I thought if the President is willing to play with us, then I should show him the best time I knew how, feed him something that I would want – in the kind of setting I most enjoy.įood in Vietnam: 40 delicious dishes you'll love It’s basically bits of marinated, charcoal-grilled pork patties and pork slices in a room-temperature dipping sauce with rice noodles and herb garnishes. We know we can reliably do our best work there.īun cha is a beloved local specialty of Hanoi. We have a lot of experience working there, we have friends, connections, favorite dishes, favorite restaurants. But when Vietnam came up, as one stop on a multicountry state visit to Asia in May, I knew where I wanted it to be. And though I may admire him, I wasn’t going to be a platform for discussion of a particular foreign policy agenda.īarack Obama was apparently interested in sitting down for a meal with me – and I intended to speak to him only as a father of a 9-year-old girl, as a fellow Southeast Asia enthusiast (the President spent time in Indonesia as a young man), and a guy who likes a bowl of spicy, savory pork and noodles with a cold beer. So I wasn’t going to “interview” the president. You like food and are reasonably nice at the table? You show me hospitality when I travel? I will sit down with you and break bread.įeeding the President ‘something that I would want’ I’m proud of the fact that I’ve had as dining companions over the years everybody from Hezbollah supporters, communist functionaries, anti-Putin activists, cowboys, stoners, Christian militia leaders, feminists, Palestinians and Israeli settlers, to Ted Nugent. Contrary to the assertions of angry Twitter warriors who think I’m getting regular guidance from the “Communist News Network,” I’ve never once received a phone call or an e-mail or had a conversation that contained the words “wouldn’t it be a great idea if…?” or ” how about?” You ride in a man’s car – or his plane – you owe him something. But I figured we’d look totally in the bag if we did that. There may or may not have been an offer of a ride on Air Force One at one point. At no point did the White House, CNN, or anyone else, offer guidance, suggestions or ground rules for what I might talk to the President about.
The producers, even the camera guys who were to shoot the scene, were not told until the day before. These discussions were, out of necessity, very closely held until the very last minute.ĬNN didn’t know. Some people at the White House had reached out and hinted at the possibility that maybe, just maybe, we might find a time and a place where the two of us could sit down to a meal together. We started talking internally about the possibility of shooting a scene with the President of the United States a long way out – nearly a year before it actually happened.
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