Plouffe’s Foreign Trip Not on Obama’s Behalf

The Caucus (The Politics and Government Blog of the Times)

The New York Times
February 9, 2009

By Michael Falcone

The White House on Monday said President Barack Obama’s former campaign
manager, David Plouffe, was not representing the president or carrying a
message for him on a trip to Azerbaijan that included a meeting with the
country’s president.

Mr. Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that Mr. Plouffe, who
also gave a speech on Monday in the capital, Baku, was visiting as a
private citizen.

`He’s not there at the behest of, and not delivering a message on behalf
of, the President of the United States,’ Mr. Gibbs told reporters aboard
Air Force One on the president’s trip to Indiana today. `If the
President had a message for Azerbaijan, he’d pick up the phone. It’s a
longer flight and a shorter call.’

Mr. Plouffe, who did not make the jump to the White House after steering
Mr. Obama’s campaign to victory in November, spoke at Gerb University
and was to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the speaker
of the country’s parliament, Oktay Asadov.

According to a Radio Free Europe report, journalists were not permitted
to hear Mr. Plouffe’s speech, and he declined to say what issues he
planned to discuss with President Aliyev, who is pushing for the passage
of a referendum that would eliminate presidential term limits.

`I’m here as a private citizen, so all I’m doing is talking about
elections, and the Internet and democracy, and to talk about our
election, and how great it was that so many people participated in it,’
Mr. Plouffe said. `That’s a lesson I think people can learn.’

Mr. Plouffe was reportedly invited the country by the Association for
Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan, an non-governmental
organization sympathetic to the Aliyev administration.

Since the end of the campaign, Mr. Plouffe has helped start Organizing
for America, a group affiliated with the Democratic National Committee
and the grassroots offshoot of the Obama campaign. The former campaign
manager has also signed a lucrative deal to write the book: `The
Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic
Victory.’ It will be published by Viking next fall.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress