|
With or without Obey, U2’s Bono charms freshman House Dems |
|
By Jonathan E. Kaplan
|
|
Posted: 10/04/07 07:05 PM [ET] |
U2 frontman Bono showered attention on House freshman Democratic lawmakers Wednesday during their weekly breakfast meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The Irish-born rocker-slash-philanthropist was on the Hill to solicit ideas for publicizing the successes of U.S. government programs and his own charitable initiatives in combating poverty, AIDS and other ills in Africa.
Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Wis.) started the morning meal by giving Bono a pop quiz in U.S. geography, asking whether he could locate the congressman’s home state on a map, according to sources.
He responded that he knew America’s Dairyland well. The follow-up: Did Bono know where one can find a statue of Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.)?
There is such a monument, and Bono helped pay for it, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) chimed in.
Bono said that was true, but noted that his generosity was conditioned on Obey’s promise to stop playing the guitar.
Hoyer may have earned some chuckles in part because Obey dissed Bono last December, when the latter was in Washington lobbying lawmakers.
“I don’t need any lectures from an Irishman to tell me what the hell our obligation is,” Obey told Bloomberg News recently in recalling the incident, adding that he held hearings on AIDS before he had ever heard of Bono.
For his part, Bono was a gracious host, bringing Pelosi flowers and, when he crossed paths with her later in the day, complimenting the Speaker on wearing red in honor of RED, his effort to get businesses involved in the fight against AIDS in Africa.
He also had coffee with eight members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to a spokesman for Bono’s think tank, Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA). Bono thanked them for acting on his priorities and entertained questions about the 2008 election.
The musician and global activist has traveled with former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, lobbied on Capitol Hill and visited the Oval Office.
Yet Democratic lawmakers were eager to offer ideas to the stylish Irishman, dressed in a dark suit, dark tie and an untucked dark dress shirt.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said he reminded Bono that he had given him a Sun Record Company pin at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Bono was there to perform in celebration of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) birthday. Sun produced records for Elvis Presley and other stars.
Cohen suggested that Bono could promote his issues during Christmas at Presley’s Graceland mansion in Memphis.
“I told him, ‘Elvis won’t be there,’ ” Cohen said.
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) asked Bono to reaffirm Congress’s bona fides — that the institution is indeed “accomplishing a lot” when it comes to fighting AIDS and malaria.
“I want people to know that their money is well spent and that is exactly the kind of message that [Bono can convey], especially to young people,” Shea-Porter said.
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) asked Bono to remember poverty in Haiti and the Caribbean. Bono replied that a friend of his, the Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean, would not let him forget.
Clarke said she grew up with Jean.
Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who noted that U2’s “Beautiful Day” was her campaign theme song, suggested that the lights on the Capitol Christmas tree should each represent a unit of good works, such as 100 people saved as a result of anti-HIV/AIDS drugs or children attending a new school.
At the meeting’s end, Bono posed for pictures, shook hands and left all the lawmakers feeling good.
“He’s a big political visionary who uses his music and resources to make a difference,” Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) said.
Daphne Retter contributed to this story. |
