Hide and Not Seek: Bush and Iranian President at the U.N.

ABC News: Hide and Not Seek: Bush and Iranian President at the U.N.: "Don't look for a breakthrough at the United Nations General Assembly this week in the frosty relations between President Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The annual conclave of world leaders offers the opportunity for talks both in one-on-one meetings and at informal get-togethers, such as the reception Bush is hosting for leaders Tuesday night at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. But the Iranian president's invitation to the latter must have gotten lost in the mail."

The White House Advance Office, which plans presidential travels, tries to make sure there are no accidental meetings, but a Bush spokesman said there's always a possibility they will wind up in the same room.

Other presidents have also relied on their aides to try to avoid embarrassing confrontations with leaders they would rather not bump up against. But accidents do happen.

Bill Clinton did not want to talk to Cuba's Fidel Castro at the U.N. General Assembly in 2000. They found themselves in a crowded room at a diplomatic lunch, and Castro stuck out his hand. Clinton shook it. The first and only time any American president had physically touched Castro.

When Richard Nixon invited Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to the White House in 1973, Nixon aides didn't want Brezhnev talking to reporters until they were certain he would make no references to the then-growing Watergate scandal. But, in the south driveway of the White House, when Brezhnev spotted some of us, he walked over and started answering our questions. Nixon's aides were horrified. They need not have been. Brezhnev said nothing that embarrassed Nixon, and that may have worked in his favor when the two leaders sat down for private talks.. But at the same time, he showed he would not be muzzled. Two points for the Russian side.

(read the interesting story....)

Eventually, the president finished his lengthy nonspeech, and the lunch broke up. As the guests filed out, I turned to Jim Hagerty, the press secretary: "Jim, what happened? What was that all about? Why was the president so angry?" Hagerty, with a mischievous grin spread wide on his Irish face, said: "Kid, you've just been used as a prop by the president of the United States. And you were treated to some great theater. The president knew from the minute he walked in that you were there to record him. And he knew you would put that microphone in front of him. And he knew how he could use that."

Hagerty told me not to feel bad about it. After all, he said, "You've got a story you can tell the rest of your life." Not only that, but I also got a good lesson in presidential gamesmanship. Hmm. I wonder what President Bush has in mind for his Waldorf reception.