NOW YOU SEE HIM, NOW YOU DON'T...

NOW YOU SEE HIM, NOW YOU DON’T…(2003)

I followed the Polish news before, during and after President Kwasniewski’s visit to Washington D. C. Shamelessly, it fell on spring cleaning day at the White House. Day later, the local paper in Worcester, Massachusetts presented a picture of a window washer but the Polish president was nowhere in sight.
I checked the Polish channel, and yes indeed; President Kwasniewski according to the Polish media was in Washington that day. I saw him sitting on the yellow and blue striped chair, and his "best friend" George W. was on his left.
I turned to CNN and saw President Bush siting on the yellow and blue striped chair responding to reporters on an unrelated issue every so often turning his head to some invisible listener.
I turned back to the Polish channel, and there you go, President Bush on Kwasniewski’s left, side by side, same room, same chairs, same date.
Back to CNN, Kwasniewski still missing...
I agree, he probably isn’t the most photogenic person but he isn’t that ugly to be embarrassed to be photographed with. Weeks later, the visit by Filipino President Gloria Arroyo was widely reported and President Arroyo received red carpet treatment and a live press conference. Even the European "bad boy", Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi’s visit received more coverage. And there are no Italian troops in Iraq...
But the American media is not only prejudiced against the Polish president.
Let’s see what we in the US have missed from President Bush’s visit to Krakow. Unlike the American media, the Polish media widely reported some new controversies. First, the president of Krakow, Prof. Jacek Majchrowski was asked by US officials not to attend the welcoming ceremony although he already received the invitation from Poland’s officials. He set up the press conference and questioned this demand as a reprisal for his article titled "PAX Americana" criticizing the attack on Iraq. Many well-known interviewed figures saw this "request" as a complete lack of diplomatic forms on the American side and somewhat as an act of intervening into Polish affairs. Prof. Majchrowski’s colleagues loyally boycotted President Bush’s arrival.
Then, a priest in one of the churches in Krakow was asked to silence the church bell during President Bush’s speech, which stirred up another controversy. Residents were outraged that many famous and respected people visited, including the Japanese royal couple just recently, and nobody ever made such a demand.
Prior to the American President’s arrival at Balice, the local airport, another plane containing special equipment landed. Part of it was equipment to... light the area near the airport which one of the correspondents ironically reported, after the US officials, as a "need to prevent any possible attack coming from the forest." Many rolled their eyes in disbelief. Blueberry pickers yes, some wart hogs maybe... but nothing armed and organized that one may link to Al-Qaeda! You’ll ask yourself "how come have I never heard about it?" Let’s just say it was the correspondent’s day off.

Back in Krakow, traditionally when distinctive figures visit, flower vendors from Market Square present them with enormous-sized bouquets of fresh cut flowers. Well, they waited and waited, deeply disappointed, since President Bush was nowhere nearby. President Bush never made it there, he was at Auschwitz posing for pictures at the crematorium (Boston Globe 6/1/03). The flower vendors waited with 50 roses, one rose for every state of America. That left some unpleasant aftertaste and feelings of being used. And one should not condemn them for it…But then again, President visited Poland for only 16 hours and that included sleep. I just hope that he dreamt about all those places that he had missed.