Welcome to the 2012 World Economic Forum, which brought about 2,600 people last week to the ultra-tony ski resort of Davos, Switzerland — world leaders, corporate titans, royalty and media folk, plus thousands of staff and security.
Picture some think-tank gathering, say the Aspen Institute, on steroids. These aren’t just the one-percenters. These are the one-thousandth-of-one-percenters.
Britain’s
David Cameron
, Germany’s
Angela Merkel
, Nigeria’s
Goodluck Jonathan
, Israeli Defense Minister
Ehud Barak
, our pal
Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia, and the former Muslim Brotherhood member now Egyptian presidential candidate
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh
all made the scene, in addition to journalist
Chelsea Clinton
of the Clinton Foundation and “Sir Mick Jagger
, artist.”
The endless gabfests — if you actually attended them — pondered whither this economic trend, whither that societal trend, whither new media, whither whatever. (Wouldn’t do for the world leaders to be taken by surprise, would it?)
A decidedly international affair, but in keeping with the U.S. position as the world’s largest economy, a group of lawmakers went over to be on a two-hour panel discussion called “The New American Identity — A Political Perspective.”
The delegation included Republican Sens. Bob Corker
(Tenn.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss
(R-Ga.); Republican Reps.
Mario Diaz-Balart
(Fla.),
David Dreier
(Calif.),
Jeff Fortenberry
(Neb.) and
Darrell Issa
(Calif.); and Democratic Rep.
Nita Lowey
(N.Y.).
Two Democratic governors, John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Dan Malloy of Connecticut, also made the trip.
Now, before you start thinking five days in the Swiss Alps isn’t worth it, Issa, who has declined in the past but finally decided to go, says there are benefits.
“I think we really need to be there,” he told our colleague Ed O’Keefe. “We need to look and say how do they [the international folks] view Greece, Italy, Portugal? How do they view us?” The Davos gathering “gets you 1,000 of the premier thinkers all in one place.”
Administration officials echoed that view. The administration contingent included Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, U.S. Trade Rep Ron Kirk, Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats, Treasury Undersecretary Lael Brainard, Food and Drug Commissioner Peggy Hamburg, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Agency for International Development chief Rajiv Shah, and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs Mike Froman.
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