Ros-Lehtinen Hangs Up On Obama Not Once, But Twice

The 2008 United States Presidential Election race has come and gone. One can say that this was a very interesting election year. So far, it was quite the bumpy and turbulent ride. There were plenty of memorable moments. One memorable moment in the days before US Election Day on November 4 would be the prank call to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the VP running-mate for GOP Presidential nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona. The prank call was on live radio. It made waves across the world let alone the country. Palin was prank called by the comedy duo called the “Justiciers Masques” or “Masked Avengers.” They are a comedy duo based in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. One of them pretended to be French President Nicholas Sarkozy. While the prank call is old news, it has generated a good deal of paranoia. GOP Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida received several phone calls from US Democratic President-elect Barack Obama. Obama was calling to congratulate her on winning reelection. But, Ros-Lehtinen was skeptical. She was under the impression that it was someone out to prank her. As a result, she hung up on Obama. Democratic Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who Obama picked for his White House Chief of Staff, would call Ros-Lehtinen. She hung up on Emanuel as well. Third time’s a charm. Obama managed to get through to Ros-Lehtinen. Was Obama angry or irritated? It did not seem that way. According to Ros-Lehtinen, Obama was cracking up in laughter. The two of them were having plenty of laughs. Overall, that prank call seems to have created some sort of paranoia about the risk of getting prank called on live radio. On a historical side note, Ros-Lehtinen is the first Cuban-American female to be elected into the United States Congress. In some social issues, she does break way from the GOP. She is one of the only two GOP members of the LGBT congressional caucus.