California, it must be admitted, is perhaps not the easiest of destinations to comprehend. More than one sophisticated American politician has fallen prey to its deception, misreading its casual garb. The state's allure, it seems, is the agreeable weather and a naive can-do attitude among natives not tethered to notions of defeatism.

Cheery place then, not terribly intellectual or literate, economically successful what with all those Silicon Valley entrepreneurs; Los Angeles, scattered in both its geography and its brain cells, inexplicably the capital of the entertainment industry, seemingly presided over by an insubstantial mayor and a handful of pony-tailed movie executives who export American notions of culture.

So on a visit to California a head of state could assume that a few glossy speeches and a collection of handshakes would do the trick, leaving plenty of time for shopping, touring and touching base with the family.

One can hardly be blamed for viewing the place that way at first glance, but it would be an error. California is not a place for the aphorist. And the President, Mrs McAleese, was unfortunately that during her visit to the state last week.

Last spring, during an eight-day trip to Honduras and Mexico, Mrs McAleese shone brightly, her intellectual fluency on display, her command of Spanish impressive, her vocabulary fearlessly mandarin, her speeches filled with poetry and substance and delivered with passion.

There was the problem of the overall theme not being clearly defined. After covering the trip I wrote that, while this could become a great presidency, it also could become one hampered by underachievement if themes were not more clearly stated.

This trip to California, then, was disappointing to several observers. One could begin by quibbling with the schedule, which several reporters noted seemed light: 16 listed events in seven full days.

But numbers are static, and it seems unfair to rely on scheduled events when clearly Mrs McAleese was doing other things during that time, meeting the local media and conducting business on the telephone.

So let us forget the schedule and assume that she was busier than she seemed. Instead, the trip should be judged on the decisions she made as to where to speak, what to say and whom to meet.

In Los Angeles Mrs McAleese addressed a joint Bord Failte/Northern Ireland Tourist Board breakfast. About 60 guests, mostly travel agents it seemed, listened as she spoke of the benefits of visiting Ireland, of the "splendour of the scenery, the warmth of the welcome, the rhythm of the music".

Then it was off to a reception at Mayor Richard Riordan's home. One of the least important politicians in California, limited by both the constitutional restrictions of his office and his absence of interest in it, Mayor Riordan played host to the President for an hour, surrounded by 40 guests, only three of whom were, to be blunt, political figures of any significance in the state.

Said one of those legislators, looking around: "Who are these people? Who is she coming to talk to?"

Next up was a speech to the World Affairs Council, a body of influential businessmen accustomed to hearing substantive addresses by heads of state. Mrs McAleese's seven-page speech included two pages on the peace process and the rest on the Irish economy and social inclusion. Eight statistics were contained in the text, and she skipped over four of them.

There were no eloquent references or quotes from others - a single reference to writer J.P. Donleavy sufficed. It was, in other words, a thinly-researched text, delivered without passion or conviction. The President's delegation seemed surprised when the group had few substantive questions subsequently.

The remainder of the Los Angeles trip involved a reception for the Irish community at a half-filled ballroom at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, after which the President escaped to a private dinner at Spago, the trendiest celebrity spot in town, a meeting with the Los Angeles Times editorial board, a visit to the Irish American Bar Association, at which an award was conferred on her, and a visit to Loyola Law School.

It is difficult to be in Los Angeles and avoid any contact with the entertainment industry, the film animators, music composers and Internet Web designers who make the world go round here. But Mrs McAleese managed to do so.

Sources in the delegation said the omission was intentional. Concerned that film industry executives would question the President on the matter of tax incentives for production in Ireland, a topic she was not prepared to address at the moment, they decided it would be best for her to avoid them altogether.

THIS was a mistake. Word got out that the President of Ireland was in town. Not a single meeting was held at any studio, with any of the producers or writers or directors or actors who have both enthusiastically supported the Irish film industry and pushed for more investment in Irish themes by American companies.

By failing to invite most of these people even to meet and greet at a cocktail party - surely this President is adept at avoiding policy discussions - a message was sent that Ireland is not interested in the business of entertainment.

"Maybe they just don't know Los Angeles," said one Irish director.

Things did not get much better in San Francisco. The weekend was reserved for private sightseeing and shopping, with Mrs McAleese touring Alcatraz prison, escorted by the US Secret Service and US Coast Guard. Her speech at the Institute for International Studies and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University was an amiable, friendly affair, lacking in grain, again short on substance and research.

In contrast, several of the California politicians Mrs McAleese met during her trip had clearly done their homework. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown presented her and her husband with several personal gifts, including an engraved golf putter, personalised to reflect Dr McAleese's interest in the game.

While introducing Mrs McAleese in Sacramento, Governor Gray Davis quoted liberally from a speech made in Ireland in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, a personal hero of Mrs McAleese.

The President seemed pleasantly startled by the Governor's references and quotations. She would do well to remember JFK, and perhaps even to look up that address he gave to the Dail on June 28th, 1963. It is a speech of knowledge, depth, wit and vision.

It is also a speech of ambition, and Mrs McAleese would do well to push her staff to recall it also. A presidential trip abroad obviously involves massive advance and logistics work, and the California trip was practically flawless in that regard.

But without a more ambitious agenda of her own for what she actually wishes to convey, without more stringent reaching and harder work, without an iconic ideology based on more than, in Woody Allen's words, "showing up", this President will fail to fulfil the promise of her charisma, her intellect, and of the soundness of character that moves and impresses her audiences, but leaves them hungry.