His meetings are shorter, his public proclamations are shorter and his workdays are quite a bit shorter than Bill Clinton’s.
Thus, there is scant surprise that President Bush’s phone chats with world leaders are probably shorter too.
“Madame President,” Bush declared.
“Mr. President,” responded Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
That was the start of a recent conversation, a transcript of which has come my way. To the undoubted chagrin of the White House, which did not return my request for comment, the Philippine government taped it all. A transcript is disclosed here for the first time (the Philippine government publicized a few quotes in a press release, but far from the whole shebang).
Having spent many hours in the past two years at the National Archives, I reveal this sedate telephonic first date with the suspicion that American foreign policy will not be greatly affected and that there will be no calls for emergency sessions of the United Nations Security Council.
Of course, a government whose previous leaders, notably Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, surreptitiously taped conversations can’t get too upset with somebody else doing the same. Then again, given the ways of the world, one would not be surprised if the likes of Israeli or Russian intelligence might also have been listening.
You never know.
Bush, who has traveled overseas three times in his adult life, apparently is taking a crash course, a sort of Geography 101 for Superpower Leaders, in his early days. He has been calling counterparts and saying hello. As he hugs Democrats at home, he is making acquaintances with counterparts overseas.
The White House is not inclined to say anything other than that conversations have taken place, fostering an early image of engagement while being discreet on the substance of these reaching outs.
So let us listen in, so to speak, to Bush and Arroyo, just a few days after Bush moved into the White House. Remember, these are two leaders occupying their offices amid controversy about the legitimacy of their presidencies and with no small debt to disputed decisions by their respective Supreme Courts:
Bush: Madame President.
Arroyo : Mr. President.
Bush: How are you?
Arroyo: Fine, and congratulations.
Bush: And same to you.
Arroyo: And thank you for your support, Mr. President.
Bush: I think we’re the two freshest faces in the presidential ranks in the world.
Arroyo: That’s right, and we have many things in common.
Bush: I have been in power for three days.
Arroyo: We have many things in common, including being children of former presidents.
Bush: Exactly. Listen, I wanted to call to just congratulate you, to tell you I’m keenly aware how important bilateral relations are between our countries and just to wish you all the best and if I can assist you in any way, I’d like to.
Arroyo: OK, thank you so much for your support and I’d like to congratulate you for winning 78 percent of the country and three-quarters of the states.
Bush: Well, thank you for paying attention to American politics.
( I apologize for interrupting, but what in the heavens is Arroyo talking about concerning Bush winning 78 percent of the country? Perhaps she is somehow alluding to some percentage of the American land mass he won, which, of course, is rather inconsequential, unless a candidate would swap a win in, say, 45,333-square-mile Pennsylvania for one in 586,412-square-mile Alaska.)
Arroyo: Of course. Your country is very important to us. Your relationship is important to us and I’m looking forward to greater enhancement.
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Bush: But we’ll do that. I’ve been reading about you. I’m most impressed by your background. I know you’ll do a fine job and you know we both have our hands full.
Arroyo: That’s right.
Bush: But with the right focus and, you know, the right spirit, I’m confident that we’ll both do our job at home and work with each other to make the world peaceful.
Arroyo: That’s true. That’s true. And in that light, I hope to see you at the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] summit in Shanghai in November.
Bush: Yes, I’ll be there.
Arroyo: You know, Mr. President, this year is the 50th anniversary of the Philippine-American Mutual Defense Treaty. So I hope that either on your way to Shanghai or on your way back, you could visit Manila.
Bush: You know that’s a very good idea. I’m gonna pass this on to [National Security Adviser] Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell. I appreciate your sharing that with me. I hope I didn’t call you too early.
Arroyo: No, no. It’s about a little past 8 a.m. here.
Bush: Oh, it’s about past 7 in the evening here, so we’re actually in different time lines.
Arroyo: That’s right, halfway around the world.
Bush: Halfway around the world.
Arroyo: But very close to each other.
Bush: Well, listen, I just wanted to congratulate you.
Arroyo: Thank you so much.
Bush: I know that you’re there and we’ll work together and, as they say, I appreciate your meeting one of our officers from the State Department. I hope you had a good meeting.
Arroyo: Yes, [Ralph L.] “Skip” Boyce. You know he was here in the Philippines as a child and I knew him then.
Bush: Did you really?
Arroyo: Yes.
Bush: Oh, that’s wonderful. So, I’ll put in a good word for him with Secretary of State Powell.
Arroyo: Well, we will be happy to continue dialoguing with him.
Bush: Well, we will see what the secretary decides but, in the meantime, I just wanna wish you the best. I look forward to meeting you.
Arroyo: Thank you so much. And thank you for your support.
Bush: I’m glad to do it. Talk to you later.
Arroyo: OK. Goodbye.
Bush: Goodbye.
Arroyo: Thank you.
And that was it.
As I forewarned, the conversation is not likely to be subpoenaed by prosecutors or pored over by historians. But it provides a smidgen of confirmation of the Bush style, which is clearly rather divergent from that of his predecessor.
Can one imagine Bill Clinton introducing himself in similar fashion without feeling compelled to show off his knowledge of Filipino history, politics, even topography?
“I know how Magellan first visited your beautiful islands in 1521 and how the Spanish came and controlled things for a long time, and how resentment just started building against bigotry and repression, fostering a move to independence,” one can almost hear Clinton opining.
“And Mr. Marcos, who did some good things and had some good relations with our government, just started going a bit overboard, putting in martial law and hurting the same people he had pledged to help. And that reminds me of what’s going on in other parts of our world now, like . . . “
Well, that riff surely would continue at great length.
There are few lessons to be learned from this chat other than that there may be strength in Bush brevity. Anything else?
Well, if you’re State Department official Skip Boyce, you probably do not have to worry about being dispatched to the Marshall Islands or Siberia. Your stock seems high, especially if you can make sure Bush had indeed put in a word with Powell.
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Finally, there is the reassurance that the new U.S. president knows that his nation and the Philippines are on different “time lines.”
For a man who’s been out of the country thrice as an adult, it’s a healthy start.
———-
James Warren and Michael Tackett of the Tribune’s Washington bureau are hosts of ”Unconventional Wisdom” at 7:05 p.m. Sunday on WGN-AM 720.