BANGKOK, Oct. 19 -- President Bush won't land in Australia until Wednesday, but already he has riled politicians throughout the region by suggesting that he sees Prime Minister John Howard as his "sheriff" in the war on terrorism in Southeast Asia.
Bush's Texas talk previously got him a rebuke from first lady Laura Bush when he said he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," a challenge the president has regretted. At another point, a close aide suggested that he stop referring to terrorists as "folks."
This time, Bush took the bait during a round-table discussion with Asian reporters before he left the White House for his six-country Pacific swing. He was asked if the United States views Australia "as its deputy sheriff in Southeast Asia."
"No," Bush replied. "We don't see it as a deputy sheriff, we see it as a sheriff. There's a difference."
Bush then mentioned Howard's visit to Texas in May. "I see, you're playing off the Crawford visit to the ranch, the sheriff thing," Bush said. "Anyway, no, equal partners and friends and allies. There's nothing deputy about this relationship."
Howard has inflamed regional sensitivities in the past by suggesting that Australia might practice its own preemption doctrine. Indonesia and the Philippines, both stops on Bush's trip, were among the countries that objected to Howard's stance.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, whose country was left off Bush's itinerary, offered sarcastic congratulations to Australia.
"That is the beauty of a unipolar world: You can promote anybody," the foreign minister said. "I don't know how many more will be promoted. Are there many more vacancies?"
An embarrassed Howard shook off the praise, saying he aspires to no "enforcement role."
Fortunate Bypass
The Malaysian omission turned out to be fortuitous for the White House after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a summit of Islamic leaders on Thursday that "the Jews rule the world by proxy."
Mahathir's speech came as he approaches retirement at the end of this month after 22 years as prime minister and the most dominant figure in his country's history.
When a senior administration official was asked about the remark during a White House briefing, he laughed it off.
"We wish him a happy retirement," the official said. "Heck, if we were worried that we were going to face another six or seven years of this, we'd have to be really thinking about the overall relationship with Malaysia."
Japanese 'Layover'
"Working visits," "pull-asides" and "drop-bys" each have their diplomatic distinctions and hierarchies, so when national security adviser Condoleezza Rice called Bush's overnight visit to Japan a "layover," feathers were ruffled in Tokyo. Sources said she expressed it that way to cushion the disappointment for South Korea, which wasn't on the president's itinerary. But the Japanese didn't know that.
Bush's inner circle rarely admits an error, but a senior administration official on Air Force One did a total retreat.
"When you go to Japan, it's never a layover. This is one of our best friends, one of our best allies," the official said. "Every time you go to Japan there is serious work to be done, and they'll do some serious work."
A slightly-less-senior administration official apparently didn't get the memo. That evening, the official began a briefing about Bush's meeting and social dinner in Japan by saying: "This is actually a very good place for us to start. And of course, what this was, was a layover for the president to begin his trip in East Asia."
When the reporters started tittering, the briefer said, "Are we fighting over the word, 'layover'?"
No Sushi for Him
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi puzzled his listeners, and apparently Bush, when he called the president "Beef Man" during a photo session after their dinner in Tokyo. (Some scribes rendered it "Beefman," as if it were in reference to a superhero.) The mystery was solved Saturday when the White House released another of the interviews Bush had with Asian journalists. An interviewer from Fuji TV asked Bush if he would be tasting sushi, since it's well known that "you're not really particularly in favor of the raw fish."
"Well, I'm a beef man," Bush replied. "You know I like good beef. Japan's got some of the greatest beef in the world. But I'm also, hopefully, a good enough guest not to demand a particular menu from my host."
Koizumi took the hint and served steak.
Bush joked about the nickname again Saturday, saying, "It's better than Chicken Man."
Maybe he spoke too soon. That night, the entrée at the Philippine state dinner was fillet of lapu-lapu, a local fish.