A San Diego Union-Tribune Newsblog item published shortly after the California-Chile ceremony June 12 in Freeborn Hall carried the headline: "President for a day," referring to Gov. Schwarzenegger.
Writer Bill Ainsworth started the blog item by noting that the Austrian native and movie star-turned-governor "is never likely to be president, because of the U.S. Constitution," which restricts the presidency to people born in the United States. Still, Ainsworth wrote, Schwarzenegger "played the role of chief executive with enthusiasm and energy" while hosting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
Ambassadors, foreign ministers and other dignitaries surrounded the governor and president, Ainsworth wrote. The dignitaries included former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, whose wife, Charlotte, is the governor's chief of protocol, and who also attended.
Ainsworth wrote that Schwarzenegger "overflowed with admiration" when introducing her excellency the president of the Republic of Chile. The governor described Bachelet's biography as "mind-blowing."
"It reads like a script to a Hollywood blockbuster except that people might not believe it is all true, but the fact is that it is all true," Schwarzenegger said. "She is a doctor. She is a surgeon. She is a pediatrician and the first female defense minister and female president."
In fact, Bachelet, elected in 2006, is one of the few female presidents in the world, which Schwarzenegger considered impressive in light of the fact there are 192 countries in the world, by U.N. count.
He also referred to her family's tragedy: Her father had been an air force general under President Salvadore Allende; then, after a coup, the Augosto Pinochet regime arrested and tortured Gen. Bachelet, and he died as a result.
Michelle Bachelet and her mother were jailed for nearly a month, and tortured during this time. Upon being freed, they went into exile in Australia and Germany before returning to Chile.
"She speaks five languages, which is three more than me if you count my English," the governor said to laughter.
The governor got another laugh when he tried to introduce Assembly Speaker Emeritus Fabian Núñez. But he was not in the room. "He's on the phone," someone said.
"Tell him I'm not here," Schwarzenegger said.
Bachelet got a laugh, too, at the end of her remarks in Spanish -- delivered for the benefit of more than a dozen members of the Chilean media accompanying her on her trip.
Turning to Schwarzenegger, she ended her comments by saying hasta la vista, and even the non-Spanish-speakers in the room knew that she had made a reference to Schwarzenegger's famous line from one of his Terminator movies.
In this case, Bachelet was indicating to him that they would see each other again. In fact, the governor indicated that he had accepted Bachelet's invitation to visit Chile on a trade mission -- though he did not answer a reporter's question about when he would go.
The governor and Bachelet posed for a photo with the Chilean media before leaving the Hopkins Vineyard and heading to Freeborn Hall.
The vineyard is a stone's throw from a piece of California and UC Davis history: the 30-year-old Winkler Vine, named after the late Albert J. Winkler, chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology from 1935 to 1957.
The Winkler Vine stretches over a 60-foot-by-60-foot arbor and a thick layer of grass, providing a cool, comfortable, 11 2-acre setting for the annual Dinner Under the Winkler Vine, a fundraiser for the student group DEVO, standing for the Davis Enology and Viticulture Organization.
The Winkler Vine variety is Mission, grown by Franciscan missionaries for sacramental wine in early-day California -- making the grape the first to be cultivated for wine here. The grapes are thought to be from Spain, and the same variety also grows in Chile -- where the grape is known as pais.
Bachelet talked about investing in social programs as one element of her country's economic development, saying increased social spending helps reduce poverty. This begged a reporter's question to the governor: If he insists on cutting social programs, to help balance the budget, is he hurting economic development?
"No nation has ever suffered by living within its means," Schwarzenegger said.
He also touted increased trade with Chile, giving these statistics: For the United States as a whole, $14.8 billion in trade with Chile in 2006, up 154 percent since the U.S.-Chile free-trade agreement took effect in 2004. California alone has seen an increase in trade with Chile of more than 250 percent.
Following the Freeborn Hall ceremony and a brief news conference there, Bachelet, Schwarzenegger, the Shultzes and some 160 others joined Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and his wife, Rosalie, for a social and luncheon in the inner courtyard of their residence, just off campus. California's first lady, Maria Shriver, did not attend the Freeborn Hall event or the social and luncheon.
