POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
The only thing Blair has gained is a pleasant personal fantasy that there is a special relationship.
Blair has had absolutely no influence on American policy, especially on the extent or nature of the pointless, destructive war on terror.
As one example, Blair does understand the critical role of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the anger of Muslims, but that situation has only deteriorated horribly under Blair's period of "influence."
This should be intuitively obvious. Bush listens to almost no one in the United States. Why would he listen to a funny-talking foreigner?
Please remember, Bush's party has many members who take pride in never holding a passport or in crossing the American border.
Bush himself had never traveled abroad before being court-appointed as president. Bush actually bragged during his first campaign of never reading the international section of the newspaper.
The level of the Bush's intellectual and ethical mediocrity almost cannot be exaggerated.
There really is no accounting for Blair's tight embrace of Bush. Blair seems to have been born with a decent brain but apparently no spine.
Blair had a rare opportunity to influence international affairs towards a more favorable path, but he failed utterly.
Instead, Blair chose the role of comforting and flattering America's first certified-moron president.
