I'm no Obama fan, but Bush senior did not attend the celebrations either when the wall fell, and he too was criticized for it. But Gorbachev thanked him for not attending, for not bragging and angering or humiliating the Russian conservatives who wanted the old Soviet Union to live on. That was the reason Bush did not attend.
Obama is not going to attend the anniversary celebrations probably for the same reasons, for the sake of American and Russian relations. The Soviet Union lost. There is no need for America to rub it in there face too.
LOL
You have one ass long memory.

I had completely forgotten about that one.
I always thought Bush Sr was a good example of what a politician should be like.
Technocrat, dull, not very flashy.
Never mind his ties to dirty business with the CIA.
But his personality, like John Kerry's, is what I prefer 8 days a week over a Tony Blair, an Obama or a Clinton.
Or the "communicator"

Reagan.