President Clinton was to represent the
United States of America on a highly formal, orchestrated "state visit" to Great
Britain.
Air Force One stopped at a bright red
carpet along which the President strode to join Queen Elizabeth II in a beautiful, ornate
17th-century coach hitched to 6 enormous matched white horses.
The coach proceeded through the streets en
route to Buckingham Palace with the President and the Queen alternating between exchanging
pleasantries and waving each out their respective windows to the cheering throngs.
At one point, the right rear horse produced
a thunderous, cataclysmic fart that reverberated through the air and rattled the doors of
the coach.
Presidents and Queens are, first and
foremost, human beings. Their first reaction was to focus their attentions outside their
respective windows, and behave as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
The President was the first to realize that
ignoring what had happened was ridiculous.
"Queen Elizabeth, please accept my
regrets .... I'm sure you understand that there are some things that even the President of
the United States cannot control."
"Mr. Clinton, please don't give the
matter another thought. Why, if you hadn't said something, I would have thought it
was one of the horses."
