Froomkin reports that Chimpy has lost his hand-holding buddy.
Jim Hoagland writes in his Washington Post opinion column: “President Bush enjoys hosting formal state dinners about as much as having a root canal. Or proposing tax increases. So his decision to schedule a mid-April White House gala for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah signified the president’s high regard for an Arab monarch who is also a Bush family friend.
“Now the White House ponders what Abdullah’s sudden and sparsely explained cancellation of the dinner signifies. Nothing good — especially for Condoleezza Rice’s most important Middle East initiatives — is the clearest available answer.”
Hoagland writes that the Saudis “see Bush swimming against a tide of scandal and stench that engulfs his most trusted aides. In the traditional Saudi worldview, this is a moment to hedge, not to indulge in the kind of leadership needed to break the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock or the deadly morass of Iraq.”
Canceling a state dinner is no minor deal. Wars have been started that way (yes, 300 years ago, but still). This is a diplomatic faux pas, from one of the most formally polite cultures on the planet.
This is a full and formal blow-off.
I figured we had lost the Saudi’s about $1.50 a gallon ago, I can’t wait to buy gas next month, can you?
Man.
Nobody wants to be seen with Bush.
Nobody.
This is not, however, for the country, exactly an improvement. Losing Saudi Arabia does not indicate the Middle East is “getting better.”