George of Arabia
Adventures in Jordan part 2
As I mentioned earlier, our president made a hastily planned trip to Jordan last week to meet with Nouri al-Maliki, the embattled Prime Minister of Iraq (really, is there any other kind?). His staff had to do some serious spin control the night he arrived in order to explain why Maliki had decided to snub him and cancel a meeting planned for that evening (apparently he was excited to see Casino Royale while Bush only wanted to see Happy Feet).
Condoleezza Rice was by his side for the trip, and seeing her in person, I can definitively say she is the best-looking Secretary of State since at least Henry Kissinger.
The streets of Amman were virtually closed off while the president was in town. Snipers lined the roofs around his hotel, The Four Seasons, and tanks and hummers were everywhere. At the Royal Pavilion of the Queen Alia Airport (named snarkishly enough for a former Queen who was killed in aâ€â€you guessed itâ€â€mid air collision), Air Force One arrived at around 7:00. Bush emerged, waved to the crowd of about 40 reporters and 700,000 secret service agents and then walked down the steps with Condi by his side and into his waiting limo. He looked a bit tired and deflated.
The next morning, as he stood beside Maliki at a press conference that had an awkward factor of somewhere between dinner with your in-laws and dinner with the guy who’s wife you’re cheating with, Bush tried to keep the mood light, but Maliki barely looked at him. He stared straight ahead and lifted his eyebrows on several occasions, seeming to grimace at what the President was saying. Bush assured the press he has no “beef” with the Iranian people, only its meddling leader who is trying to destabilize Iraq and the region.
When the president asked Maliki if he was okay taking a few more questions, the Iraqi leader responded: “We said six questions, now this is the seventh  this is the eighth  eight questions.â€? Bush didn’t know whether to laugh or look to his left where Karl Rove was sitting.
There were some major A-listers from the news media covering the President’s arrival, including all three of the network anchorsâ€â€Gibson, Williams, and Couric (plus Anderson Cooper and Shep Smith). Of the big names, only Charlie Gibson came to the presser with Bush. I sat directly behind him, admiring his beautifully coiffed head of hair (even in the dry desert air!! How do you do it Gibson, how do you do it?).