One suggestion in that thread (I think from an American Doper) was that perhaps there are more assassination attempts on the US President because the US President is more accessible than leaders in other countries. Dopers in other countries in that thread have responded with disbelief. The response from Martini Enfield is a good example:
Rather than derail that thread, I’m curious to hear how accessible your Head of State/Head of Government is, along the lines of the Merkel example.
I’ll give my own examples. I’m an ordinary bloke in Canada; no links to the PMO or Rideau Hall.
I’ve been at an outdoor event, no security of any sort required to attend, where the Queen went on walkabout, chatting with anyone who was at the front of the crowds. That continues to be her practice when in Canada.
I’ve never seen the GovGen (who?), but I gather he’s similarly accessible.
Years ago when Prime Minister Trudeau (père) was campaigning in an election, he was billed as making a stop at a local high school. My brother and I just decided to go about an hour ahead. Drove to the school, parked as close as we could, walked into it, to the gym, and there he was, doing a townhall/question session. He had a couple of big guys near him, whom I assumed were Mounties, but no-one stopped us at any point to check ID or anything.
A few years later, I was on a VIA train to the west coast, going through the mountains. A rumour went through the train that the PM had got on at Calgary with his three sons. At one point, when the train stopped at a station in the mountains to pick up passengers, we got out to stretch our legs, and sure enough, there was the PM, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. People were respectful and didn’t crowd him or anything; a few tried to chat with him, but really, what do you say to the PM when he’s on vacation with his kids and you don’t want to intrude? Then a plainclothes guy came up to him and said, “Mr Prime Minister, the train is ready to go, so we’d better get aboard.” And we all did.
Not me, but a couple of friends of mine: when the National Art Gallery opened in Ottawa, there was a big gala - with free champagne! So they went and each got a couple of glasses. As they were cutting away, one of them bumped into a guy and spilled one of her glasses of champagne on the guy’s shoes. She heard him say “What a waste of good champagne”, and recognized the voice: she looked up to see PM Mulroney smiling at her. Again, this was an open admittance event, no security of any sort.
Me again - I was leaving my office tower in Regina, which opens onto a pedestrian mall. As I came out the door onto the mall, Prime Minister Chrétien shook my hand. He was on a campaign swing, and there was a line of people there shaking hands with him, ending right at the door; he just assumed I had come out to shake hands with him. Open air mall, no security checks; anyone who was on the mall at that time could shake hands with the PM.
Also a couple of examples, not of the PM, but of the Leader of the Opposition: when I was working in Ottawa, more than once I saw John Turner walking on the street near Parliament Hill. Usually had some people with him, but they looked more like staffers and politicos than plainclothes police. Also, I was at a movie once, and just as the lights dimmed, Chrétien came in, all by himself, to watch the movie (he wasn’t PM at the time; Leader of the Opposition to the Leader of the Opposition, more like. )
So, two questions:
US Dopers - can you see yourself having these types of encounters with the President?
Other Dopers - can you see yourself having these types of encounters with your Head of State/Head of Government?
I was in the main Government office building taking care of some paperwork. I got into the elevator for a ride to the appropriate floor and one other man got in with me. Turns out it was the Leader of Government Business (LoGB has now been re-titled as the Premier), the head elected official in the islands. Just McKeeva Bush and me.
I ran into the then Speaker of the Legislative Assembly at the grocery several times. Everyone has to eat.
I stopped by the office of the Member of the Legislative Assembly responsible for my district. He wasn’t in so his sole staff member took a message and gave me the MLA’s personal cell number. The MLA gave me a call later that day to discuss my issue.
My office, the island’s 9-1-1 center, used to host the designated shelter space for the governor (an official appointed by the UK crown) for hurricanes. The building is hurricane rated and has cisterns, a backup generator, and restrooms complete with showers for storm resiliency. I met one governor as he was stepping out of the shower wrapped up in a towel. He later stopped by to ask me about what the storm forecast was saying since my laptop was about the only thing picking up an internet signal at the time. Just the two of us crouching at the end of the hall trying to pick up some random household’s internet signal.
Cayman is a small community. Running into government officials is routine and no big deal.
For Spain, it can depend a lot on event and location. Us in the Basque-speaking areas are used to much higher security than other regions, and yet, because we’re so small, it’s relatively easy to get access to any big(gish) political honcho. This is changing: we recently celebrated the release of the last police bodyguard from duty in Navarre (nicknamed sordos, Deaf Ones, because of the in-ear radios), which means that now it should be even easier. Getting close to someone while walking a bit too fast won’t trigger otitis on a bunch of curiously-large guys.
I’ve never tried to meet a national politician outside of a political event and only lived in Madrid for a few months, so I can’t really speak for them. For regional and local ones, and most of this during the “high security” years:
one of my middle school teachers became a big name in local politics (including a couple of terms as a senator); for several years there were two places where you’d see him without Deaf Ones, the school and the local casino (which isn’t what you guys would call a casino, more like a social club, membership required but very easy to obtain, where he goes to play cards and dominoes every Saturday that other parts of life allow it). You could approach him easily at either place but rumor said it was best not to be too sudden about it lest you discover that one of the cars parked there had Deaf Ones inside.
my mother has the phone number of our last three presidents, several former counselors… I’m not counting those of people she knew before they became politicians. Not of the current Prez, but I think at this point she’s beginning to think of that as a matter of pride (and God help Ms. Barkos if Mom gets really hell-bent on gaining access to her and she doesn’t grant it). We have a very “trustworthy person” face; she obtained several of those phones by the method of being at some event they were attending, them asking her “how are you? Is there anything I/our government/my party can help you with?” and her giving them a bullet points version of whatever any of the NPOs she’s involved with could the Prez, in fact, help with. They would get a staffer to grab her contact info and the rest is little black book history. Others, she got by the method of someone saying “I think Soandso would like to hear that. Here, let me see if (s)he’s available…” and pulling phone.
And for the people whose faces used to be on bills:
Her Majesty Doña Sofía has been known to get hugs and kisses from little old ladies calling her Doña Sofi From her face, she didn’t mind the insta-nickname at all. When she came to the official opening of the local hospital (which was going to be named Miguel Servet but ended up as Doña Sofía), Dad was one of the workers and he came home raving her glories. She was kind, approachable, had a nice word and an open ear for each of the relatively-few patients already admitted, but best of all, her official speech had been a single sentence (Señoras, señores, declaro inaugurado este hospital - Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare this hospital open).
In general, royal visits get a lot of dudes with hearing problems and nervous-looking local police (less if it’s officially a private visit) but the kings themselves are considered approachable. Spanish culture generally distinguishes between when someone is “on the job” and “on their own time” and considers it very impolite to break the second one (I’ve mentioned before seeing Metallica sitting in a cafe’s terrace, people-watching their fans who passed by and who evidently thought it was the greatest thing ever simply to have seen them in turn); both the current kings and the previous ones have reputations of being nice to people in either mode.
When I was posted to Uganda in 1998, we were driving somewhere in the early evening and ended up behind a motorcade. There was an escort vehicle in front, a limo, and another troop truck in the rear. I held back, as the armed guards made me nervous, but suddenly the motorcade slowed and then stopped. My alarm bells started to clang, as I spotted a car that appeared to have stalled, sitting halfway into the traffic lane and halfway into a u-turn opening in the median.
The vehicles all sat for a moment, then a door on the limo opened and out stepped Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda. He walked over to the car and began conversing with the occupants, then waved his bodyguards over and helped them push the car out of the lane. I was impressed, but it’s no wonder that he was hugely popular with his citizens, and not just for ousting Idi Amin.
Well, one of the very few European leaders to be assassinated in recent years was Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. He was shot at a Stockholm theater where he and his wife were catching a movie. They often went there unaccompanied.
Hard to picture Obama or Trump just going out to catch a movie without heavy security and major preparation.
Ireland. Our president is pretty approachable and accessible. A few weeks ago I ended up, more or less unexpectedly, two or three feet from him. He had an aide-de-camp or someone in tow (not armed as far as I could see), but no other visible security. There were a couple of hundred other people at this event (which didn’t have security of its own, or anything), and at the end he was trying to squish through the crowd and get out, and having a terrible time because he’s teeny and people kept not realising that the guy squeaking ‘Excuse me’ behind their shoulder was a) the president and b) there.
It probably helps that he’s not the major power-holder - he’s more of a figurehead - so there’s no real reason why anyone would want to assassinate him to begin with (not that that always makes a difference). It also helps that we don’t do handguns.
While we’re on the subject, I would like to add: we have a Tiny Wizard President and you don’t neener neener.
I’ve shaken hands with or been within 30 feet of five Panamanian presidents while they were in office (and met another after his term). They have had bodyguards/security present but not obtrusively so. These were public events (museum or visitor center openings) but the attendees were not screened, nor did they have to go through any security. It wouldn’t have been at all difficult for a potential assassin to get close to them.
During the last presidential election there was a notorious incident in which President Martinelli was punched in the nose by the former Ambassador to the US, and member of a rival political party, at a private wedding. Many of the attendees were prominent politicians. (Panama is a small country and most of the power brokers are related to one another by blood or marriage.) Because of the size of the venue, everybody was asked to leave their security entourages outside. When Martinelli approached the ex-Ambassador, the ambassador called him out on his notorious corruption, words were exchanged, and he threw a punch. Martinelli denied anything had happened.
