Ileana Ros Lehtinen, GOP Congresswoman, Hangs Up On Obama Twice

MIAMI — When a man sounding remarkably like President-elect Barack Obama called a Florida congresswoman Wednesday, she assumed it was a crank call.

So Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen hung up. But, the Miami Herald reports, this was no prank.

"I thought it was one of the radio stations in South Florida playing an incredible, elaborate, terrific prank on me," Ros-Lehtinen told the newspaper. "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.'"

The call came about 1 p.m. Obama congratulated her on her re-election, saying he was looking forward to working with her as the ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs committee, Ros-Lehtinen told the newspaper.

The conversation lasted about a minute when she cut Obama off, telling him she wasn't falling for the hoax and that he was a better impersonator than the guy on Saturday Night Live, she said.

Then Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, called the congresswoman to tell her it wasn't a joke. But she hung up on him, too. It took a call from Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, to persuade Ros-Lehtinen that Obama really did want to talk to her.

When the two finally talked, Ros-Lehtinen said she and Obama had a good conversation and she congratulated him for his victory despite how hard she campaigned for his opponent, Sen. John McCain.

He didn't even blame her for mistaking him for a radio-station prank, she said.

"He laughed a lot, saying in Chicago they do it all the time," Ros-Lehtinen said. "He said, 'I don't blame you for being skeptical.'"

Repeated calls by The Associated Press to two office numbers for the congresswoman rang unanswered after hours Wednesday. An e-mail message to an Obama spokeswoman after hours wasn't immediately returned.

Comments

[receivethe]

From the Lipman Times (The All Obama Coverage Daily Newspaper):

Representative Ros-Lehtinen Hangs Up on Obama- Twice

By Paul Amy on December 4, 2008

In keeping with his efforts of reaching across the aisle, President-elect Obama called Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R- FLA) three times on Wednesday. The reason for so many calls was that she hung up on him the first two times.

Believing him to be a prank-caller, Ros-Lehtinen refused to take his calls twice, hanging up on him, and a later call from Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Only when Representative Howard Berman, a colleague of Ros-Lehtinen’s and someone she knows well, called her and confirmed his identity by way of a shared anecdote did she realize her mistake...

More:

http://www.lipmantimes.com/?p=580

[maikonen]

What a charming story. And IIleana sounds like she's a sweetheart.

Barack Obama is really serious about reaching out. Those of you who are multiracial can surely understand the motivations. You have parents from two or more different races and you don't want to take sides, so you reach out to both groups whether they reject you or not. I guess Obama understands the need to reach out and mend, heal bridges and unite, and it may have a lot to do with his own experience, growing up all over the place, being culturally exposed but needing a sense of belonging to a community of people. He has learned how to channel rejection.

It i interesting how he has dealt with accusations, ridicule and taunting -- he seems to rise above these and keep himself centered on matters he deems important. We saw it in the campaign, in al Qaeda's al Zawahri's taunt, in the insistence that he was not born in America -- he has simply ignored it all. I can't help but think he must have been called names growing up, but must have laughed at the bullies and kept his focus on whatever he wanted to achieve.

A lesson in persistence, resillience and fortitude.

[BlueKansas]

Have you ever seen this woman on Bill Maher's show? Maybe if Obama had, he would never have called her in the first place. She's pretty cringeworthy, and with a voice almost as annoying as Sarah Palin's.

[Countdown09]

I'm sure she didn't believe it -- that a "Democratic" President elect would take the time to call and congratulate a GOP person.

[ballewb]

Terrible headline

[CeeCee]

I'd forgive her for hanging up the first time. But hanging up over and over?
No excuse for that.

[DouginCT]

The headline is misleading and makes HP no better than Drudge. WHY are you sinking to that level. Really takes the shine off the good stuff on HP.

Enough of the partisan photo and headline nonsense. Please.

[GlenRast]

Not true. On Drudge the story matches the headline.

[LucieLee]

Ileana is a joke~! "She's so vain, she must have thought this song is about her......" . She just doesn't get it, the prank that wasn't, wasn't pulled on her......she ain't worth the effort~!

[EvangelicalEmpathy]

I find this very disturbing that a Congresswoman would chose to hang up on someone who was obviously being polite and very congratulatory out of fear of being pranked. She in essence chose rudeness instead of grace. Who thinks like this? I hope she sent Obama and Emmanuel a box of "something" (almonds?) as an apology. I don't know what I'd send but I'd make it good.

[also there also]

I agree. If she was concerned that it wasn't really the P-E, then why not say just so and ask if there was a way to verify his identity - call him back through the Transition Office or whatever. After Palin fell for the Montreal Duo, I could understand why Ros-Lehtinen would be gun shy, but to hang up on someone who is simply being courteous is rude. Kudo's to Obama for taking it with a grain of salt.

[Clavis]

Misleading headline. I assumed she did it deliberately.

[DebofMD]

I bet she feels like a dumb-dumb.

[DandaPanda]

She is a dumb dumb

[EllaBee]

This is funny! At least he reached out to her.

[GTFOOH]

DOH!

[Yarrr]

Well you can't really blame her after what happened to Palin.

[Joeblue]

She did'nt have just hang up she could have been polite. Typical Repug, I bet she knew d a m n well.

[NYCMami]

agree

[Onpage17]

Well it sounds like Obama was OK with it and understood, so whats the big deal? At least she had the sense to think that it could be a prank...unlike Scarah P who actually believes that she is so flipping important that heads of Countries will call her up to just to say " how she going?"....

[enyapjeff]

Another simple minded repug.

Let's get this party completely voted out of congress.

[OkieIntellectual]

What? She's simple-minded because, after all the press over the same kind of prank pulled on Palin and others, she decided to err on the side of caution? Sounds to me like she was actually using her head a bit more than the average person does.

Look, I like to slam on the GOP as much as any liberal, but only when its warranted. In this case its not.

[paixa3]

I agree. At least they seemed to have a civil conversation, something that is a rarity these days in the country.

[TheBlackCat]

agreed

[Bashley]

I don't believe she was simple-minded. No one expects the President (elect) to just up and call them. I think she'll always have a great story to tell!

[Yarrr]

Okay, it's one thing to be anti-Republican, but some of these responses are ridiculous. It was an honest mistake in light of the Palin incident. The PE took no offense. So lighten up!

[reliant1]

If they are voted out totally then the Dem party will fracture, taking most of the centrist and moderate members with them and leave the outer fringes as a powerless minority.

....I guess they do needed voted out of office - asap.