Bush, Koizumi bond over baseball

By Kelly Wallace
CNN White House Correspondent

SMITHSBURG, Maryland (CNN) -- Call it "baseball diplomacy."

President George W. Bush, an avid baseball fan, seemed to know a way to appeal to a fellow lover of the game, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

The two men, meeting for the first time face-to-face at the presidential retreat at Camp David in the Maryland mountains, emerged after just under two hours of talks, with Koizumi showing off a new leather jacket and a baseball, gifts from the U.S. president.

"This was a truly wonderful meeting," Koizumi said. "I did not, at the outset, believe that I would be able to establish such a strong relationship of trust with the president in my first meeting."

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The Japanese leader, with high approval ratings at home, seemed to be trying to charm the president and a pack of U.S. and Japanese reporters, with a big windup and then an underhand pitch to Bush.

The president caught the toss, and with a smile, seemed to indicate he had warm feelings for his new counterpart on the world stage.

"I knew the prime minister was dynamic," the president said. "I've heard that; I've read it. But you don't realize how dynamic he is until you have a chance to witness his conversation."

Bush said the two are guaranteed to have a "good personal relationship."

"After all, he's the only world leader I've ever played catch with, with a baseball," he added.

Senior Bush advisers used words such as "fantastic" and "fabulous" to describe the meeting, billed mainly as a chance for the two men to get to know one another.

"The two men simply liked each other and had a warm reaction to one another," said a senior administration official who did not want to be identified.

Besides a love of baseball, the two men have something else in common. Both view themselves as outsiders.

"They are both non-establishment types," Bill Breer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told CNN. "I mean Mr. Bush came from Texas. He's not a product of Washington. Mr. Koizumi has been in the Liberal Democratic party, but he's always been a sort of loner within the party."

In this meeting, the two men also seemed to give the other something he needed. Bush provided a ringing endorsement of the Japanese prime minister's plan to fix his country's ailing economy, a move that could help Koizumi win support for his agenda at home.

For his part, the Japanese leader softened his criticism of Bush's position on global warming, a move that could help the U.S. leader with European allies, already angry with Bush about his stance on the environment.

The two men will meet again in July for the summit of the most industrialized nations, plus Russia. Maybe Bush and Koizumi will engage in another game of catch. It seemed to work for them this time.