Bush Legacy Tour

George W. Bush's ‘legacy' shadows his eight-day trip to Europe as journalists and leaders alike focus on reflection. Many Europeans are now apathetic to the outgoing leader who was greeted with three solid days of ardent protests during his 2003 trip. This time around they seem faithful that he can no longer do any harm and that change is on the way, focusing instead on nostalgia, farewells, and hypotheticals. The International Herald Tribune reported last week on this question of legacy.

"The guy said, 'Now what could you do over?"' Bush said in Meseberg, Germany... "First of all, you don't get to do things over in my line of work," Bush went on. "But I could have used better rhetoric to indicate that, one, we tried to exhaust the diplomacy in Iraq; two, that I don't like war."

Bush's war-hungry cowboy persona made him extremely unpopular with the European public; however the leaders he met with this time around gave him a warm and fuzzy reception. Bush praised the European leaders for their alliance.

"In leaders like Berlusconi and Brown and Merkel and Sarkozy, I see a commitment to a powerful and purposeful Europe that advances the values of liberty within its borders, and beyond," he said, also referring to Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

"And when the time comes to welcome the new American president next January," he went on, "I will be pleased to report to him that the relationship between the United States and Europe is the broadest and most vibrant it has ever been."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown ingratiated himself to Bush with the announcement of extra troops going to Afghanistan and tougher sanctions on Iran. Both men, with low approval ratings, dealing with the question of how history will portray them, shared a dinner with a group of British historians.

With all this talk of history and how it will be written or rewritten one might assume Bush has decided he's done all he can do, that he can't mess anything else up, however he has other ideas.

[Bush] has an ambitious agenda that involves the most pressing and intractable international issues of the day: peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the stabilization of Iraq and Afghanistan, resolving the confrontations with North Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs.

Don't get too apathetic; he has just over 200 days left in and there's plenty more damage to do.