"Que vamos a comer?"
Mark March 11, 2007 as "one of great experiences" of the Bush presidency. The assessment came from George W. Bush himself. With tempests brewing at home over the Iraq war, the firing of federal prosecutors and the treatment of soldiers at government hospitals, Mr. Bush apparently found a day in the Guatemalan countryside to be liberating. After handing out hygiene kits to Guatemalan children and lifting a few crates of lettuce, he issued his "great experiences" pronouncement.
He boasted to reporters, "I got to pack some lettuce. The president (Guatemala's Oscar Berger) and I were hauling boxes of lettuce. We were putting them on a truck."
The Latin American tour has seen something of a presidential preoccupation with produce. In Guatemala, Mr. Bush praised a U.S.-supported farm operation for moving from subsistence growing to "selling high-value crops like lettuce carrots and celery." At an earlier stop, he discussed Uruguayan blueberries.
Mr. Bush's upbeat assessment of his "great" day came during a news conference that included serious talk about the war on drugs, Guatemalan violence and the perennial regional issue immigration. The president virtually demanded congressional passage of immigration reform by August but he admitted that members of his own party have differenceson the hot button issue. He also conceded that he would have little influence on the legislative calendar. To the chuckles of reporters he said, "I'm just a simple member of the executive branch."
While Mr. Bush appeared relaxed, there were flashes of impatience.
As he called for the last question of the news conference he had food on his mind.
From the White House transcript of this exchange with Guatemalan President Berger:
Bush: Can we start thinking about dinner, la cena? Que vamos a comer? ( What are we going to eat?)
Berger: Tres tortillas. (Three tortillas)
Bush: Tortillas? Que Bueno. ( Tortillas. Good!)
Berger: We have tortillas with guacamole and bean.
Today the cuisine will be Mexican as the President meets with President Felipe Calderon.