As my partner, Aaron Katsman, wrote about yesterday, IOI is spending two days at the President of Israel Shimon Peres’s Facing Tomorrow conference.
Before I write about how U.S. President George W. Bush addressed the delegation of businessmen/women, philanthropists, state leaders and ex-state leaders, I wanted to say that you can get a feel at these type of feel-good, semi-self congratulatory events regarding who’s hot and who’s not. While casino mogul and Forbes Top 10 holder Sheldon Adelson (LVS) walked the floor as did luminaries like Henry Kissinger, Elie Wiesel, and Bank of Israel’s Stanley Fischer, when Google (GOOG) founder Sergey Brin entered the cocktail room, the whole room hushed as bigwigs jostled to get close to him. Interesting. He’ll be participating on a panel tomorrow entitled “The Revolution of the Internet and the New Media”. Kinda catchy.
U.S. President George W. Bush addressed a gushing crowd that broke into a few standing ovations throughout W’s speech. After addressing the Israeli delegates and thanking them for their support and their stiff-neckedness in spite of historical travail, Bush told the U.S. delegates to “spend freely and behave themselves”.
Bush was very relaxed and quite moved by the outpouring of emotion and support for him. The most powerful person in the world makes one feel that he’s almost talking directly to you, as a friend. And Bush is a friend of Israel. He told the crowd that Prime Minister Olmert has plans to take him tomorrow to address the Israeli Knesset, which Bush described as “a place of many a sharp elbow”. It was absolutely terrific.
After wishing Israel “Happy Birthday” on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Israeli Independence Day, Bush said that he hopes that Israel will soon help release his “vision of a day where every child in the Middle East can live in peace and freedom.”
Amen, W.
Disclosure: Author’s fund has no position in any stock mentioned as of 5/14/08 but author and his family own GOOG stock.
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