The Tripping President

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, August 4, 2008

And he's off.

President Bush leaves this afternoon for a week-long trip to Asia, the highlight of which will be three languorous days watching the Olympics in Beijing with the whole Bush clan.

But, try as he may, he can't escape controversy.

Paul Alexander writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush's visit to Beijing almost looks like a vacation -- right down to a family reunion. But his three-nation Asian trip also takes him to the doorsteps of two troublesome regimes while forcing him to balance the Olympic spirit with the delicacies of diplomacy."

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post that Bush's trip "has the potential for fireworks at every stop.

"The prospect for controversy at the Olympics in Beijing, where Bush is to arrive Thursday, has already been well documented. But stops in Seoul and Bangkok -- aimed at celebrating ties with two of the United States' closest allies in Asia -- could also make Bush's ninth, and probably final, trip to the region something less than the triumphal tour the White House has been hoping for.

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