WHO KNEW?:

Incoming, incoming!: Why the big surprise over Bush and missile defence? (PAUL WELLS, 12/13/04, MacLean's)

It was supposed to be such a low-key and fruitful affair. The usual sources close to Paul Martin told reporters they expected a businesslike meeting with a U.S. president who would be chastened by the Iraq debacle; eager to show a more co-operative face; willing to stare down powerful domestic constituencies in the U.S. on trade disputes over mad cow -- and gratifyingly silent on the touchy matter of our participation in missile defence.

There was only one hitch. John Kerry didn't come to Canada. George W. Bush did.

Bush didn't waste much time reminding his hosts that if Americans had wanted a president who behaved differently, they had skipped a chance to choose one on Nov. 2. "We just had a poll in our country," he said, "where people decided that the foreign policy of the Bush administration ought to stay in place for four more years."

So a president who believes he has nothing to apologize for met a prime minister who is often apologetic. The results were instructive. Bush offered only vague hope that the border might open soon to Canadian livestock, and even less on softwood lumber ("one of these eternal issues," a White House official told the Canadian Press). And then, deliberately and repeatedly, in Ottawa and again in Halifax, he raised the question of Canada's participation in missile defence.

In retrospect, the only surprise is that anyone was surprised. Bush is not the most unpredictable fellow.

If nothing else came of the trip it's been fascinating to see how even pundits who don't much like the President seem to envy America such a straightforward and determined leader. Of course, after ten years of Jacques Chretien they likely envy just about everybody.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 7, 2004 3:16 PM