Tony and George Play Finale in DC

George W. Bush and Tony Blair make an odder couple that Oscar Madison and Felix Unger ever did. Yet, when they held a joint press conference last week during the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington, their partnership seemed stronger than ever. The special relationship hasn’t been this personal since Ron and Nancy double dated with Maggie and Denis. And that’s a problem.

Of course, the fact that both men will be judged by history over the War in Mesopotamia has forced them to stick together. If Iraq can somehow wind up resembling a peaceful, stable state with a few liberties and the odd election, they both will be able to claim victory. Nonetheless, neither man has benefited from the ill-advised campaign. Mr. Bush’s popularity is plumbing Nixonian depths, and Mr. Blair gets as rough a ride at Question Time from Labour as he does from the Tories and Liberal Democrats. The Economist dubbed them the “Axis of Feeble” while many have called this meeting the “Lame Duck Summit.”

With regard to Iraq, there is a looming problem between the two about which commentary has been surprisingly absent. Mr. Blair has said that he thinks the British troops can be out of Iraq before 2007 is over. The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki believes that his troops will be able to handle the country by then. Mr. Bush has said that the withdrawal of US troops will be decided by (one of) his successor(s). So, what happens to the united front when Tommy goes home and GI Joe stays? Will that be cast as Tony cutting and running on George?

The trouble with the special relationship between the US and the UK when it gets this personal is a change at the top. Mr. Blair is unique among British PMs in having been pals with two American presidents of different parties – the current president and his predecessor. One has difficulty in imagining Dubya and Gordon Brown (Mr. Blair’s anointed, but constantly put off, heir) being this chummy. Indeed, whoever the next British Prime Minister is, he would do well domestically to avoid Washington, DC, until January 2009.

That said, the American-British connection remains intact, and has actually been strengthened. No more talk comes from anyone in Washington about Germany being the leading partner in Europe, which many thought should be the case after the USSR closed up shop. Mr. Blair spent a good deal of Friday’s speech on specific ideas for the UN, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the G8. If he can convince his host to think about these ideas, pushing America back toward multilateralism, his visit will not have been a mere photo-op. While it is uncertain than he can succeed, no German Chancellor could even try.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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