Bush does Europe incognito

Columnist, Roger Cohen, writing in the IHT in "Bush does Europe incognito" reflects on the US president's present trip - "lap" or "limp"? as Cohen asks - through Europe, the man himself in the general firmament and "connectivity".

"This desultory stroll around a Europe more focused on his successor is a reflection of how a flawed temperament soured trans-Atlantic ties. Europeans got tired of being scowled at. They weren't alone.

In selecting Barack Obama and John McCain as the Democratic and Republican candidates, Americans have chosen men in full, unafraid to betray contradictions. They are tired of the cost of brittle bravado. With Bush they have seen that, after a certain age, you get the face you deserve.

But of course there's more to this dying-with-a-whimper tour than an unpopular president. Europe and America need each other less."

And:

"Let's face it, now that the curtain's almost down, nobody's been itching to present Bush with a diplomatic triumph, whether in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq or Israel-Palestine. An ungenerous temperament does not inspire generosity in return. It's time for some fresh thinking, but above all a fresh spirit, a fresh temperament."

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