Reply #11: Right after *'s selection and coronation in 2001

[kskiska]

it was announced that he would not be an in-your-face president like Clinton. After the Chinese plane incident and *'s apology to China, he pointedly did not fly to Washington state to greet the plane's crew after their release by China.

He was against these photo-ops before he was for them.

(snip)

The president wanted to bring them here (the White House). You will recall he did not go out to Washington state, when most of the crew returned to its base out there. The president said then that he thought that it would be best if he stayed out of the public limelight and let the crew enjoy their special moment. But he did want to bring them into the White House so that he could personally thank them for what he calls heroism during that 11-day standoff with China.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0105/18/bn.06.html