President Bush, right, walks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and Saudi Arabia King Abdullah at the economic summit in Washington today. (AP Photo by Evan Vucci)
by Mark Silva
What an international dance is taking place today:
Around the perimeters of a global Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy which President Bush has convened on a rainy day in the nation's capital, the leaders of other nations are holding court on their own around town.
Dmitry Medvedev, president of Russia, will hold a discussion up at DuPont Circle this afternoon, in a conference sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, will hold a press conference at the Willard Hotel, not far from the White House. And, oh yes, President Bush, host of this summit, will be making his own public assessment of what, if anything, was accomplished.
This is no small summit: Starting with the so-called Group of Eight industrial nations who already meet annually around the world - the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia - the rest of the so-called G-20 arrived in Washington as well, with the presidents and prime ministers of China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and others convening here - though Jan Peter Balkende, prime minister of the Netherlands, had to turn around and go home for the death of his father, which Bush noted with solemnity at the start of dinner last night, leaving Jan Cornelis de Jager, minister of finance, in the prime minister's place.
The one "celebrity,'' as Sen. John McCain might put it, who isn't here: President-elect Barack Obama, who sent some "sherpas''--former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright among them - to report back and meet on the sidelines with world leaders who will be dealing with the new Obama administration starting in January.
"The state of the partnership'' among the U.S. and European nations in particular, as the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies' Simon Serfaty put it this week, is remarkably better than it was just two years ago. With Obama's election, he says, it promises to improve even more.
"The reaction (in Europe) to the election of Obama was just euphoric,'' Serfaty says. "But the partnership is in a good shape because Bush has made it so. I think we should not neglect the extent to which the relationship between America and Europe has dramatically improved from Bush to Bush over the past two years, and has set the stage, in fact, for this set of decisions that will be made by Obama in the next few months on the basis of a legacy that has significantly improved relative to the past several years.''
So, in effect, the outgoing Bush has served as a sort of sherpa for the incoming Obama, who steps onto a "euphoric'' stage in the midst of a global economic crisis.
This is the table in the vaulted hall of the National Building Museum where Bush and the leaders of 20 other nations and international organizations are meeting on the global economic crisis today. (Photo by Stephen Jaffe / EPA. )
Comments
This is a joke right? Bush has so HARMED our reputation nationwide.
Posted by: It's not april fool's yet, right? | November 15, 2008 11:55 AM
"The state of the partnership'' among the U.S. and European nations in particular, as the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies' Simon Serfaty put it this week, is remarkably better than it was just two years ago. With Obama's election, he says, it promises to improve even more.
Is this a typo?
If not, Mr. Saferty has managed to come to one of the most ouyrageous conclusions of the 21st Centry: Bush has laid the foundations for President-Elect Obama's future foreign relations successes. Wow.
Posted by: R Ulane | November 15, 2008 12:23 PM
I am impressed with the job Sarkozy of France has done as EU prez. He has done more than anyone to bridge the continents through some tough times. I don't know about you, but just seeing him in the for front makes me feel better about things.
Posted by: Ray The Money Man | November 15, 2008 12:52 PM
who cause the problem?me or you?problem come from gread,
there gread,Thousend of leaders and people who took us as hostage,we are slaves in with toyes,we are modern slaves,they give us home,credit card,cars,and so and so,but,we forgote we have to work 14-16 hours per day with minimum wegs in our hand after taxes 3 to 4 dollars per hour.we are modern slaves .We don't have name ,they give us a big number social securety.the number ,SS numbes is this number any different than german SS in war world 2 no. absoultly no.bank track you with this number ,they call you with this number,even worse they recognized you with your ss number.you and me didnot cause problem ,we are slaves.they give us mony ,so they want it back,right,but where is these leaders mony ,we don't know ,we are slaves ,we have no right to know how much mony they have ,where this mony come from,do you know ?we work for them.Now they come together to save us,how these leaders can help economic crisis,which crisis they talk about,where is their mony.I tell you,their mony is safe and secure in anonymous banks,How they can help you and me, when they don't have morgage to pay. credit card debth to caver chiled in public school with no insurance.how they can help when they don't need to work 16 to 18 hours seven day aweek four differnt jobwith minimum wage.How they can feel my and you problem,when at Dinning table they have to choose what to eat,when we have to choose which is cheapest food to feel up our4 stomach for next day.come on let me know.
Posted by: narges nourshahi | November 15, 2008 2:13 PM
If not, Mr. Saferty has managed to come to one of the most ouyrageous conclusions of the 21st Centry: Bush has laid the foundations for President-Elect Obama's future foreign relations successes. Wow.
Posted by: R Ulane | November 15, 2008 12:23 PM
Well, do you suppose maybe he actually has?
We artificially chop up time into "administrations," but in reality it's a continuum. The 9/11 hijackers were in the US, learning to fly airliners but not to land them, before GWB was president. The seeds of the present real estate meltdown go back decades, through both Republican and Democratic administrations and Congresses. The best any president or congress can do is to try to address things as they are.
Like it or not, GWB is our president for the next two months and some days. What do you expect him to do, go back into the White House residence and wait until the Obamessiah comes walking across the Tidal Basin to take the oath of office? The business of the country has to go on, and Bush is the only president we've got. Obama has said so himself.
Posted by: DaveB | November 16, 2008 6:22 PM