Governor-General dresses (twice) to impress President
WE WOULD not dare speculate that Governor-General Quentin Bryce has a large beach towel tucked away in her limousine, but it was tempting to imagine her, like a teenage surfie chick, struggling in the back seat out of one outfit into another, legs and arms akimbo beneath just such a cloak as she was borne between engagements yesterday.There she was, shining in buttercup yellow on the Canberra tarmac beneath Air Force One as US President Barack Obama bounded down the steps to grasp her hand in his famous two-pawed grip, holding it for a long half a minute, sealing the moment with the merest touch on the elbow.
And barely half an hour later, having travelled from the airport to Parliament House, there was the Governor-General greeting the President again at the Great Verandah at Parliament House.Gone was the buttercup. Her new outfit was a tangerine dream.Everyone, it seemed, was intent on making an impression on the President.Hardly surprising, really. For the past year or so, there was a growing fear among political leaders — who invest so much in the apparently supernatural power of a presidential visit to boost flagging popularity — that Obama would never make it to Australia.
Poor Kevin Rudd waited vainly when he was prime minister as President Obama pulled out of a planned trip in March 2010, intent on steering his health legislation through the US Senate. And then he baulked again in mid-June 2010, fearful of leaving his nation as oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly after, the Obama-bereft Rudd was gone, and it was Julia Gillard’s turn to wait nervously.Perhaps it was overwhelming relief, but Ms Gillard was rendered close to speechless in the early evening when she faced a joint media conference with Mr Obama. Her voice quavered, and she appeared either panic-stricken or close to tears. She had to turn aside to cough before she regained her composure.
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