|
 After a long flight from Washington, Obama is to speak on Tuesday
at the memorial service in an 80,000-seat soccer stadium in
Johannesburg, where more than 70 leaders from around the world will
commemorate the life of Mandela, who died on Thursday at age 95.
At his side will be his immediate predecessor, Bush, a Republican,
as well as Democratic former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy
Carter. The only surviving former president not traveling was Bush's
father, George H.W. Bush, who is 89.
On board Air Force One for the cross-Atlantic flight to Africa were
Obama, his wife, Michelle; Bush and his wife, Laura; and Hillary
Clinton, who was Obama's first secretary of state and who is
contemplating her own run for the presidency in 2016.
The fact that the leaders from both parties joined together for the
trip to South Africa underscored the importance of Mandela's life
and legacy, said Martha Joynt Kumar, a political scientist at Towson
University in Maryland who studies the presidency.
"It puts a ... stamp on the importance that the United States
thought of Mandela, his importance as a world leader," Kumar said.
Air Force One stopped in Senegal's capital Dakar to refuel on its
way to South Africa. On the flight, the three families sat in a
conference room toward the front of the plane, chatting to each
other at a large round table.
Obama kept his usual quarters in the front of the plane, while the
medical unit cabin was transformed into the Bushes' quarters for the
flight. Clinton stayed in the senior staff cabin.
It was Bush's first flight on Air Force One since handing over power
to Obama in 2009 and it was the most time he had spent in close
proximity to Obama since returning to Dallas after he left the White
House.
Carter and Bill Clinton will meet up with them in South Africa.
Logistical issues prevented them from flying together.
SCRAMBLE FOR LOGISTICS
Presidential travel usually requires weeks of preparation.
Preliminary work probably started a while ago as authorities would
have recognized the gravity of Mandela's illness, said Ralph Basham,
former Secret Service director.
When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, President George W.
Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush attended the funeral.
"Where it's really challenging is when a death and a funeral is
unexpected," Basham said. When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was
assassinated in 1981, the Secret Service decided it was too
dangerous for the president and vice president to attend the
funeral, so former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Carter
went instead, he said.
"That was a real challenge because of the unusual situation there
and not knowing who you could trust," said Basham, who was the lead
Secret Service agent for Sadat's funeral.
[to top of second column] |
But the situation in South Africa is different. "You're dealing with
a sophisticated group of people in South Africa who have excellent
law enforcement and military capabilities," said Basham, now a
partner at Command Consulting Group.
"They recognize that it would be an international catastrophe if
something were to happen during these events," he said.
A spokesman for the Secret Service declined to comment on specific
security measures for the South Africa trip.
"Secret Service is used to, and prepared for, short-notice trips,"
spokesman Brian Leary said.
OBAMA TO PAY RESPECTS
Obama is expected to arrive in South Africa early on Tuesday.
Ben Rhodes, deputy White House national security adviser, told
reporters that Obama in his 10- to 15-minute speech would talk about
what Mandela meant to the people of South Africa and to him
personally.
"His success wasn't preordained. It had to be earned over a
lifetime," Rhodes said of Mandela.
Obama has said the South African leader's struggle against racism
inspired him to become involved in politics.
In June, Obama took his family to see the Robben Island prison cell
where Mandela had been held, a "powerful experience" that Obama
reflected upon as he crafted his remarks for the memorial service,
Rhodes said.
Obama likely will meet informally with South African President Jacob
Zuma at the memorial, aides said, and will try to meet with
Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, and some family members to pay
respects, if time allows. Obama spoke to Zuma and Machel by phone
last week.
The United States also planned to send a delegation to Mandela's
burial on Sunday in Qunu, his ancestral home.
In Washington, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, signed a
book of condolence on behalf of the American people at the South
African Embassy. Biden wrote: "Mandela's head and heart lifted a
nation to freedom. We will continue to keep his spirit alive and
strive to live by his example."
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Tabassum Zakaria and Jeff
Mason in Washington; editing by Alistair Bell and Mohammad Zargham)
[© 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2013 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