The British PM is an MP and MP’s hold weekly surgeries to deal with local problems, people see the MP on a one-to-one basis. You don’t need an appointment.
I’m sure there are armed police somewhere but access isn’t an issue.
As in most political matters, the USA is a singular basket case.
My ex-wife used to like to tell the story of when she met the Prime Minister.
She was walking down the street in Ottawa, when a limousine pulled up. The door opened, and out stepped PM Jean Chretien. She recognized him from seeing him on TV, and boldly stepped up, extended her hand, and said, “Mr. Prime Minister, good morning.” He shook her hand, and wished her a good morning. Then they both went on their way.
As for me, I attended a talk given by then-PM Pierre Trudeau when I was doing my undergrad degree. There was discreet security, but he walked into the hall, gave his talk, took some questions from the floor, and then did a little bit of a meet and greet with attendees. He left before I could get to the front of the line, but he walked out past the line, passing within about three feet of me.
It is ridiculous to think the President of the United States is approachable at all. I went to a Bill Clinton rally on a whim with some friends that were College Democrats in 1992 before his first election. I didn’t care about it at all and was just there to hang out but the Secret Service needed someone photogenic to be the “moam-back”. That is the person that greets the motorcade and says “come on back” to tell them where to park. The picked me for some reason.
We were all there really early helping to set up but, from that moment forward, I got my own agents and was split out from everyone else. It was kind of fun hanging out with the Secret Service and seeing what they do for prep work. I got to see them doing sniper checks from buildings across the street, supposedly homeless people that were really agents and lots more.
When the motorcade finally came, it was like a 5 alarm fire with sirens and lights blazing. I was the only person allowed in the parking lot to greet them. That went fine but the flashing cameras were blinding. I got to meet Bill Clinton before and after the event but I was always watched from the moment they picked me. Everything was carefully scripted and controlled.
Quite a lot of British politicians bike to work — beats diving into the Underworld —a few years ago one idiot minister got into an altercation with the cops outside parliament *, calling them ‘plebs’, and one old ass of a Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, used to bike to parliament and the various courts back in the '80s when we still had a proper legal system and none of this ‘Supreme Court’ crap.
An old English truism is: ‘Never argue with a cop.’
Cameron’s much publicised cycling (before he was caught out using the phrase “cut the green crap”) was slightly undermined, to much tittering, by the fact that his boxes of papers followed along in the big car insisted on by the security people.
Likewise, there are often fairly staged events like the time he took the visiting Chinese President to the pub local to Chequers, the official country residence. But equally, when they’re obviously off duty, they tend to be left alone without needing to be surrounded with massive security. With Cameron it was holidays in upmarket Spanish resorts (but there was one incident where a misunderstanding between Cameron and his entourage meant that one of his kids got left behind in a pub for a few minutes). Theresa May and her husband went walking in Switzerland last summer, Jeremy Corbyn looks after the veg on his allotment (and presumably has many fascinating conversations with other allotment-holders about seeds and compost and such), and I doubt if there’s much in the way of security or isolation from other holidaymakers.
The royals tend necessarily to be more isolated for most of their time, but the Queen has been known to go to the theatre and sit in the stalls (admittedly surrounded by some fairly burly coppers), and when they’re in one of the country places like Sandringham or Balmoral, they won’t have much security with them if they drop in at a local shop, church or flower show. Again, it’s understood when they’re off duty and when it’s OK for the photographs or whatever.
I was in Ottawa visiting relatives and saw Michaelle Jean (GovGen at the time) walking down the street like a normal person. She did have a couple of large gentlemen in suits nearby but I didn’t see any other security. And no one in the crowd was paying all that much attention to her.
I’ve also delivered room service to Dalton McGuinty (then Premier of Ontario) and his wife. He did have a police detail staying on the same floor, but no one stopping anyone from just going up to his room and knocking. And ate a couple of tables over from Kathleen Wynne (current Premier) at an ordinary restaurant (not a special event, she was just going out to dinner).
A friend of mine told me he just saw Trudeau (pere) walking down a Montreal street one day.
I read about a situation a decade or so ago in which a guy who had rented a car in Rekjavik got stuck in the snow. A woman came of a nearby house with a shovel and helped him get unstuck. She told him her name was Vigdis (Finbogadottir), which some of you might recognize as the president of Iceland at the time.
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From her face, she didn’t mind the insta-nickname at all. When she came to the official opening of the local hospital (which was going to be named Miguel Servet but ended up as Doña Sofía), Dad was one of the workers and he came home raving her glories. She was kind, approachable, had a nice word and an open ear for each of the relatively-few patients already admitted, but best of all, her official speech had been a single sentence (Señoras, señores, declaro inaugurado este hospital - Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare this hospital open).
(except for that president / ambassador thing.)