LIMA, Peru — Let’s shake on it. Again, and again.
The art of the photo-op handshake is big business at world gatherings. Each moment allows leaders to show the folks back home that they have met with, say, the U.S. president.
But they also are forced moments, not spontaneous ones, so they can be awkward.
On Saturday, President Bush came before the cameras with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. Bush went for the handshake. Aso was gazing at a backdrop of scenes from picturesque Peru and left Bush hanging.
Then the two bumped into each other before getting the handshake straight.
“See you in a little bit,” Bush told the gathered media.
Sure enough, he reappeared shortly with Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak for a three-way handshake. And after those three leaders had a meeting? Time for one more handshake before the cameras, this time just Bush and Lee.
By this point, even Bush had to laugh. “We’re back,” he said. The Associated Press
