly common and I guess they happen all the time in the Miami area on their local radio stations. She also said in an interview I saw after posting this that in the past when someone like that called her office it would be prearranged, like she said someone from Hillary Clinton's office had called her office the other day and told her Hillary would be calling yesterday, I think she said but Obama apparently is less formal than what she's used to. He called her on her cell phone!
Yes, she did finally talk to him after the third try!
Annie
@chameleonsdream (1230)
• United States
5 Dec 08
It's one of the best funny political stories I've heard in weeks - and the thing I like best about it is that NO ONE has been mean-spirited about it at all. It's just flat-out funny. I love the fact that Obama is the type of personality that can put someone at ease after making that kind of oops!. I would have been mortified, I think... but she was obviously unflustered when she spoke to the reporters. I'll bet she was plenty flustered when she realized what she'd done, though... his comment about Michelle using the incident to take him down a few pegs when he needs it was just perfect.
1 person likes this
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
5 Dec 08
Well considering what happened to Palin with the whole fake call from the president of France thing can you blame her? I have heard a lot of radio stations have been doing this to political figures. So they have to be careful.
I bet she feels embarressed but it looks like Obama was pretty good about it and jsut laughed it off instead of getting mad. It is nice to see both sides just laughing it off instead of turning it into another partisan issue.
But also this could play in her favor. I bet obama will remember her now. Not everyone hangs up on the future president not once but twice.
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
5 Dec 08
What's really nice about this story is that it shows Obama is really reaching out to members of the other party in a personal manner, unlike how it's usually done. I think the only person who may be mad or have hurt feelings could be the guy who plays Obama on SNL!
Annie
@vjayrao06 (107)
• India
5 Dec 08
I saw this news in a local newspaper here (India).
Ms.Ileana behaved quite naturally by putting down the phone.She did not expect the call and therefore took it for a prank. She did not want to be made fun of like Ms.Palin.
I think Mr. Obama has stolen the show.Not only that he appreciated Ms. Ileana's reaction, he tried again and again to reach her and by his graceful comment!
(if he ever let his ego.......)
You too, anniepa, deserve cudos for making this an interestin topic for discussion and bringing out the funny side of the incident.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
5 Dec 08
This is hillarious! and I love how both parties handled it.
I also love the irony of her being so unpunkable, she punk'd herself! :~D
@irishidid (8688)
• United States
5 Dec 08
I would have hung up on him too. After calling him a schmuck.
