From the Archives: A Presidential Encounter

Watching President Obama's inauguration today brought to mind a fleeting encounter I had with his predecessor in September 2003, at the unlikely location of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in New York City. Waiting for the next crossing in a crowd of hundreds of returning commuters, murmurings that the President was approaching grew. We surged over to the land side in anticipation and sure enough his motorcade swept past, "Dubya" having just addressed the General Assembly of the UN. The spectacle was more of a fast getaway than orderly procession, it was impossible to distinguish the man himself. And so we turned back and boarded the ferry as if nothing had happened; I guess New Yorkers are pretty used to these sights.

Obama is due in London in April, I daresay this visit will generate a little more excitement.