Bush Tries to Revive Transatlantic Bonhommie

Starting in Brussels this morning, President Bush is trying to revive America’s relations with Europe. Having done so much to tear them down, the constraints of global reality have shown that he must at least acknowledge that Europe exists. And Europeans, while they may forever view him as a cowboy, a braggart and basically everything wrong with America incarnate, need to figure out how best to get along in the next for years.

In his speech in Brussels, Mr. Bush was not interrupted with spontaneous applause the way American audiences (hand-picked by the White House) do. On occasion, he paused to let the crowd cheer, and the audience chose not to do so. Mr. Bush, who is a poor performer in set pieces with large, non-partisan crowds, may have had a glimpse of just what he’s up against.

However, there were moments during which the crowd did cheer him. When he spoke of actually getting a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine that did not require the Palestinians to go away, there was tangible warmth in the response. His praise for Europe in the recent Ukrainian electoral unpleasantness resonated with his usual generic murmurings on freedom, liberty and democracy.

Mr. Bush probably isn’t going to enjoy dinner with President Chirac nor his talks with Chancellor Schroeder. They didn’t like his war against Saddam, and he doesn’t like the fact that they were, in his mind, disloyal to him (which is the cardinal sin one can commit against Clan Bush). But he isn’t going to get 100,000 Iraqi security people trained without European help, and without trained Iraqis, his war becomes a legacy of failure.

For the Europeans, the United States remains the world’s hyperpower, and there is little to be gained at this stage from trying to make the president’s job any harder. Tony Blair tried to use his support of the war to wring concessions from Mr. Bush about post-war Iraq. He failed because his timing was off. Mr. Bush was in neo-con heaven in those days, and not in a quagmire. He may be more flexible now. And if not, Europeans need only wait a couple of years for his lame duck status to make him desperate for influence abroad that will elude him at home. It’s time to kiss and make up, to forgive if not forget.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

Home