Answering a question about him, Tharoor replied in the US, “I have the great honour of meeting four or five American presidents during my time in the US and having a detailed conversation with both the Bushes, with Clinton much more briefly with Obama. These are the people with certain class, certain distinction. And it is not policy as there are two Republicans in the list and two Democrats. There was a political heft and statesman-like gravitas and intellectual quality that I find awfully lacking in this gentleman.”