Ed Koch Unhappy With Obama: Report
Image by getty images
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch isn’t dumping President Obama — yet.
The 87-year-old Koch told New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin that he is very angry with Obama for snubbing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the U.S.
“There should be a certain courtesy involved,” Koch said. “You don’t just say we can’t fit him into our schedule.”
Koch, who was recently hospitalized with anemia, said he is still backing Obama’s reelection campaign, but concedes that could change, too.
“I’m not off the bus yet, but I’m pissed and I’m going to harangue them,” he said.
The former mayor gave Obama a black eye when he helped elect Republican Bob Turner to a Queens-based Congressional seat after Anthony Weiner resigned in disgrace.
But the two seemed to have made nice after a White House meeting and Koch had vowed to go to Florida to rally Jewish senior citizens to get behind the president. He also denounced GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan for his plans to revamp Medicare.
Now Koch snippily says Obama spoke for two-thirds of their half-hour meeting. “I got 10 minutes,” he complained to the Post.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
