Reagan (and my dad) always said you can get a lot done in life if you don't care who gets the credit. Last night Mssr. Chirac trumpeted his big win over the U.S. on climate change, and indeed, going into the G-8 summit, conservatives were restive over noises from the White House that Bush was capitulating on climate change and might sign Kyoto after all. Read what they agreed to, and you see that, Chirac's face-saving claims notwithstanding, Bush succeeded in killing Kyoto and getting the rest of the world to go his way: work together to find alternative fuels, drop the hysterical predictions of doom (mostly), no economy-killing artificial limits on greenhouse gas production.
Furthermore, Bush is as bullish on helping Africa as Tony Blair, but he has always insisted that throwing money at dictators is not finally helpful. The expression he uses is that Africa has to be a "partner" in its own turn-around. So what does Mr. Blair announce this morning? A program for Africa that doubles aid, but also insists on the "partnering" model.
Not bad for a big, dumb, oafish, inarticulate, unsophisticated cowboy eh?
