From Jake Tapper's blog, Political Punch:
After attending a banquet at King Abdullah's Beit Al Urdan palace Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, hitched a ride—literally—to the Amman airport with the King.
Abdullah drove himself—with Obama riding shotgun—from the palace to the airport in a silver Mercedes 600 series with blacked out windows.
The King—in the driver's seat—raced onto the tarmac and came to an abrupt halt, stopping on a dinar, just a few feet away from one of Senator Obama's pre-positioned secret service agents.
The Senator and the King got out of the car, spoke on the tarmac for a few minutes and then shook hands. Obama then boarded his plane, without the King, to fly to Tel Aviv.
A few thoughts and comments below the fold ....
Can you imagine something like this happening with Bush, Cheney, or McCain? Of course not. They are far too arrogant. Plus I can't believe the offer would even be made, cause after an hour meeting with Bush I expect somebody like King Abdullah is thinking about a long, hot shower.
I love, or at least like Obama a lot. But I try not to get too caught up in the huge crowds, a three pointer made, all that stuff. But this, this is just so cool. As a political junkie and somewhat a student of history I can't think of something like this happening in the past.
I mean I can just see King Abdullah after their meeting asking Obama, "dude, you need a ride to the airport, I mean I am the King and I can get you there in a hurry." Obama laughs, says yeah, they exchange a "terrorist fist bump," exchange their private e-mails addresses, and head to the airport.
This just makes me have hope.