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Stories From the Near Future

May 16, 2008 11:56 AM

FROM GUEST-BLOGGER RICK KLEIN, OF ABC'S THE NOTE

In a week where Sen. John McCain time-traveled four years to look back on his first term as president, maybe this feat from the current occupant of the White House isn't quite so impressive.

This morning, the White House issued a "fact sheet" about President Bush's meeting with King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia, detailing a series of agreements reached between the United States and the Saudi government.

From the fact sheet: "Today, President Bush met with King Abdallah to commemorate the 75th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia."

That's interesting, because -- as ABC's Martha Raddatz points out -- the fact sheet was distributed to reporters a full two hours BEFORE President Bush even LANDED in Saudi Arabia, from his previous stop on his Middle East agenda, in Israel.

Apparently, though, the phantom meeting helped accomplish "four critical agreements" between the Americans and the Saudis -- wonderful news in a time of record gas prices, right?

You ready?

"1. Saudi Arabia will join the 70 partner nations of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism."

"2. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will also join more than 85 states participating in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)."

"3. The U.S. will help the Saudis develop both human and infrastructure resources in accordance with International Atomic Energy Agency guidance and standards."

"4. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia will sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the area of peaceful civil nuclear energy cooperation."

Wow -- a memorandum of understanding! That plus $75 will fill up my Jeep.

Clearly, I jest; equally clearly, someone at the White House erred in putting this memo out before the meeting, or in not adjusting verb tenses before it went out.

I'm not naive enough to think that visits between heads of state are actually where the hard work of diplomacy is conducted. It's not like they need that meeting to get things done, of course.

But this is interesting to think about in light of the big news so far out of the president's Mideast trip -- his attack before the Israeli Parliament on the kind of foreign policy that just happens to fit with the GOP talking-points version of what Sen. Barack Obama espouses.

Not to minimize the importance of these other American priorities, but with the president in the Middle East (where so much of the oil that's so expensive is resting), we now have a blatantly political attack on a presidential candidate, in addition to a "global initiative," a "proliferation security initiative," a vow of "human and infrastructure resources" to help the IAEA, and a "Memorandum of Understanding" on "nuclear energy cooperation."

Martha Raddatz notes that the president has not scheduled any press conferences for his trip.

The meetings are going well though, we hear.

UPDATE: Per Bloomberg News: "Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, rebuffed a call by U.S. President George W. Bush to pump more crude for a second time this year, saying it would only boost supplies to meet customer needs."

-- Rick Klein

May 16, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (23)

User Comments

Posted by: Owen | May 16, 2008 12:16:57 PM

Posted by: dl | May 16, 2008 12:07:23 PM

Posted by: Olbermn3 | May 16, 2008 11:59:38 AM

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