President Clinton

Today was quite the day! President Clinton came to Bahrain to meet with the Crown Prince, and on his way out, we were able to meet him and get a few pictures. Even though I can't say I care for his political views (or personal life while in office), it was still truly amazing to meet a former president of the United States. I didn't think I'd be so glad or excited to meet him. You see, he came to Nigeria while we were there to attend a conference. Karl Rove came to Nigeria to attend the same conference, and I was more interested in meeting him than President Clinton. In fact, I wasn't interested in meeting President Clinton at all. So when Chris told me about the photo opportunity this time around, my first thought was, "No, I'm not interested - just like last time. Although I could wear a pretty blue dress...." :-)

After thinking about it some more, I decided to do it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet a president and an experience that most Americans never get to have. I also caved after considering what a great opportunity it would be for Charlotte. So I obliged even though it meant a lot of waiting at the airport today and having to be very diplomatic, both in speech and dress.

So President Clinton came up to meet us, and Chris and I both introduced ourselves separately and then introduced Charlotte together. He was very nice to us, and I found it was very easy to be genuinely friendly and happy at that moment. In the past, I didn't think that would be the case. I thought I would start lashing off about his presidency, his infidelities, his lying under oath, his seemingly evil wife, etc. Alas, I learned that I am more diplomatic than I thought. Yes, I know he's a politician and that he can be nice when he wants to be, but he was going on (literally) 2 hours of sleep from the night before and he was still willing to talk to us and get a picture with us. I really respected and appreciated that. Oh, and did I mention that I wasn't nervous at all?

He loved Charlotte and wanted to hold her during the pictures and he kept commenting on how beautiful she is. Although, he misunderstood us and thought her name was "Mandy", so he kept saying, "Oh, Mandy's so beautiful." Haha. Oh well. Unfortunately, Charlotte's head was covering half of President Clinton's face in every picture and we didn't realize it until we got home and looked at them! I think if we had handed her to him differently or if President Clinton had held her a bit lower, it wouldn't have been a problem. Oh well. The pictures are still sweet.

After getting a photo with us, he got a photo with a couple girls who work with Chris and then with a group of Marines who also work with Chris. After that, it was a few pictures with the Bahraini Royal Delegation before taking off to his next destination. I don't know how he does all this traveling at his age with little sleep. It may be a contributing factor to his ongoing heart problems! Anyway, I can honestly say it was an honor to meet him today. I hope he's only one of many historical figures that I'll get to meet in my lifetime. Here's some pictures: