Bush and Howard: Best Mates
President Celebrates Rapport With Australian Prime Minister at White House Dinner

By Anita Huslin and Roxanne Roberts
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 17, 2006

If the number of official dinners this administration has hosted is any indication, the formal dining experience is one to be endured only for the most essential diplomatic purposes. Last night was a rare exception.

The White House dinner in honor of Australian Prime Minister John Howard had no urgent message -- no pat on the back for a burgeoning democracy or reward for a breakthrough trade agreement.

It had none of the glam Aussies you might have expected. No Elle Macpherson or Nicole Kidman or Greg Norman. (Kenny Chesney for entertainment?) Still, there was a golden glow to the State Dining Room, where two political friends stood and offered a "Good job, mate" for their support of each other during troubled times.

"We're really an optimistic people and we firmly believe that the best days are ahead for our country," President Bush said to his guest of honor, channeling Ronald Reagan. "I know you feel the same way about Australia. It's also comforting to know that on the other side of the world it's already morning in Australia."

Howard returned the compliment to the man he first met as president on Sept. 10, 2001, and has offered unwavering support since.

"Those foolish enough to suggest that America should have a lesser role in the affairs of the world should pause and think whether they really mean what they say because a world without a dedicated, involved America would be a less safe world, a more precarious world," Howard said.

Such steadfast friends, the Australians, so many of the guests noted, and that was motive enough for the dinner. "We've been working together on matters of influence in the world for many decades," said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, walking into the dinner through the east entrance with his wife, Joyce. "It is a very strong and special relationship."

"You have to remember Australia is the only ally we have that's fought on the same side as the United States in every war in the last century and this century," said Mel Sembler, the former Republican National Committee finance chairman who was named ambassador to Australia by Bush's father.

The two men share similar temperaments and common experiences, noted Tom Schieffer, the former U.S. ambassador to Australia. "They don't take themselves too seriously, and I think the fact they don't just gave them a kind of instant rapport that served both countries."

And Howard saw firsthand the horrors of Sept. 11. He was in Washington that day and immediately offered Australia's support, before being spirited back home aboard Air Force 2. "From that time forward the president really valued the prime minister's counsel," Schieffer said. "He was a person the president depended on."

So now, a time to celebrate that close friendship in grand style.

The state dining room was lit by 19th-century candelabra, tables set in pistachio-colored silk cloths, with hot pink floral centerpieces and the Clintons' ivory and gold china. Laura Bush, wearing a lemon-yellow beaded Peggy Jennings gown, with yellow citrine beads around her throat, sat between Howard and Sen. Lamar Alexander. The president sat between Janette Howard, wearing a silk aqua dress, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, in a red Mary McFadden dress.

Guests dined on squash soup; barramundi, a fish native to Australia (these, however, were farmed in Massachusetts); summer greens, and an Australian black pearl nougat glace (nougat ice cream with oranges). On a diplomatic note, the White House served a Greg Norman chardonnay from Santa Barbara.

Throughout the evening, the buzz among guests was whether the dinner might be a swan song for Howard.

The prime minister, 66, once said he would retire at 65, and just celebrated his 10th year as prime minister, but has made no announcement about his plans.

"He's had 10 years there," said Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp., who attended the dinner with his wife, Wendi Deng. "He's on top of his form, and much better to go out that way than Margaret Thatcher did, losing an election."

The entertainment was also in top form.

Singer Kenny Chesney, dressed in a navy shirt and black hat, stepped up to a microphone with three band members and showed off a pair of cowboy boots the president had given him earlier in the evening.

Chesney, who was briefly married to Renee Zellweger last year, escorted his mother, Karen Chandler, as a Mother's Day gift, he said to guests between songs. The president tapped his feet and nodded his head during Chesney's short set. In an unusual move, dinner guests rushed the stage, asking for autographs and posing for pictures with Chesney.

It remained unclear whether Howard is a country music fan. Not that it matters. At the end of the day, it's not what friends do, but the fact that they're together.