US
President Barack Obama and his first lady Michelle Obama depart joint
base Andrews in Washington en route to Johannesburg December 9, 2013.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
By Steve Holland
After a
long flight from Washington, Obama is to speak on Tuesday at the
memorial service in an 80,000-seat soccer stadium in Johannesburg, where
more than 70 leaders from around the world will commemorate the life of
Mandela, who died on Thursday at age 95.ON BOARD AIR FORCE ONE
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama brought former President George W.
Bush with him to Africa on Monday to attend a memorial for Nelson
Mandela in a high-profile show of American respect for the man who
vanquished white-minority rule in South Africa.
At his
side will be his immediate predecessor, Bush, a Republican, as well as
Democratic former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The only
surviving former president not traveling was Bush's father, George H.W.
Bush, who is 89.
On
board Air Force One for the cross-Atlantic flight to Africa were Obama,
his wife, Michelle; Bush and his wife, Laura; and Hillary Clinton, who
was Obama's first secretary of state and who is contemplating her own
run for the presidency in 2016.
The
fact that the leaders from both parties joined together for the trip to
South Africa underscored the importance of Mandela's life and legacy,
said Martha Joynt Kumar, a political scientist at Towson University in
Maryland who studies the presidency.
"It puts a ... stamp on the importance that the United States thought of Mandela, his importance as a world leader," Kumar said.
Air
Force One stopped in Senegal's capital Dakar to refuel on its way to
South Africa. On the flight, the three families sat in a conference room
toward the front of the plane, chatting to each other at a large round
table.
Obama
kept his usual quarters in the front of the plane, while the medical
unit cabin was transformed into the Bushes' quarters for the flight.
Clinton stayed in the senior staff cabin.
It was
Bush's first flight on Air Force One since handing over power to Obama
in 2009 and it was the most time he had spent in close proximity to
Obama since returning to Dallas after he left the White House.
Carter and Bill Clinton will meet up with them in South Africa. Logistical issues prevented them from flying together.
SCRAMBLE FOR LOGISTICS
Presidential
travel usually requires weeks of preparation. Preliminary work probably
started a while ago as authorities would have recognized the gravity of
Mandela's illness, said Ralph Basham, former Secret Service director.
When Pope John Paul II passed away in 2005, President George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush attended the funeral.
"Where
it's really challenging is when a death and a funeral is unexpected,"
Basham said. When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in
1981, the Secret Service decided it was too dangerous for the president
and vice president to attend the funeral, so former Presidents Richard
Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Carter went instead, he said.
"That
was a real challenge because of the unusual situation there and not
knowing who you could trust," said Basham, who was lead Secret Service
agent for Sadat's funeral.
But
the situation in South Africa is different. "You're dealing with a
sophisticated group of people in South Africa who have excellent law
enforcement and military capabilities," said Basham, now a partner at
Command Consulting Group.
"They recognize that it would be an international catastrophe if something were to happen during these events," he said.
A spokesman for the Secret Service declined to comment on specific security measures for the South Africa trip.
"Secret Service is used to, and prepared for, short-notice trips," spokesman Brian Leary said.
OBAMA TO PAY RESPECTS
Obama is expected to arrive in South Africa early on Tuesday.
Ben
Rhodes, deputy White House national security adviser, told reporters
that Obama in his 10-15 minute speech would talk about what Mandela
meant to the people of South Africa and to him personally.
"His success wasn't preordained. It had to be earned over a lifetime," Rhodes said of Mandela.
Obama has said the South African leader's struggle against racism inspired him to become involved in politics.
In
June, Obama took his family to see the Robben Island prison cell where
Mandela had been held, a "powerful experience" that Obama reflected upon
as he crafted his remarks for the memorial service, Rhodes said.
Obama
likely will meet informally with South African President Jacob Zuma at
the memorial, aides said, and will try to meet with Mandela's widow,
Graca Machel, and some family members to pay respects, if time allows.
Obama spoke to Zuma and Machel by phone last week.
The United States also planned to send a delegation to Mandela's burial on Sunday in Qunu, his ancestral home.
In
Washington, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, signed a book
of condolence on behalf of the American people at the South African
Embassy. Biden wrote: "Mandela's head and heart lifted a nation to
freedom. We will continue to keep his spirit alive and strive to live by
his example."
(Additional
reporting by Roberta Rampton, Tabassum Zakaria and Jeff Mason in
Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell and Mohammad Zargham)
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