President Clinton will give jet-setting whole new meaning
President Clinton will give jet-setting whole new meaning
JAKARTA (Reuter): U.S. President Bill Clinton's Asian trade
mission involves 20,500 miles (33,000 km) of travel, but he will
give new meaning to the term "jet-setter" if he follows through
on tentative travel plans for early December.
That schedule, administration officials say, calls for Clinton
to fly to California on Dec. 3 for a Democratic Party fund raiser
hosted by Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg, back to Washington
on Dec. 4 for a ceremonial event and probably on to Hungary that
night.
Though no final decision has been made, Clinton is likely to
attend a Budapest summit of the 53-nation Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) on Dec. 5 and return to
Washington in time for a congressional Christmas party that
night.
Tuesday, Dec. 6 and Wednesday are supposed to be normal work
days for the indefatigable president, but his planning schedule
calls for him to leave Washington again Dec. 8 to attend a Dec.
9-11 summit of western hemisphere leaders in Miami, Florida.
A presidential visit to Haiti is penciled in for Dec. 12, but
Clinton would leave from Washington even though Miami is closer
because he has a commitment in the U.S. capital on the night of
Dec. 11.
Deputy White House counsel Bruce Lindsey says Clinton is able
to sleep well while flying "but he has pretty good
accommodations". Air Force One, the presidential jetliner, has a
large stateroom that includes a double bed.
But Clinton confessed on Monday that even he is not immune to
the disruption of normal biological rhythm caused by travel known
as "jet lag."
Asked if he was experiencing jet lag on this trip, which began
with a one-day visit to the Philippines and ends with a three-day
stopover in Hawaii, Clinton replied: "Just a tad."
"I think I'm still somewhere between Jordan and Jerusalem," he
added, referring to his whirlwind trip to the Middle East less
than two weeks ago.
Clinton criticized then-President George Bush in the 1992
presidential campaign for spending too much time traveling
abroad, but he will eclipse Bush's record of six foreign trips in
one year -- the most ever by a U.S. leader -- if he goes to
Hungary and Haiti next month.
The separate trips would give him a total of seven.
U.S. presidents often draw larger, friendlier crowds outside
the United States than they get at home, making foreign travel
attractive to them. Because of the opposition Republican takeover
of Congress in last week's election, which is likely to stalemate
his domestic agenda, Clinton might wind up focusing on foreign
policy more and more.