CHICAGO — World leaders hoping to meet President – elect Barack Obama at an economic summit this weekend in Washington will be disappointed. Obama does not plan to be in the nation’s capital or receive foreign visitors in Chicago over the weekend. He long ago ruled out attending, saying the nation has only one president at a time, and it’s still George W. Bush.
The president-elect has several reasons to avoid the scene. He could be accused of stealing scenes and acting presumptuous if he received world leaders at a Washington site while Bush makes one more stab at battling the global economic crisis. And the more closely he ties himself to that effort, the more he risks being associated with any new economic pain that arises in the next few weeks.
