This Week In Pool Reports

Patrick — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:55:07 +0000

Some leftover Aussie details, POTUS makes a new friend and say cheese!

“POTUS and the other leaders emerged from the Sydney Opera House at about 1:15 p.m. in brown Drizabone (it’s a trade name — www.drizabone.com.au) coats, just above the knee, with different colored collars: pink, blue, green and yellow. POTUS had blue. The coats had APEC Austalia 2007, with the APEC star logo embroidered on the left side, near the lapel.” — Sheryl Stolberg, New York Times

“After a bit more rustling, a voice from the back of the press corps, which numbered about 200: ‘Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m Matt, the house photographer. Let’s see a big smile.’ At which point POTUS smiled, but not a hearty smile, more a forced one. Someone shouted out and asked the leaders to wave, and they all did — all using their right hands, excpet for POTUS, who used his left. It was kind of a lame wave, about halfway up his body. One leader wore a matching hat: Stephen Harper of Canada. POTUS apparently knew better.” — Stolberg

“Just a photo op. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was already in the room admiring the view with Australian PM John Howard when POTUS arrived. Howard let out a robust, ‘Morning, George,’ to which Bush replied, ‘How are you?’ Howard then asked, ‘Did you sleep well?’ but your pool could not hear the president reply.” — Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

“The rooftop executive lounge had a stunning view of Sydney harbor, with the bridge to the left and a more or less top-down view of the roof of the Opera House. A table was set up in the glassed-in corner with fruit plates already laid. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab entered after Bush to accompany him at the breakfast.” — Reynolds

“It took a South Korean president to make POTUS and Putin look best friends again. Lots of warm words, jokes and consensual language in brief press remarks after their meeting. POTUS looked relieved.” — Andrew Ward, The Financial Times

“Condoleezza Rice was caught in the press scrum leaving the room, commenting to no-one in particular that she was hurrying to catch a ride. But she was stopped in her tracks by Putin, who was lingering outside the room. ‘Condi! Condi!’ he called after her as she strode away. Rice turned back and the pair embraced warmly before going their separate ways.” — Ward

“US officials in the meeting: Rice, Jeffrey, Schwab, Price, Perino. Short, uneventful motorcades to and from the Marriot. We now have a lid, with POTUS back at the InterCon.” — Ward

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