Unlike President Bush, who never came back to talk to reporters on Air Force One when I was covering the White House, Powell was no stranger to the press cabin. First he dropped by to greet the reporters he knew (several of them for more than a decade) and to meet those he didn’t, like me. I assumed that visit would be the first and last time we’d see the secretary until we landed in Santiago 12 hours later. I had taken off my suit jacket and settled into my book when two press aides came back and placed portable speakers in the aisle. The secretary would be back soon for an on-the-record but off-camera briefing, they explained.
Sure enough, a relaxed Powell soon wandered back in a royal blue jogging suit-something that could never happen if TV cameras were rolling. Standing in the aisle, he took charge of a hand mike and began taking questions in an easy, confident style. He likes the one-mike system because it lets him keep control of the process. No one rushed him. The old-hand reporters sat quietly in their seats, sure that they would not only get their turn but be able to hear him. A newbie, I didn’t realize the mike had to be very close to my mouth, so he kindly directed me. My slightly off-the-wall question was a dud: he didn’t know the answer. But rather than be defensive he demurred that I had dipped into his “well of ignorance.” It’s no doubt a small well.
Powell showed equal doses of humility and humor. When he flubbed a pronunciation later in the onboard briefing, he made fun of himself by talking gibberish for a couple of seconds. I asked the veteran foreign-affairs correspondent seated next to me about Powell’s comedic streak. It turns out that the funny rapport between Powell and his tight-knit press contingent has almost become sport. He’s been known to serenade them with riffs from ABBA tunes or his beloved Calypso music. They in turn have made up songs for him. One recent rendition of “Hit the Road Jack” was an ode to the Middle East peace process called, yes, “Hit the Road Map.”
The good humor didn’t seem to keep the regulars from asking serious questions, however. At the press conference Powell gave in Santiago, he got hit with questions on North Korean nukes, Israeli resistance to dismantling the settlements and the amorphous link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. But the tone was respectful and the reporters knowledgeable. That’s the payoff for Powell, who also seems to genuinely like the press. At a refueling stop in Puerto Rico, he stopped by the reporters’ “holding room” just to chat. He stood around with the old hands and reminisced about Muammar Kaddafi and Jimmy Carter. In Rome recently, he had an off-the-record dinner with reporters and then accepted their invitation to the Spanish Steps. I saw a picture from the event–from the number of bottles of red wine on the table, it looked like fun.
At that dinner, Powell reportedly spoke freely, knowing that these reporters would not burn him and wanted to hear his informal thoughts: it would help them, in the long run, to understand who he is and give them insight into the historic events he deals with. And he would get good press–and maybe even a few new tunes–out of it, as well.
