Blair misunderstands his ally Bush

[T_i_B]

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=512186

It is not George Bush's resolve that is in question. It is his understanding, his wisdom and his decency. His abrupt abandoning of the road-map for peace between Israel and the Palestinians will have many victims. Some will be blown up by suicide bombers. Others will be strafed by Israeli helicopters. One of them - no more than a sparrow that falleth, no doubt, sub specie aeternitatis, but important for Britain and for our relations with the United States - is the credibility of Tony Blair's claim to have influence in the bank to use with the President.

One is entitled, however, to ask of political leaders, not only that they should be, in their own estimation, high-minded, but also that they should understand the realities they are called on to deal with. One of those realities for Blair is that the incumbent US President is not Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson or even Ronald Reagan.

Bush's erratic but reckless course has been set in obedience to the ideas of a coterie of mostly unelected neo-conservative intellectuals and think-tank Machiavellis, and to the religious passions and political prejudices of the Christian Right. Those ideas were plainly enough declared. There was never any excuse for Blair's misunderstanding of what he was getting into. Now that Bush has compounded his blunders over Iraq with surrender to the bullying of Ariel Sharon, our Prime Minister will be increasingly on his own.

His misunderstanding of his chosen ally is dangerous, for us, for America, and for the world. It is also dangerous for him. By not understanding the kind of people he was sitting down with, Tony Blair has got himself into a mess, with his party, with Europe, and with the decent Americans who are quite probably going to chase Bush from office in November.

[Miss Authoritiva]

1. Really bad math

"No doubt Blair was drawn into the position he now finds himself in by a whole series of understandable miscalculations...."

This is one of the memoirs I can't wait to read: Years from now, after Blair is out of office, I want to find out exactly when, how, and why he got so badly suckered (assuming he will own up to having been suckered).

[KoKo]

2. If it's true he's a "Born Again" like Shrub, then we have our answer. The

two are joined by a "religious awakening" taking us back to some dark time in history which we seem to be caught up in reliving.

Blair has become as responsible for the Chimp's power as the Repugs. I hope he is thrown out with Bush. :-(

[Disturbed]

3. Mistakes?

Blairs's answer is "If I made any it's for others to find out." He will never own up to them!

[T_i_B]

4. Think Neville Chamberlain.

Blair thought that he could appease Bush by sucking up to him, and he has failed utterly. Blair has not succeeded in moderating Bush, only in making his own government even more of a prisoner of right wing ideology.