Trip Abroad Gives Bush a Respite From Domestic Woes

There were no questions about the Dubai ports deal. There was little talk of Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a fellow quail hunter. The words "Iraq" and "Katrina" hardly came up at all.
Through five days and three countries last week, George W. Bush got a little of what beleaguered American presidents always look for on foreign trips: a chance to set aside problems at home.
True, the trip had troubles of its own. Anti-Bush riots led by Islamists exploded from Hyderabad north to Kashmir, Islamabad was in lockdown because of the risks of bringing the president into Osama bin Laden's backyard, and an American diplomat died in a suicide bombing in Karachi. But compared with Mr. Bush's most recent trips to South America and Asia — one dominated by demonstrations led by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and the other by problems in Iraq — the president's visit to the subcontinent was a relief for him.


India, where Mr. Bush spent two packed days, embraced him in a way the president had not experienced in a long time.
"He felt very warmly received," Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, said from the lawn of Islamabad's presidential palace on Saturday morning. The night before, in an open-air speech in New Delhi at a 16th-century fort, Mr. Bush said he had been "dazzled" by the spectacle of "this vibrant and exciting land."
This is not to say that all of India adores Mr. Bush, and its Muslim minority in particular is furious about Iraq. But over all, the United States is highly popular in India and Mr. Bush bestowed on the nation such an astonishing gift — last week's nuclear deal — that Indians greeted him like an American maharajah. Even before his arrival, a survey in the Indian newsweekly Outlook found that two-thirds of Indians "strongly" or "somewhat" regarded Mr. Bush as a friend of the country.
Mr. Bush, who can look miserable on foreign trips, often appeared moved and delighted as he raced around India. "I have been received in many capitals, but I have never seen a reception as grand as the one we just received," Mr. Bush said after a majestic arrival ceremony with horses and honor guards at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the 340-room pink and cream sandstone mansion built for the last of the British viceroys.
Rashtrapati Bhavan, now the home of the president of India, evokes all the romance and hubris of the dying Raj. But as evocative as the ceremony was for Mr. Bush, aides said he was more captivated by the India of the present — a functioning democracy of a billion people, a counterweight to China, a huge market for American goods. One of the president's favorite stops on the trip, they said, was a meeting with entrepreneurs in Hyderabad, the booming high-tech city.
"Yesterday I met with some Indian C.E.O.'s and American C.E.O.'s, kind of the old folks," Mr. Bush told a dozen men and women in their 20's and 30's at Hyderabad's Indian School of Business. "Today I'm meeting with the C.E.O.'s of tomorrow, the people that are going to help drive this great engine of economic prosperity for India — for the good of the world, is how I view it."
India cooperated with exquisite spring weather — it was only in the 80's in New Delhi, where lush gardens burst with dahlias and bougainvillea — and huge headlines. "It's a Deal — A Very Big Deal," screamed The Times of India across the front page on Friday morning, over a picture of Mr. Bush with his arm around the shoulders of the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh. The two had just announced the pact that would give India help with nuclear power for its energy needs while allowing it to continue to develop nuclear weapons — a tough sell in a skeptical United States Congress, Mr. Bush acknowledged.
Indians made light of Mr. Bush's one faux pas, skipping a three-hour trip from New Delhi to the Taj Mahal, the tomb that a heartsick Mogul emperor built for his wife and still considered the world's greatest monument to love. "I am truly sorry that the president is not taking you to Taj Mahal this time," Mr. Singh said to Laura Bush as he toasted the first couple at a lunch on Thursday. "I hope he will be more chivalrous the next time you are here."
Mr. Bush bookended his trip to India with a surprise four-hour stop in Afghanistan and a 24-hour stay in Pakistan, where Mr. bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the remote tribal areas near the Afghan border. But Mr. Bush, the first American president to visit Afghanistan since President Eisenhower in 1959, and the first to visit Pakistan since President Clinton in 2000, bounced around Mr. bin Laden's terrain with defiance.
Unlike Mr. Clinton, who slipped into Islamabad for six hours on an unmarked military jet, Mr. Bush arrived with a roar on Air Force One. (Although Air Force One, the most recognizable 747 in the world, landed with its running lights off and shades drawn, making it a more difficult target for any ground-launched missile.) Mr. Bush also stayed the night at the fortress-like American ambassador's residence and took time out the next day to take a few swings with a cricket bat with students from the Islamabad College for Boys.
"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan," he had vowed in New Delhi.
Mr. Bush got home at 5 a.m. on Sunday and returned to his normal life, going to church later that morning, then taking a bicycle ride. On Monday, he would face Iraq, the ports deal, fallout from Katrina, rebellious Republicans, approval ratings in the mid-30's — and a Mr. bin Laden still on the loose.
His trip to the subcontinent was over.