Bush snubs Basescu.

WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: It's over when Bush says it's over
By TERENCE HUNT,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-02 12:33:23
NEPTUN, Romania (AP) - Are we done here?U.S. President George W. Bush apparently thought so when he ended a news conference Wednesday with his host, Romanian President Traian Basescu."Thank you. Thank you very much," Bush told reporters, a code phrase that means, "That's it, folks."Typically, as a matter of courtesy and protocol, the host decides when such an event is over. But Bush has been known to ignore that practice.In Colombia in 2004, he sought to end a session with reporters even when Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was ready to take more questions. In Belgium in 2005, he tried to cut off a news conference before his host, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, got a chance to speak his fill.Then there was Wednesday's abrupt moment in Romania, when Bush figured the question-and-answer session was done. He strolled over to Basescu and asked if he was ready to take a walk by the water."Just a moment," Basescu interjected politely.Oh."He's not through," Bush observed. Bush headed back to his podium, on the beach of the Black Sea at Basescu's picturesque retreat.The Romanian president took a few moments to comment about an important issue in his country, the availability of visas for people to visit the U.S.Then - finished for real this time - the two leaders took their stroll by the water.Bush is in Romania for the NATO summit, where security officials are on watch for intruders: wild foxes and stray dogs.While Bush and Basescu met at the resort in Neptun, professional hunters scoured nearby forests teeming with foxes.A local mayor, Traian Cristea, said the foxes often venture onto the roads where Bush's convoy passed, so hunters were trying to frighten the animals deeper into the woods.Officials in Bucharest, the site of the summit, have rounded up as many of the city's estimated 30,000 stray dogs as possible. They do not want the strays biting anyone in town for the meetings, which began Wednesday and run through Friday.There is some fear the animals could jump in front of leaders' motorcades and cause crashes.Strays are usually plentiful. But on Wednesday, it was hard to find an unleashed dog.Simona Panaitescu, director of Bucharest's Administration for the Monitoring of Animals, said the strays were crammed into overcrowded municipal animal shelters. After the summit, she said, they will be released back onto the streets.Remember Zamfir, "the King of the Pan Flute" who may have sold more albums than Elvis in Europe? No?Well, the Bush administration wants you to know that the star of those old television commercials is one of Romania's most famous citizens.On the occasion of Bush's visit to Bucharest, the White House has put Gheorghe Zamfir on a list of Romanian artists and athletes, including former Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci, worthy of special note by journalists traveling with the president.A three-page biography of "Maestro Zamfir," distributed to reporters in a package of background material on Romania, hails the pan flute virtuoso as a "musical pioneer," a "living legend," and, to some of his loyal fans, possibly "the reincarnation of the god Pan."The bio, downloaded directly from Zamfir's official Web site, notes his international fame and popular appeal, especially in Europe and Asia, where music lovers have no doubt racked up sales of his records.It also says the world was nearly denied his tremendous talent because as a teenager he was virtually forced to take up the pan flute when he could not get a seat in classes for his instrument of choice: the accordion.Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Alina Wolfe Murray in Bucharest, Romania contributed to this story.On the Net:NATO summit site: http://tinyurl.com/3yuwr2White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/nato/
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04/02/08 12:32 EDT