I guess we are not riding herd any more - Bush fails again
And the D&C editorial board misses the boat as well. The editorial board wrote this a while back
President Bush must use his leverage as a military supplier and global economic engine to push these countries to increase production.
I explained why that can’t happen in response to a D&C editorial about the Gas Tax Holiday. But you didn’t need me to tell you - President Bush delivered what he does best - failure in the Middle East.
There are lots of things I remember about President Bush with regards to the Middle East - two things stand out. That he was going to “ride herd” on the Middle East peace process and he could talk to OPEC ie Saudi Arabia to increase production.
So it came as no surprise, when back from his Middle East trip - he failed again to do either.
Bush, however, heads home to Washington with few, if any, concrete gains on his largely ceremonial tour, his second trip to the Middle East in four months. He failed to win Saudi help with rising oil prices and didn’t make any breakthroughs on groundwork for a Palestinian state.
Read the entire article from the McClatchy Washington bureau. I was struck how the United States’ diplomatic capability has slipped.
No, I certainly didn’t expect President Bush to resolve Middle East disputes. I just see it as a series of lost opportunities - 8 years in office and little if anything positive to show for it with regards to the Middle East. Even this last trip just a few months before he leaves office. Yeah, lots of credibility there.
About jawboning the Saudi’s? Yeah lots of credibility there too. (As I said in response to the D&C editorial.)
Didn’t we go through something like this a few years ago when Bush said he was going to talk to the oil producers - How did that work out?
1-20-09 about noon. See you then
Not just lost opportunities, a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.