He is the Fab One, the new Diana, a cross between Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, and when he comes to town we want to see his specialness for ourselves When was the last time a visiting dignitary caused such excitement? When did we last see our leaders, coiffed and groomed, rehearsing their most beatific grins in preparation for a fleeting photo opportunity with a foreigner? When did our wisest columnists and leader writers last display that collective giddiness in their prose? You are thinking, maybe, of Pope John Paul II's historic visit in 1982, or John F Kennedy calling on the Queen in 1961, but no, you need only go back to March, and the state visit of Carla Bruni. Then, critical faculties were cast aside and judgement was numbed by the glamour of it all. She was "triumphant", she won "rave reviews", she passed her...
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