CFK Gets Her Photo With Obama – Sort Of

Argentine President Cristina Fernández got her long-sought photo with U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday – sort of. The photo, taken at the Summit of the Americas meeting in Trinidad & Tobago, is not the one-on-one that Fernández was looking for.

Instead, it’s a group shot with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Brasil’s Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva and Obama. The photo was taken before the leaders met Saturday with other regional counterparts and members of the nominally existent Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR. Right behind Fernández, but barely in view, is her ever-present translator.

The photo Fernández really wanted was one of her in a bilateral meeting with Obama -  showing the two on equal footing as important world leaders – not simply a photo of a simple social exchange. But as far as PR goes, the latter will do.

Argentina’s Foreign Ministry had been working for months to arrange a one-on-one meeting between Fernández and Obama. The effort proved to be of little avail, however, as the Obama administration declined to arrange such an encounter.

Argentine media have had a field day with the diplomatic shortcoming, noting that Fernández feels slighted by the alleged dis. But the failure to get such a meeting probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to the Kirchners, who have dedicated a significant amount of time to bashing the U.S. government since 2003, when Fernández’s husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, took power.

At the last Summit of the Americas, which was held in the Argentine coastal city of Mar del Plata, Kirchner publicly chastised U.S. President George W. Bush and encouraged Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to hold an anti-American rally at a nearby stadium.

In a meeting with another regional president during the summit, Bush asked his counterpart why Kirchner was “so hard to deal with.” The other president, who the Kirchners have long considered an ally, told Bush that Kirchner “is like an adolescent.”

As for Hugo Chavez, he too got his Obama photo, which the Venezuela government immediatley provided to the media, noting that Chavez had told Obama, “I want to be your friend.”

UPDATE: The Casa Rosada also released this photo, which I hadn’t initially seen. Boy those are some big smiles:

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