seeing world leaders in person

chiquimonkey

what's been your experience? only major one i saw was the dalai lama years ago drive by in a motorcade (he waved to me, wee!). and i just scored a ticket to see bill clinton speak on campus next wednesday, i am so excited!! never have seen a president in person, just feels like a big deal to me

Solat13

It's pretty cool. I was in Rome last year and thanks to my travel guide I knew the papal audience was on a Wednesday so I scheduled our family trip to go to the Vatican that day and I'll never forget how excited my mom (really religious) and my little sis (not religious at all) were to see the Pope in person about 20 feet away wave at them in his popemobile as he drove through the crowd to the altar.

I met Clinton about 8 years ago. He showed up to be the speaker at a fundraiser for Ed Rendell when Rendell was running for his first term as gov of PA. My buddy was on Rendell's fundraising staff so he got me in for free and I wound up being on the rail for Clinton's speech and shook his hand as he left the stage. He really is a great speaker in person but the thing I'll take away from most was he was a little late for speech - apparently Ed and his dinner ran a little long and his face was a little red from probably a few glasses of wine at dinner. Well he started his speech by pointing out two attractive college age girls in cocktail dresses front and center and said "It was voters like you two who keep me young and going strong out here." And I was like - yep I got to see the real Clinton speak.

mca47

Mostly when I was in college.

I saw Bill Clinton speak, and going to school in Iowa during an election...they all make an appearance.

theboxerorthebag

I've seen the Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

chiquimonkey

Solat13 wrote:

And I was like - yep I got to see the real Clinton speak.

so cool you saw the pope too, my mom would explode if she saw a pope lol

just feels like opportunities are rare, or maybe just for me lol

justam

My choral group in Rochester was part of the ceremony for Hilary Clinton's induction into the women's Hall of Fame in NY. :geek:

The best part about being there was having the Clintons so close. They were sitting at the table right next to us and Bill came up and spoke to our director afterwards. We were impressed by how gracious he was. :oops: :?

Enkidu

We saw the old Pope drive by in the Popemobile here in LA back in the '80s. It was surprisingly cool.

A friend of mine saw Bill Clinton at a party on Martha's Vineyard a couple of years ago and he totally hit on her. Did the old, "Tell me your name again because I want to make sure I don't forget it." She said she was shocked at how charismatic he was and she'd never been a big fan of his.

juan lester

i never met him, nor have any desire to (strikes me as the exact type of guy Dillon wrote 'Masters of War" about), but i work maintenance at the Country club where the Cheneys reside in the summer. While DICK was VP, the secret service was EVERYWHERE. we mow greens before the sun is up, and his pad is right by the clubhouse, so if I had to mow the zone that included the practice green, I'd spent half an hour mowing back and forth under the gaze of two very trained, heavily armed, and humor-free individuals, praying to God that my mower would not backfire and be mistaken for a gunshot, and it would be OVER for greenskeeper johnny. total stress.

justam

juan lester wrote:

and it would be OVER for greenskeeper johnny. total stress.

LOL!

Black Diamond

Good post.

Taking a car from Heathrow to Canary Wharf a couple of years ago, I went through motorcades for both the PM and the Queen. The queen actually gave me the patented wave, LOL.

I had the pleasure of meeting Pres. Clinton at a few different fund raisers. Had a one and one talk for about two minutes once and what they say about him is true. You feel like he knows everything about you and is taking everything you say quite seriously. Met Hillary too.

I have met Al Gore on numerous occassions since I worked on his campaigns for President.

Ted Kennedy and a bunch of US Senators.

A few of the Supreme Court Justices, although not really world leaders LOL.

I attended the Innagural session at the UN so a lot more I guess LOL. Including lunch with the leader of South Korea and Cameroon.

Wobbie

Obama was here yesterday but I had stuff to do....

youngster

I met Ted Kennedy in a parade in my town like 15 years ago. It was his re-election year so he marched in the parade shaking hands and saying hello.

