Could Bush pull this off? Probably not. From the Times of India, with the headline, "World Can't Afford India to be a Pygmy":

NEW DELHI: Bill Clinton says that the world "cannot afford India to be a pygmy". Speaking through a live satellite link on Saturday night to an audience of Delhi's elite at a gala dinner on the occasion of the India Today Conclave he concluded, "You have to be a giant."

The issue, according to him, was what kind of giant India would be. Instead of focusing merely on economic growth, the former US president's analysis based itself on a harder look at the issues confronting the country, ranging from communal conflict to AIDS.

Introducing Clinton, Aroon Purie, head honcho of the India Today group, said the former US president's visit to India in 2000 had been "a breakthrough" in Indo-US relations. He noted that Clinton, who became president at the age of 46 and retired at 54 was "a man who speaks our language."

In his hour-long address and exchange with the audience, Clinton displayed his virtuoso style that returned him to office twice as the president of the United States.

He was both incisive and sympathetic while speaking on a range of issues ranging from the spread of AIDS and growth of communalism in India to Indo-Pak relations. Typical of Clinton, the lecture was well researched and carefully nuanced, balancing the positive with the negative and not sounding patronising, but without pulling any punches.

Diplomacy can be about individual personality. Oh well.

In a different context, Machiavelli stated that "it is better to be feared than loved." We're on the way to learning whether or not he was right.