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Out of Change: Obama Has to Borrow Coins to Toss in Jerusalem Wishing Well During Tour Stop

Mar. 21, 2013 1:13pm Sharona Schwartz

Continuing a Governent Tradition, Obama Had to Borrow Money to Toss in Jerusalem Wishing Well

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu examine the Dead Sea Scrolls on exhibit at Jerusalem’s Shrine of the Book (Photo courtesy: Israel Government Press Office)

We all know the U.S. Government is a profligate borrower. What we may not have known is that it’s not only the big bucks that are important, but the small coins too.

Even though he makes trillion dollar budgetary decisions, President Barack Obama was short of change Thursday morning at a stop on his Israel tour.

At the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed, Obama wanted to throw shekels in a wishing well there, but found he was short of change. The Times of Israel describes the scene:

The president arrives at the Museum, and is welcomed by Netanyahu, and by Israel Museum director James Snyder. He is taken into the Shrine of the Book to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. He’s to be shown a scroll of the Book of Isaiah — but apparently won’t be allowed to touch it. No, not even the president.

Snyder is giving Obama, Netanyahu and negotiator [to the Palestinians] Yitzhak Molcho, who heads the museum board, a tour of the Shrine, which he says is the only permanent building constructed with its unique design.

True to his promise, Obama is spending most of his time listening as he views fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Obama asked for a coin, and Molcho had to ask somebody else for some shekels for Obama to throw in a wishing well at the site.

President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu tour the Shrine of the Book. Israel’s chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho is behind Netanyahu on the right. (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90)

According to a 2011 article on the presidential wallet in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, presidents don’t always carry wallets.

Among those who did: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln (it was found in his pockets after he was assassinated), and Ronald Reagan who once bought a burger and fries for $2.25 at an Alabama McDonald’s.

George H.W. Bush carried a wallet in which he had $53, but once told People Magazine “I’ve had it there for quite a while.”

Reporter John Campanelli’s investigation into the presidential pocket further led him from George W. Bush to Obama:

In 2005, a Latin American reporter asked George W. Bush what he had in his pockets. The president pulled out a handkerchief — and nothing else. He even turned his pockets inside out to show he wasn’t hiding anything. “Es todo. No dinero” [That's all. No money], the president said. “No wallet, no bolsa [wallet].”

Earlier that year, as the collection plate approached him during the National Prayer Service, Bush found himself without money. Vice President Dick Cheney offered him some, but Bush refused and turned to his father, who was sitting behind him. The elder Bush slipped him some cash.

In February 1993, with the country climbing out of a recession, U.S. News & World Report quoted White House aides who said the new president, Bill Clinton, would pay for his coffee, clothes and even cat food for the first feline, and that he would carry a wallet and credit cards to make purchases.

By the end of his second term, however, Clinton did not carry credit cards or much cash, and he had become notorious for borrowing money from his Secret Service guards while out shopping, according to longtime White House correspondent Connie Lawn.

Barack Obama may or may not carry a wallet (the White House did not respond to a PDQ query asking if he did), but he carries cash. During various trips, he’s paid cash for cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, shaved ice in Hawaii, books in Iowa and a giant pastry in Wisconsin.

He may not have had a coin for the wishing well, but Obama did have presidential “challenge coins” which he awarded to two disabled individuals he met during a tour of Israeli hi-tech innovations. The AP describes the scene Thursday:

In the most emotional moment of the tech tour, Obama and Netanyahu encountered a Druze Israeli war veteran and a U.S. army veteran, both paralyzed from the waist down. Both demonstrated how they were able to walk with the help of crutches and a computerized exoskeleton that supported their legs as they moved.

Obama gave both of them presidential “challenge coins,” used to recognize veterans for their service.

The army veteran, Theresa Hannigan, a 60-year-old woman from Long Island, N.Y., was learning how to use the motorized aides, called the ReWalk, at the Bronx V.A. Hospital. She implored Obama to help the device obtain FDA approval. Her voice breaking, Hannigan stood straight and hugged Obama.

An Israeli company, Argo Medical Technologies, created the “exoskeleton” suit which allows paraplegics to walk again, using motion sensors hooked up to computers that activate motorized legs.

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Comments (125)

762x51
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:51pm
Nobody had change for a $1,000 dollar bill?

Obama wasn’t out of change he just doesn’t know how to spend money he didn’t borrow or steal.

