OF ALL PEOPLE, THE UR OUGHT NOT BE AVOIDING A LEADER JUST BECAUSE HE'S A DEAD MAN WALKING:

Barack Obama snubs Gordon Brown over private talks: White House spurned five requests from PM's aides for bilateral meeting (Patrick Wintour, 9/23/09, Guardian)

Gordon Brown lurched from being hailed as a global statesman to intense embarrassment tonight, after it emerged US President Barack Obama had turned down no fewer than five requests from Downing Street to hold a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York or at the G20 summit starting in Pittsburgh today.

The prime minister, eager to portray himself as a leading player on the international stage in America this week, was also forced to play down suggestions from inside his own party that he might step down early, either due to ill health or deteriorating eyesight.

Try to imagine W snubbing the British leader. You can't.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 23, 2009 5:24 PM