Why does anyone think Bush should leave the country?
In early January, Bush flies to Israel for his first visit as president. While in the region, he also will visit the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The trip is a follow-up to the Israeli-Palestinian talks that the U.S. hosted in Annapolis, Maryland, last month.
In February, Bush will tour Africa, where U.S. public health initiatives are popular. That will be followed by an April North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Romania, a June U.S.-European summit in Slovenia, a July meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Japan, the summer Olympics in China and a November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru. Bush is likely to visit other, nearby countries during those trips.
Many presidents focus on international affairs in their final year as a way to compensate for their waning influence at home. For Bush, it’s unlikely to provide an escape.
“Bush also has problems at home, but he has even bigger problems with the rest of the world,” said Andy Kohut, president the Pew Research Center in Washington.
Bush has made a fool of himself on every single trip he has taken abroad. Who can forget his groping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, his peering into the soul of Vladimir Putin, his telling Australians that we’re ‘kicking ass’ in Iraq, his bicycle accident in Scotland, his inability to find the exit in China? The man is a walking disaster. He should not be allowed out of the country.