With the election approaching, Tony Blair understandably wants no reference in Britain to the senior position he holds in Washington as President Bush's chief global strategy adviser. But on Capitol Hill and at the think tanks they rub their eyes in disbelief at Blair's influence, and say they have never seen anything like it. Bush's conversion to the middle east peace process—that's Blair. Bush's silencing of the Republican attack dogs on Kofi Annan—that's Blair. Bush's acquiescence in the EU initiative to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions—that's Blair. And above all, Bush's firm statement that a stronger and more united EU is still held to be in the US national interest—that too is Blair (see News & Curiosities). Just about the entire international agenda of Bush's second term seems to have been drafted in Downing Street. Cheney and the nationalists grumble about the EU allying with China, and the neocons snarl about Blair as Europe's poodle, but they are all too besotted with democracy in the middle east to make a big issue of it.
…but not that special
The new national security adviser, Steve Hadley, understands the art of flattery. Before Bush's trip to Europe, Hadley told the White House press office to talk up the "special relationship" to any British media. But then Hadley says that to all the girls. German ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger murmurs about how appreciative the Bush team have become of Gerhard Schröder's private briefings on dealing with Putin. French ambassador Jean-David Levitte will tell anyone within hearing of the closeness with which France and the White House are working together on getting Syria out of Lebanon. Japan's envoy Ryozo Kato beams with pride when he explains how much Bush leans on Tokyo's expertise on China.
Condi versus Hillary in 2008
Heard the one about Dick Cheney stepping down in '06 to make way for Condi Rice, who then goes on to beat Hillary Clinton for the presidency in '08? So far this is just the faintest buzz of a rumour; not as common as the one about Donald Rumsfeld stepping down at the Pentagon to make way for Democratic senator Joe Lieberman (which would mean the Republicans could get an extra Senate seat). But there is a gang of Condistas out there, passionate Condi fans who are marketing T-shirts and the official theme song, Condoleezza Will Lead Us. You can check out their website—americansforrice.com—and the latest Harris poll puts Rice's approval rating at 52 per cent positive to 40 per cent negative. That's better than her boss, with Bush on 48 positive and 51 negative. But Condi is still insisting that after the state department she wants to run the National Football League. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has a smart new legislative director in Laurie Rubiner, best known for coming up with an intelligent and affordable national health insurance scheme when she was at the New America Foundation think tank. Is Hillary preparing to get back into those dangerous waters of health reform that nearly sank her back in 1993-94?
End of the road for political blogs?
Say goodbye to political blogging. The grownups have noticed and are going to stop it. Brad Smith from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) warns that bloggers and other media outlets face charges if they link to a political candidate's website or even cut and paste and forward stuff from a campaign's press release. District judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last year overturned an FEC attempt to spare the internet the full weight of the campaign finance laws. The FEC now has to enforce this, and Brad Smith says it must in future regulate "any decision by an individual to put a link (to a political candidate) on their home page, set up a blog, send out mass emails, any kind of activity that can be done on the internet… reproducing a campaign's material is a reproduction for purpose of triggering the law. That'll count as an expenditure that counts against campaign finance law."
