Word: czeched
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President Obama touched down in the Czech Republic at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, two hours ahead of schedule, raising expectations that he might opt for a night on the town. Indeed, as soon as the motorcade arrived at his downtown hotel, agents began preparing for an imminent departure to an undisclosed dinner location. But the first couple chose to stay in, opting for an early night after four grueling days on the road...
...Saturday night, Barack and Michelle Obama will share a private dinner in romantic Prague, but elsewhere in the Czech capital, the President may find the ambience somewhat more chilly. Whereas the Czech Republic might once have been the most unquestioningly loyal of Washington's post-Cold War allies, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's comment last week that President Obama's economic stimulus plan is "a road to hell" underscores the fact that Czech support for the U.S. leadership is no longer a certainty...
...Obamas' private dinner may, in fact, be a way of avoiding political awkwardness in the Czech capital: They will not be joining President Vaclav Klaus (a skeptic on global warming) at a state dinner; nor will they be sharing delicious Czech lager at an informal pub visit with Topolanek, whose government collapsed a day before his comment about Obama's stimulus inferno. Czech sources insist that the Americans had turned down those two invitations before the Prime Minister's remark. (See pictures of the Obamas in Europe...
...There's unlikely to be much awkwardness, however, when Obama encounters ordinary Czechs, among whom there is tremendous excitement over his visit. Thousands are expected to gather on Sunday when the President will speak at historic Hradcansky square next to the majestic Prague Castle, a site offering splendid views of the red-roofed, river-laced city. He is expected to talk about reducing the nuclear weapons proliferation. "I am absolutely thrilled," says Jiri Hlupy, 76, a set designer in the local movie industry. He hopes that Obama's presence will "wake up" squabbling Czech politicians...
...Some Czechs are more realistic about the impact of the Obama visit on their own political class. The U.S. President's "goal is to address Europeans in the country [currently] presiding over the European Union and to have a picture taken with [former Czech president and anti-Communist resistance icon] Vaclav Havel," says political scientist Jiri Pehe, a former Havel adviser who heads Prague's branch of New York University. "I don't want to be cruel, but present-day Czech politicians do not interest...