President Barack Obama played grand tourist to Rio de Janeiro’s vivid extremes on Sunday, motorcading from brilliant beaches to a notorious slum even as he monitored U.S. military strikes in faraway Libya.
With his whole family in tow on the second day of a Latin American tour meant to knit economic and cultural ties, the president visited the City of God shantytown that gained fame after a movie by the same name was nominated for four Oscars. At a community center in the heart of the jostling slum, the president plunged into the lives of children there, playing soccer with kids and watching enthralled at a dazzling martial arts display.
The president shed his coat and tie, rolled up his sleeves and dribbled one-on-one soccer with one surprised boy. Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia got involved, too, kicking a ball around with the kids.
Then the president walked out into the streets and waved to throngs of residents who cheered him from rooftops and balconies. Dozens of young children pressed up against a chainlink fence trying to get a look.
On the metal roofs of the poor shantybuildings armed guards stood by. It was a short visit but the president got a glimpse of the poverty of the slum, visceral scenes of jumbled dwellings, and people lining the streets.
Meanwhile, seemingly a world away U.S. warplanes launched a coordinated assault against Moammar Gadhafi’s defenses a day after the president authorized the military action to enforce an internationally authorized no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians. The president had been on a conference call with his top advisers earlier Sunday to get briefed on the effort as juggled his touristing and economic outreach in Latin America with the unceasing demands of being commander-in-chief.
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U.S. Constitutional Free Press 