What I Did On My Travels

By Mike Allen

There were plenty of reminders of why President Bush doesn't relish traveling abroad. In Moscow, the VIP terminal's red carpet turned out to be just a wide stripe of red paint on the Tarmac. In Jordan, all the King's men formed a wild motorcade, their vehicles nearly crashing into one another as they jostled for position trying to snap photos of the presidential limousine. In between were five other countries for a total of some 37,000 miles and 56 events.

But if there was ever a good time for George W. Bush to leave home for a spell, it was right after the mid-term elections, when Capitol Hill was aswarm with triumphant Democrats. He spent two weeks abroad, separated by a brief Thanksgiving interlude at Camp David. Air Force One, the Boeing 747 that has its own medical facility, among other amenities, circled the globe twice, serving Swiss burgers and taco salad, with snicker-doodles for dessert. On the ground in Amman, the White House staff did grapple with local dishes like chicken frekah and homemade knafeh. The President and First Lady Laura Bush watched a replay of the Michigan--Ohio State game onboard during a 36-hour day that saw the couple in Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta and across the international date line on their way to Hickam Air Force Base adjoining Pearl Harbor.

European leaders expecting a humbled Bush at the NATO summit in Latvia instead got a stout speech in which he rearticulated his foreign policy. "We must advance freedom," he said, "as the great alternative to tyranny and terror." When kids in Indonesia asked his hobby, he replied, "Baseball--sports" and told them to go easy on TV. He got his most enthusiastic reception in Vietnam, as curious onlookers lined the roads and waved at his passing motorcade. There was much the country and the visiting dignitary had in common. Neither has much appetite for looking back at the difficulties of the past. Far better to stay on the move.