Walkabout not on Bush's Belfast agenda

By Mark Simpson
BBC News

There were mixed views on whether a walkabout would have been welcomed

In a trip designed to demonstrate how normality had returned to Belfast, George Bush's visit was anything but normal.

It began with the bizarre sight of Prime Minister Gordon Brown waiting on the airport tarmac to meet him, even though the two men had just spent all morning together in London.

Northern Ireland's politicians may now be mature enough to run their own devolved Assembly but for some reason they can't be trusted yet to form a welcoming party.

Anyone who has been to Belfast recently will know that the most potent symbol of peace is the bustling city centre with its plush new shops, glass-fronted buildings and burgeoning tourist industry.

The 43rd US president didn't get to see it.

The 42nd president, Bill Clinton, made trips to the city centres of Derry, Belfast and Armagh, but there were no walkabouts for George Walker Bush.

School visit

If he had decided to press the flesh in downtown Belfast, what sort of welcome would he have got?

"Not good," said Sean Mitchell.

"He simply wanted to pose as a man of peace in one part of the world, when he's a man of war in the other."

Not true, said retired shipping manager Robert Shearer, 78.

"He's a great leader and he's done well for the Americans. And he's right for going into Iraq and Afghanistan. He should be going into Zimbabwe too."

The president played basketball during a 'carefully controlled' school visit

If Robert Mugabe is reading, he can rest assured that Mr Shearer did not have the chance to give President Bush that advice in person.

The public were kept well away from the American guest.

There was a carefully controlled visit to a school, but no impromptu pressing of the flesh.

Even the 100 anti-war protesters who gathered outside Stormont did not get within shouting distance of the presidential ears.

The demonstrations were smaller than expected. Is Bush more popular than the critics would have us believe? Or has the hostility been diluted by his impending departure from the White House?

You decide.

Which brings us neatly to the question of his successor.

How many visits to Belfast are likely from President Obama/McCain?

Probably none.

If another Clinton had been heading towards the Oval Office, things may have been different.

As it is, after four presidential visits in 13 years, the likelihood is that Northern Ireland will now disappear from Washington's radar.

Now that really is normality.