Bush Relaxes in Maine Before Lobster Summit’
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — President Bush’s daughter Barbara hooked a slightly larger striped bass than her dad Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean off this tiny town that’s gearing up for a visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After a 90-minute morning bike ride, Bush hopped aboard his father’s speedboat, Fidelity III, and sped out into the chilly waters on his second fishing excursion in two days. His dad, former President George H.W. Bush, was at the wheel.
Bush’s fishing trips have attracted the attention of residents and tourists in Kennebunkport, where the president’s father has spent his summers since he was a boy.
The town is buzzing with activity in advance of Putin’s arrival today for what some have dubbed the “lobster summit.”
A Russian flag flew alongside Old Glory at a home having a yard sale.
Bartley’s Dockside Restaurant posted a sign that said: “Kennebunkport is Putin on the Ritz.” The menu at The Clam Shack is posted in both English and Russian.
Visits by foreign leaders are not new for Kennebunkport and the Bush family estate at Walker’s Point, which juts into the ocean.
During the former president’s term in office in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the compound was visited by French President Francois Mitterrand, British Prime Minister John Major, Jordan’s King Hussein and other world leaders.
The former president also notably retired to Walker’s Point three days after ordering American forces deployed to stop Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
Former President Bush owns the home and is playing low-key host to the meetings.
“You only invite your friends into your house,” Bush said in November 2001, when Putin came to Crawford, Texas.
But six years of gestures, from the extravagant to the odd, have not masked the problems that increasingly dog U.S.-Russian relations.
“The gulf separating the government of Russia’s official discourse and the United States’ concept of what the relationship should be has gotten wider than it has been in a long, long time,” said Stephen Sestanovich, an ambassador to former Soviet republics under President Clinton who now is at the Council on Foreign Relations.
(c) 2007 Greensboro News Record. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.