The gates, topped with barbed wire, swung open and a black presidential limousine pulled into the driveway. Out stepped President Obama, pressing his hands together and bowing ever so slightly — a gesture the Burmese democracy leader, dressed in a green scarf, peach blouse and black sarong, returned.
They shook hands, and then another figured rushed forth and hugged her in a long, emotional embrace. It was Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and outside gates, a crowd had gathered and could be heard chanting: "Obama! Freedom!"
The leaders of the free world had come with a message of hope for 60 million Burmese, but it was this bow and this hug, with this one resident, that symbolized the most — a scene almost unimaginable just two years ago when Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, was still a prisoner in her own home and Burma was ruled by a repressive military junta.
Released in 2010, she is now a member of parliament, and she visited Obama at the White House in September.
"I'm proud to be the first American president to visit this spectacular country, and I am very pleased that one of my first stops is to visit with an icon of democracy who has inspired so many people, not just in this country but all around the world," Obama told reporters in a brief appearance with Suu Kyi after they met privately.
He added: "Here, through so many difficult years, is where she displayed such unbreakable courage and determination. It's here where she showed that human freedom and dignity cannot be denied."
And it was here that Obama sought to show that the United States was serious about helping Burma emerge from five decades of repressive military rule and move down the path toward democracy. The people, or at least many of those in the old capital city, seemed ready for it.
Obama and Clinton, who flew into Rangoon together aboard Air Force One, drove in the presidential motorcade past thousands of cheering residents, many waving small American flags in front of a mix of ramshackle buildings and more modern-looking billboards hawking coffee and kitchen appliances. One group held a sign reading: "Mr Obama we ♥ you Legend, hero of our world"
The president returned the appreciation. After meeting with President Thein Sein, the civilian leader who took control of the country from the junta, Obama for the first time referred to the country as "Myanmar," the name used by the nation's own leaders. The U.S. government's policy has been to continue using "Burma" — the English name based on the Burmese colloquial word for the country and the one used by the opposition when speaking English. A year after brutally crushing pro-democracy demonstrations, the junta changed the name of the country in English from the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar in 1989.
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