When I was in the Navy right after we went into Iraq in 2003, Donald Rumsfeld was onboard our ship to eat lunch and meet the crew. He was Secretary of Defense at the time. He stopped me in the passageway while I was on watch, shook my hand, and told me I was doing a great job and keep up the great work. I thought to myself great, should I tell him I'm on my way to dump our aft sewage system?

chiquimonkey

very cool stuff guys! and BD, damn you've seen a lot of important folks! :shock:

the seating on wednesday will be random, so it's sorta like 10c i guess. 'cept no chance of catching tambourines....maybe, i think? :? lol

patrickredeyes

A few friends and I met Hilary and Chelsea Clinton in 1997 in Germany.

chiquimonkey

patrickredeyes wrote:

A few friends and I met Hilary and Chelsea Clinton in 1997 in Germany.

clinton seems to be so accessible. he's like mike mccready or something lol

Byrnzie

I came very close to seeing Obama at the Portman Hotel in Shanghai a couple of months back. I was there for a new passport as the British consulate's located there, and missed him come out of the front of the building by a matter of minutes. I did see David Blunkett, the British Home Secretary, a few times on my way to work in London. He lived round the back of my work building. I don't think he saw me though - hes blind.

lukin2006

juan lester wrote:

i never met him, nor have any desire to (strikes me as the exact type of guy Dillon wrote 'Masters of War" about), but i work maintenance at the Country club where the Cheneys reside in the summer. While DICK was VP, the secret service was EVERYWHERE. we mow greens before the sun is up, and his pad is right by the clubhouse, so if I had to mow the zone that included the practice green, I'd spent half an hour mowing back and forth under the gaze of two very trained, heavily armed, and humor-free individuals, praying to God that my mower would not backfire and be mistaken for a gunshot, and it would be OVER for greenskeeper johnny. total stress.

lukin2006

Met Jean Chretian (PM of Canada) when he was campaigning for Prime Minister's job as head of liberal party, shook his hand, heard him speak, heard the lies, really no big deal. Funny part was that I stopped for a burger after he spoke and he come walking in with his entourage, and when he ordered his burger, they asked him what he wanted on it, he said "hot peppers, lots of hot peppers" and asked for nothing else, and it appeared he got his wish. I always thought that type of work would give you enough indigestion without adding to it.

pjfan31

I've seen Kevin Rudd a couple of times. Wow!!!!

Heatherj43

Me and George (the moron) Bush stood shoulders pressed against each other in a reception line greeting other leaders from my area. Oh, and he is short.

Snoopy Died For Our Sins

When I was a kid my friend's father was the XO of a fighter jet squadron at the El Toro marine base and I got to go with his family to see and meet Ronald Reagan when he was still in office...it was really amazing to feel the sheer power of one individual...I still remember it vividly! When he shook my hand and said hello, I could barely squeak out a 'Hi, Mr. President...'

helplessdancer

i sat in a venue with 10000 other people to see/hear the dalai lama speak

worth every nickle

Wilds

This is me 'flanking' Bill Clinton on Martha's Vineyard in the early 90's.



I met him and Hillary at a radio address he gave at the West Tisbury school. After the address he greeted everyone, shook hands, and chatted people up.

His aide collected stuff to get autographed and I had my ticket stub signed.

The next day the above picture was on the front page of the Cape Cod Times.

Also met Gore when he was campaigning. Not impressed with him at all.

samjam

Bill Clinton lives in my county & my dad saw him at a deli once

Actually after he was done with the presidency and he & his family were looking for homes, they looked at this one house about 2 minutes away from me--so potentially would have seen the Clintons a bit if they purchased that house!

Kevinman

I saw Rod Blagojevich.

81

i skipped out of math my freshman year to catch clinton on the campain trail.

i saw obama's plane in Philly going home from the halloween shows

Hitch-Hiker

My trip to Munich a couple of years ago coincided with Pope Benedicts visit. Although I have less respect for him than I do for the shit I took this morning it was still kinda cool to see such a major world figure.

chiquimonkey

forgot to update, the talk last wednesday was awesome! of course nobody told me or the other ladies in line that purses weren't allowed, so i had to hike back to my office and back to zellerbach before it started. which would have been fine had my back not been bothering me, grrrr! but it was well worth it, very trippy to see him!