Posted on 11/26/2006 12:54:54 AM PST by mirici
Traian Basescu — unbuttoned, unorthodox, some say unpresidential — is shaking up the political scene inthis ex-communist country accustomed to colorless, aloof leaders. He's a salty soul with a penchant for dressing casually, meeting with Cabinet ministers at local watering holes and driving his own car — a humble Skoda sedan — around the capital. He's a ladies' man who's always up for a dance wherever there's a willing woman. But he's also a man's man who likes watching soccer on a wide-screen plasma TV, sipping single-malt whiskey and puffing on Benson & Hedges cigarettes. Basescu, who as president controls the nation's defense and security services and plays a key foreign policy role, has won respect for supporting the gradual opening up of files once kept by the feared communist-era Securitate secret police. He also has been praised for calling for a more vigorous crackdown on corruption and for encouraging press freedom. A staunch U.S. ally who has visited Washington twice, he blocked Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu's proposal to withdraw Romania's 608 troops from Iraq. "It's a dishonor to leave your allies," he said at a sprawling presidential retreat in the Carpathian Mountains. Wearing brown trousers and an open-necked, camel-colored flannel shirt with rolled-up sleeves, Basescu smiled impishly when asked about frequenting taverns. "It's not like I'm discussing state secrets in a restaurant," he said. "But it's vital to me to maintain contact with the people." Unpresidential? "Let us go to vote, and we'll see who is presidential." His bald pate, gap-toothed grin, hearty "wha-ha-ha!" laugh and crinkly blue eyes, which occasionally cross, have made him a favorite target of cartoonists. If he's not in the news, his daughters are: One is a fashion model, and the eldest is divorcing her pop star husband.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
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