Cordon Bleu Or Cordon Sanitaire?

Here’s one more LA Story: once upon a time in the early years of his presidency, Bill Clinton decided to have a haircut. The problem was, he took his decision while on the tarmac of the Los Angeles airport, where he’d just arrived aboard Air Force One. His barber was at hand, and all went well, except that no other planes were allowed to land at the airport for two-and-a-half hours, causing delay, chaos and frayed tempers. (Predictably, it was later said it was Monica, not the barber who held him up.)

It’s fortunately been a long time since the early days of his presidency, and although he still travels with his barber, such spontaneity is a thing of the past. In fact, the president can hardly make any move in public without the OK of his security staff. "Whatever seems to look spontaneous-like him breaking through a cordon to shake hands with the public, or even when he looks uncertain and mysterious-is stage managed," says a US journalist who’s previously worked in Washington DC. And while some young women in New Delhi are beginning to say-"He’s quite cute yaar!"-it’s unlikely that the 53-year-old, over six feet tall, most-important-man-in-the-world will come even within a few feet of them. The security risks are too great, the cordon sanitaire too tight. He’ll be accompanied by up to 50 of his own security personnel, besides the security being provided by India. The president may also escape the rambunctious Holi celebrations by flying to Dhaka on March 20.

The logistics of such a visit are staggering in their complexity in any case, but a presidential visit to India has its own unique problems. For example, the Americans are reportedly worried about the state of telecommunications in India, which they fear is unlikely to meet the enormous demands of the 200-odd journalists travelling from Washington DC. Net connections are possible only through VSNL, whose reputation is far from satisfactory. "On the one hand we have just VSNL as an internet provider, on the other we have problems with uplinking from India; the whole thing’s a nightmare," says an official not wishing to be named. But denying any such problems, the mea insists that special uplinking provisions for the journalists will be provided. "We’re already getting ready for all that," says an mea source. Another thing the American official points out is that while most presidential visits are planned to the last detail many months prior to the actual visit, this one gave the organisers less than two months to cobble together the basic requirements. Adds David M. Sloan, former diplomat and now senior consultant to the Scowcroft Group: "I had briefed Sandy Berger (national security advisor) about two-and-a-half-years ago about such a visit, but none of the logistics had been worked out then."

The Clinton visit has revived latent rivalries in New Delhi as well: the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry are in a tussle over who would handle the responsibilities of the business delegation. While FICCI is more broadbased, and the traditional partner in the Indo-US Forum, it’s also considered to be "amateurish", according to a senior American businessman in New Delhi. The president, it’s rumoured, plans to put an end to the quarrel by organising a big business meet which will include both groups.

The White House itself is not clear about the arrangements and is in a quandary over which Congressmen to bring along. It has developed a bad reputation for discouraging Republicans and taking too many Democrats. "The White House got bad publicity during the visits of Ron Brown and Hazel O’Leary-and I think they’ll try to be more careful this time around," says Sloan. He points out that it’s also quite unusual that Clinton will be accompanied by three cabinet members-commerce secretary William Daley, energy secretary Bill Richardson and assistant secretary of state Madeleine Albright. "That puts a great deal of emphasis on the business aspect of the trip," says Sloan.

The business deals, in fact, may take Clinton to Hyderabad rather than to Bangalore-Washington’s logic being that the treasury secretary, Larry Summers, has already been to Bangalore recently, and Chandrababu Naidu has made an impact on the international scene, unlike Bangalore. But a runway in Hyderabad that falls short of Air Force One standards could change all that.

While the political objectives of the presidential visit remain vague, there is considerably more scope for speculation about the more trivial aspects of the visit: where the president will stay and what he will eat.

Rashtrapati Bhavan has apparently been ruled out because the advance team found cockroaches there. The US embassy, however, says it’s because the presidential palace cannot handle such a large group. A third reason is that the building is a security risk-the windows are too large. The US embassy itself is too small. So the Maurya Sheraton and the Taj Palace are being staked out as the likely possibilities. The Sheraton has hosted Hillary, Chelsea, Albright and Bill Gates in the past, as well as eight state leaders simultaneously during the G-15 summit. The Maurya has not yet received any confirmatory letter from the White House. And they aren’t sure whether the president would grace its presidential suite on the 16th floor. What the president’s men have promised is that Big Bill will exit the hotel just once in the day.

As for what he will eat, although he is known to be fond of Indian cuisine, DC style, he does always travel with a chef who supervises the presidential meals. Clinton’s said to be fond of steak, burgers and fries-the sort of food Maurya should have no problems with providing. Unlike the Australian cricket team which imported baked beans, the president will mostly avail of what’s available in the country-or more specifically in Maurya. At any rate, it won’t be a repeat of a certain presidential trip to Poland, where because of the paucity of food in the country, delectables had to be sent for from the United States. This reportedly caused chaos in the kitchen with too many cooks and translators trying not to spoil the broth.

Two advance security teams have come and gone, another team is here in town, and closer to the visit the sniffer dogs will also make their appearance, though they will maintain a low profile. "Dogs don’t make a very good impression on the host country and the security tries to keep them under wraps most of the time," say embassy officials. While Clinton will eat food from India, the sniffer dogs’ food will come on the plane. Although daughter Chelsea is expected, it’s most unlikely that the favourite First Canine, Buddy, will make any sort of appearance. "I sincerely hope not!" comments an exasperated US embassy staffer.