The Day I Shook Hands with President Obama

There was a slight commotion as the President swept into the delegates lounge. As he got in he rested his palm gently on Hillary Clinton's shoulders and waited a split second to make sure that she got in with him. He shook one hand and then another and he was heading down my line. In that familiar sonorous voice he said "hello" and "thank you". Sometimes he has a modest little nod with a swallowed smile - a little gesture that reminded me of the Hong Kong actor Tony Leung. He was tall but not overpoweringly so. He moved - no, glide - gracefully like a dancer, appearing confident but not cocky. He was trying to hear Hillary telling him something. And that's when I shook hands with President Barack Obama. And my hairs stood on end.

Earlier in the morning, I brought Hugo Chavez to the reception area. There was a crowd at the security point, he smiled and motioned "relax, just your time" and he asked me in English, "where are you from?" I said, "Brunei" and he shook my hands quickly and I left him at the lounge. He seemed like a pro at this and enjoying the attention no doubt.

The Emir of Qatar came by in a large and well-perfumed delagation. Later on, he greeted one of the protocol officers very warmly. He too has done this many times before. The Bahrainians and Jordanians too were well perfumed. You can always tell if an Arab delegation has just gone past. Surprising numbers of them also came with several sophisticated-and-good-looking women delegtes in tow. Minor members of royalty may be?

I just recognised that a dapper and professorial-looking gentleman whom I kept seeing the day before as the Prime Minister of Turkey. There was always attention when he moved around.

There were so many world leaders that I was getting jaded. In the past two days, I must have walked 2 dozens of them to where they needed to go. Not many people could produe any ounce of excitement anymore - until that is, when the US First Lady Michelle Obama came up the stairs. She was phenomenal. A rush of electricity went about the whole room. Looking splendid in a bright red dress, she greeted the protocol officers so warmly and graciously. She is definately a star. I reckon she is an even more powerful presence in person than her husband. More powerful than any world leader I met in the past two days in terms of charisma.

Colonel Gaddafi came in with a different kind of excitement in tow - one of notoriety and the age-old fascination people always had for the bad boys. I was amazed at the sight of his female body guards - big brawny girls with long curly hair in military fatigues. One of my colleagues, Lynn, was keen to get herself in the photo with all the bad boys. Earlier she got to walk Mugabe and Ahmadenejad to the reception room - but as I had gotten Chavez earlier, she wanted Gaddafi bad. So when Gaddafi came up the stairs, I shoved her forward.

Admadenejad was surrounded by a large security detail and being quite short he looked swamped by them. He smiled the smile of a con-man. Even I meet him on the streets, I won't buy anything from him.

Prime Minister Belusconi came up with a bevy of aides. None of them I noticed looked like teenage girls. He seemed busy talking to a military aide but I led them to the reception room anyway. He looked ghastly. His face was grey, powdery and inanimate. He looked like wearing a wax mask. The only sign of life on his face was in his eyes. Later, as I was walking him to his table for lunch he wanted to stop at the bathroom. I duly waited outside. He did not walk very well. He came across as neither very energetic nor charismtic.

Mugabe on the otherhand seemed quite fit. Although when he walked by closely, I could hear his breathing was wispy almost seething. He has the look of a despot, one used to sowing fear with one look of disapproval. Not someone one would want to invite around for a drink.

Many leaders were extremely normal looking. The Prime Minister of Hungary looked like a youthful CEO. The President of Finland is her red/orange hair doing her own stuff. President Christina Fernandez of Argentina looking statuesque and pretty, looking slightly hapless at times when she was without her interpreter. She gestured like a school girl when the Prime Minister of Austria came by to tell him that he was to sit next to her.

President Medvedev of Russia also looked very clean cut and normal. He was slight in built and appeared intelligent but a little shy. I stuck out my hands and we shook hands as he came by. He was accompanied by a pretty young interpreter who look like Anna Sharapova the tennis player. She was a nervous wreck, first demanding to have a chair set up for her behind her president; and then when she was blocked from entering the lunch area with her president, she broke into argument in the sharp melodramatic Slavic-style with the UN security guards who really wouldn't say no anyway.

I felt embarassed though when the same thing happenned to President Hu Jin Tao's interpreter. Instead of using his words, he simply shouted "interpreter! interpreter!" and got into a shoving match with UN security and literally pushed and elbowed his way through. It was an embarassing display of unrefined and thuggist instincts. After he got through, he grumbled "jen shi de! (really unbelievable!)" to President Hu who appear to nod in agreement. I believe his actions arose from overwhelming fear. But on the whole, I think it reflects a lack of professionalism of the Chinese advance party who should have briefed and double-briefed the security. My feeling is that China definately still has some way to go in terms of graciousness on the world stage.

Numbed as I was by the comings and goings of the day, my most emotional moment was right outside the holding room when President Obma first arrived. I was standing there as his entourage all filed in: Rahm Emmanuel the White House Chief of Staff, David Axelrod the President's top political adviser, Jim Jones the National Security Adviser, etc. and beside me was a well-decorated young USAF officer with a briefcase. "Is that bag what I think it is?" I asked. He was very friendly, and he said "yep" In that bag was the launch codes for the US nuclear arsenal. We talked a bit, he asked me where I was from and he joked that he bought the medals on hi uniform from the shop. But I was just feeling overwhelmed thinking that in that black leather bag is everything that is needed to kill and destroy everything I know and everyone that I care about.