President Barack Obama embarrassed himself during a speech at a global climate summit in Ireland this week.
At least, Obama thought he was in Ireland.
He was actually in Glasgow, Scotland — but referred to it as the “Emerald Isles,” Ireland’s common nickname.
The Irish Daily Times jumped on Obama’s mistake —
https://twitter.com/irishdailytimes/status/1458029790267678727
Of course, Obama’s controversial gaffe wasn’t the only embarrassing moment to come out of the climate summit.
One of the most embarrassing things to happen was a no-show — California Gov. Gavin Newsom disappeared and abruptly cancelled his trip to join his fellow Democratic Party leaders at the summit.
Newsom’s official reason was that he chose to take his children trick or treating on Halloween instead of discussing climate change with world leaders in Scotland. His decision to abruptly cancel his trip and then recede from public view for nearly two weeks was driven by the desire to spend quality time with his kids, Newsome claimed.
The California governor has came after increasing media coverage and criticism from Republicans about his whereabouts and what he was doing. His last public event had been Oct. 27 when he got a coronavirus booster shot and then two days later his office issued a brief statement saying he was canceling his travel plans for unspecific “family obligations.”
His staff would not answer questions about where he was or what he was doing for much of that time. However, photos over the weekend published in Vogue showed Newsom attending the elite-only wedding of Ivy Love Getty, the granddaughter of the late billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty whose family members have been major donors to Newsom’s campaigns.
By Monday, Newsom’s absence had prompted speculation about his health, mostly among conservatives on social media who rallied around the hashtag #wheresgavin. Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, added to the intrigue on Sunday night with a since-deleted tweet telling people to “please stop hating and get a life.”
Neither the governor nor his representatives said why they didn’t offer details about Newsom’s whereabouts before this week.
“A governor’s absence is always a matter of public concern. That’s especially true for a governor claiming sole authority to control people’s lives through a ‘State of Emergency,’” tweeted Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, who ran for governor in the recall election. Kiley has repeatedly tried and failed to convince his colleagues in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to limit Newsom’s emergency powers during the pandemic.
The Associated Press contributed to this article