 A rare gathering: Bush, Obama, 3 ex-presidents
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-08 07:41
An entire generation has gone by since the US last saw this tableau of American history: every living president together at the White House. Consider it time for a reunion among the members of one of the world's most elite clubs, plus the one man about to join it - Barack Obama. Picking up on an idea from Obama, President George W. Bush yesterday was hosting a lunch for the incoming president and the three living former presidents: Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. It will be the first time all the living presidents have gathered at the White House since 1981. Bush and Obama also would meet privately for roughly 30 minutes in the Oval Office before the lunch. That one-on-one meeting, coming just 13 days before Obama's inauguration, was more likely to zero in on grim current events, with war in the Gaza Strip and the economy in a recession. The Vice President-elect, Joe Biden, was also coming to the White House yesterday for a closed meeting with former President Bush. Considering the bond they hold in history, US presidents get together infrequently, particularly at the White House. And when they are in the same room, it is usually for a milestone or somber moment - a funeral of a world leader, an opening of a presidential library, a commemoration of history. Not this time. The White House said Obama suggested the idea of a presidential gathering when he met Bush in the Oval Office in November. And Bush went for it. "It's going to be an interesting lunch," Bush told an interviewer recently. When asked what the five men would talk about, Bush said: "I don't know. I'm sure (Obama's) going to ask us all questions, I would guess. If not, we'll just share war stories." They have plenty of those, political and otherwise. Their paths to power have long been entwined. Carter lost the presidency to Ronald Reagan, whose running mate was George H.W. Bush. Bush later won election but lost after one term to Clinton. Then Bush's son, the current president, defeated Clinton's vice-president, Al Gore. And this year Obama won after long linking his opponent, John McCain, to Bush. Those campaign rivalries tend to soften over time as presidents leave the White House and try to adopt the role of statesmen - although Carter, even as an ex-president, has had some critical public words for the current president's foreign policy. All five men were to pose for a group photo in the Rose Garden, but a January rainstorm scrapped that plan. So the noontime photo opportunity - to be the media's only glimpse of them - was moved indoors to the Oval Office instead. The presidents and Obama would then have lunch in a private dining room off the Oval Office, where no one else was expected to join them. Agencies
(China Daily 01/08/2009 page12) |
