Bush in Belfast, so what? Frankly, America couldn’t give a damn

IT’S CERTAINLY without precedent. Indeed, it’s hard to believe. But it’s a fact. As far as American media is concerned, the valedictory tour of Europe by President George W Bush is of little or no interest compared with Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.

They may dutifully, on an inside page, record his optimism about Iraq, but what they find intriguing is Ireland derailing European progress. That such a small member state can halt the agreed onward progress of a 500 million-strong union fascinates Americans, who liken it to the possibility of low population Delaware deciding it’s going to change the way the United States operates.

Nobody is talking about America’s president. It’s as if he has ceased to exist. And, while all presidents become less potent and present when the race is on to elect their successors, it’s doubtful that the US has ever before developed such deliberate amnesia about a serving Chief of Staff.