When the World Cheered a Visit from the U.S. President
Everyone in Saigon—students, office workers, street vendors, grandmothers—wanted a glimpse of Obama.
JOSEPH BABCOCK
05.28.17 1:29 PM ET
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It was May, 2016. Ho Chi Minh City, which everyone still called Saigon, was hot and muggy. Days before the President’s arrival, the city started to transform. Streets downtown were lined with sawhorses and metal barricades. Cleaning crews wearing orange jumpsuits and carrying bamboo brooms worked overtime, shuffling up and down the crowded sidewalks. Elaborate neon lights were draped above the busy central thoroughfare of Le Duan. Commuters on their motorbikes found random streets blocked by the police—contingency preparations, apparently, for the President’s visit.
By the time Air Force One landed at Ton Son Nhat, Saigon felt primed for its moment. Crowds lined the streets around the President’s hotel and in front of the embassy. Everyone—students, office workers, street vendors, grandmothers—wanted a glimpse of Obama. They said his name with the flat monotone that Vietnamese speakers use when saying a word that doesn’t contain diacritics, the last syllable drawn out so that it sounded like “Obam-aaah!” People in the crowd waved little Vietnamese and American flags, a sight that was kind of amazing in itself considering that this was right around the corner from the War Remnants Museum, formerly called the Exhibition House for U.S. and Puppet Crimes.
The White House entourage had a packed schedule of events, but my friend and I made plans to meet up later that night at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel where they were staying. He showed up accompanied by other members of the White House team.
“Seems like that crowd’s going to be out there all night,” one of my friend’s colleagues said as we all sat down on small plastic chairs arranged around an Inox folding table, dining in typical Saigon street-side style. He was referring to the throngs of Vietnamese still lining the barricades in front of the hotel, waving flags, holding signs and smartphones, hoping to get a glimpse of the President, even though he’d clearly clocked out for the day hours earlier.
“I guess the Vietnamese really love Obama,” I said.
“Dude,” my friend said, “it’s like this everywhere.”
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/28/when-the-world-cheered-a-visit-from-the-us-president
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