The Vanderhoefs served California and Chilean wines, all donated. Wines of Chile, a promotional organization representing 90 Chilean wineries, donated the Chilean products: Montes Limited Selection Leyda Valley 2007 and Purple Angel (Carmenere) Colchagua Valley 2005.
The rest of the event featured California wines: Domaine Chandon Brut Classic for a toast, Beringer Napa Valley 2006 Sauvignon Blanc during the salad course, Saintsbury 2006 Carneros Pinot Noir during the main course, and Robert Mondavi Winery 2006 Moscato d'Oro Napa Valley during dessert.
The "Taste of California" menu:
Salad of Delta Asparagus, with Hass avocado wedges, epic root mache rosettes and prosciutto chips, and UC Davis Silo olive oil vinaigrette.
Golden State Olive and Fig Crusted Wild Halibut, with heirloom potatoes, Sweet 100 tomatoes, wild mushrooms and Garden Valley snap peas.
Iced Driscoll Strawberry Soufflé, with chocolate truffles and almond cookies.
During dessert, 40 third-graders from Luli Holguin's and Mele Echiburu's classes at Davis' César Chávez Elementary School performed two songs in Spanish for the visiting president:
Dame la Mano y Danzaremos (Give Me Your Hand and Let's Dance) -- A poem (set to music) by Chile's Gabriela Mistral, who in 1945 became the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Echiburu's husband, Lautaro, a Chilean native, sang with the students, to music provided by Ximena Diez-Jackson (guitar), a Chilean native who works as a library technician at César Chávez Elementary and served as performance coordinator; her husband, Hiram Jackson (violin); Ana Maria Currea (guitar), reading specialist at César Chávez; Cecilia Durand (guitar), a Chilean native who teaches at Tender Learning Care preschool in Davis; and Holguin (guitar), one of the César Chávez Elementary teachers.
Los Lagos de Chile (The Lakes of Chile) -- During this song, Lautaro Echiburu and daughter, Francisca, performed the Chilean national dance, ) la cueca). Francisca recently completed the sixth-grade at César Chávez Elementary.
César Chávez Elementary is a Spanish language-immersion school, where the children -- most of whom speak English as their primary language -- receive instruction in English and Spanish, in a program that also includes a strong international emphasis and celebrates cultures and traditions from many Spanish-speaking countries.
The 8- and 9-year-old children gave la presidenta Bachelet a traditional Chilean welcome, called an esquinazo. It started with the presentation of a cacho, or decorated horn containing a drink for the guest of honor.
Lautaro Echiburu presented the cacho, expressing a welcome from the children of César Chávez Elementary to the children of Chile, and from his late father, also named Lautaro Echiburu, to the president's late father.
"They were very good friends in Chile," said Mele Echiburu, adding that Echiburu carried letters back and forth between Gen. Bachelet and his family when he was imprisoned. Echiburu also opposed Pinochet, and eventually Echiburu and his family went into exile.
"When my husband presented the cacho and mentioned his father's name, President Bachelet hugged him and said to say hello to his mother," Mele Echiburu said.
Echiburu described President Bachelet as "very charismatic," and spoke proudly of the César Chávez Elementary students who served as "little ambassadors."
The teacher said President Bachelet spoke to the students in English until learning that they attended a Spanish-language immersion school, at which point she switched to Spanish.
She posed for photos with the students, and put her arm around Isabella Ainsworth, after learning that Isabella had written a report on Bachelet, describing her as the Latin American leader whom the third-grader most admired.
"May I never disappoint you," the president told Isabella, according to her teacher, Mele Echiburu.
Isabella's parents are Kathryn Olmsted, a professor of history at UC Davis, and Bill Ainsworth, a Sacramento-based reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune. He covered the president's visit for his newspaper, and he is the reporter mentioned at the beginning of this notebook column.
More about the presidential visit
CHILEAN CONNECTION: University at nexus of fruitful relationship between California, Chile
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu