By David Gold
August 4 – When Barack Obama gets around to opening his birthday cards, he will be finding a message of support from FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who wrote to the United States President, hailing him as a “visionary leader and unifier”.
Blatter, who turned 75 himself March, told Obama that “turning 50 is an occasion to reflect and look forward”.
It is unlikely to be the most celebrated of the Democrat President’s birthdays, despite it being the 50 year landmark, as he has spent much of the last fortnight attempting to broker a deal to lift the US’s self imposed debt ceiling with Congressional leaders.
After weeks of brinksmanship between the Democrat and Republican parties, they finally reached agreement last weekend on a deal to lift the debt ceiling and significantly slash US spending over the next 10 years, and it finally passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday (August 2), just before the deadline given by US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner passed.
However, Obama will now face the anger of his party, particularly in the House of Representatives, where a majority of Democrats voted against approving the deal, with the bill passing through the Senate with less resistance.
Blatter is sure to have some sympathy with the political difficulties faced by Obama, who is gearing up for his Presidential re-election campaign next year, after his own controversial re-election as FIFA President earlier this year in June.
Mohamed Bin Hammam, Blatter’s opponent, withdrew just before the election after allegations that he had attempted to bribe North American FIFA delegates along with CONCACAF chair Jack Warner, triggering an Ethics Committee investigation, which last month banned Bin Hammam from all footballing activity.
Blatter, who has announced he will step down from the post in 2015, now faces an uphill struggle to clean up the image of world football’s governing body after they came in for heavy criticism following the scandal, as well as the fiasco of last year’s World Cup bidding campaign and vote, which saw the 2022 World Cup awarded to Qatar in controversial circumstances.
In his message to the US President, Blatter added: “I wish you strength in these difficult times and I am convinced that you will succeed in overcoming these challenges.”
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1735850948labto1735850948ofdlr1735850948owedi1735850948sni@d1735850948log.d1735850948ivad1735850948