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By Fox nation
July 28, 2010
President Barack Obama, the honorary chairman of the Boy Scouts of America, will not speak in-person before the group on Wednesday at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, as part of the organization’s 100th anniversary celebration.
However, the president is sending a videotaped message to the scouts for Wednesday, the same day he will be in Manhattan to tape an appearance for ABC TV’s talk show “The View.”
Bob Dries, chairman of national news and media at the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree – a gathering that happens every four years and attracts thousands of scouts from around the world – told CNSNews.com that the organization was told on Monday that the president had scheduling conflicts and would not be speaking in-person at the week-long event.
The BSA had scheduled its Wednesday arena program to include remarks by the president at 11 a.m. in front of the more than 45,000 scouts who will be in attendance.
The White House did not confirm to CNSNews.com that the president would not speak live at the Jamboree on Wednesday, but reporters were sent an e-mail at 1:45 p.m.
On Monday announcing that the president will be in New Jersey on Wednesday afternoon to talk about the economy before he travels on to New York City to film his appearance for “The View’s” Thursday edition.
Also, shortly after the White House e-mail was distributed, Bob Dries confirmed that Jamboree officials had been informed the president would not be speaking in-person but would address the scouts via pre-taped remarks.
Since the Jamboree was launched in 1937, sitting presidents have been invited to speak at the event in their role as the honorary chairman of the BSA.
That year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the inaugural Jamboree, held on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
Obama’s three predecessors spoke at the event – George H. W. Bush in 1989 and Bill Clinton in 1998 in-person, and George W. Bush who spoke via video in 2001 when bad weather prevented him from traveling. George W. Bush did speak in-person at the 2005 Jamboree.
Source: Fox Nation
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