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kruzer_mike
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:45pm
An offering that costs you nothing is no sacrifice at all……….

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MBA
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:38pm
In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the
University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the
Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: “A democracy is always
temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent
form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until
the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous
gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority
always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from
the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a
dictatorship.”

“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the
beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200
years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.”
The Obituary follows:

Born 1776, Died 2012
It doesn’t hurt to read this several times.
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in
St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning
the last Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Obama-19; Romney-29.
Square miles of land won

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- 762x51
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:57pm
  You cannot out gift Santa Claus.
  
  Report this comment
CWPrequired
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:34pm
If Obuma had a coin it would look like that.

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SpeakSoftlyAndCarry
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:32pm
Obama borrowed our “wishes” to and hasn’t repayed them.

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IFUDONTSTANDUPWHOWILL
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:27pm
couldn’t even pay for his damn wishes. seriously.

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iraiam
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:25pm
Still spending other peoples money I see.

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Canada_Goose
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:19pm
Utterly frustrated by its inability to drum up any real controversy from Mr. Obama’s Israeli and Palestinian visit, The Blaze is left reporting on petty trivialities.

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- SpeakSoftlyAndCarry
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:33pm
  Is that your Moose I hear calling you?
  
  Report this comment
- 762x51
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:52pm
  You want him? He’s all yours.
  
  Report this comment
Mountaineer12
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:18pm
He should have thrown himself in.

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- 762x51
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:53pm
  Wearing a cinder block.
  
  Report this comment
Lotus503
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:05pm
Boy, that describes his whole administration…borrow or take other people’s money and just throw it away with no conscience or remorse.

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mlimberg
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:04pm
We really need a well placed lightning strike about now…..

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- 762x51
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:53pm
  Wait until his next golf outing.
  
  Report this comment
countryfirst
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:00pm
Is funny how BO doesn’t t have a single coin of his own to throw into a shallow well, but will take all of ours and toss it into a bottomless pit.

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Sargeking
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:58pm
With this latest is a long string of foibles we can also be reassured that it wasn’t Mr. Obama that pumped in the wrong fuel to “The Beast”. He couldn’t find the right fuel hose for finding his head.

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:37pm
Watch your back Bibi. Don’t be fooled by Obama.

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moreteaplease
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:30pm
Just blame it on sequestration and the Republicans. That’s what he’s done so far.

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STREBOR
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:28pm
He’s been shaking down people for shekels all his life………it’s the Chicago way. Nothing new here.

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comforteagle
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:27pm
Funny story. A millionair having to ask for a bit of change… This “news” is probably worth about the amount he threw in the fountain tho….

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:25pm
Moocher Barry, doing what he does best.
Taking from others, for his own agenda.

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Oknowwhat
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:21pm
I just love to see him out in the real world, among real people, unprotected! His true idiocy shines through for all to see. Hard to believe one can be so sly & destructive and such a putz at the same time. Strange combo.

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- LeadNotFollow
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:35pm
  In my opinion, Barry is merely the puppet. Someone else is pulling the strings.
  He does not think for himself. He’s an empty shell.
  He reads words that the puppet-master writes for him. He does what he’s instructed to do. That’s why he’s no good at speaking off the cuff or interacting with others.
  I have my doubts, that he’s even human. He seems so cold, soulless, and lifeless.
  
  Report this comment
Bonnieblue2A
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:20pm
Obama only knows how to take money from others. Borrowing suggests one will be paid back. Good luck collecting $$ from Obama unless you are a donor/bundler with a “green energy” company getting a taxpayer funded grant from the DOE.

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Kiba
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:16pm
Par for the course. Just goes to show you that if Americans aren’t handing him their money he cant come up with any. Typical democrat, they don’t carry and money of their own because they are afraid they might have to spend it.

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chips1
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:16pm
A person would think Michelle would loan him a sack of quarters. Guess not!!!

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- 762x51
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:56pm
  He doesn’t get his allowance until Friday.
  
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pragmaticpatriot
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:13pm
I feel your pain barry, I’m out of change too. At least with Bush i had dollars

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SREGN
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:12pm
“The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money” – Some Limey

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- 762x51
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 3:55pm
  Actually Margaret Thatcher.
  
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love the kids
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 2:09pm
I’m sure he borrowed it from the chineese with no intentions of paying it back. We don’t have a spending problem, see, the money came from somewhere.

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