No. 4: Dead Men Walking
Rather like Hamid Karzai and Nouri al-Maliki.
They may be in charge of two of the world’s most unstable and dangerous places on earth; and they may be high on the “most likely to be assassinated” list. But they don’t give off the voter-scaring bad vibes that aspiring commander in chief Barack Obama detects in Brown. What else would lead him to make damned sure his attempts to appear statesmanlike and foresighted aren’t scuppered by photographs of him and Brown outside Downing Street?
He will have a 45-minute meeting on Saturday morning with Gordon Brown followed by a press conference, which Obama will conduct on his own outside Downing Street in a blatant departure from the usual protocol.
There will be no Brown at his side to spoil the No 10 backdrop for American voters, even though it would be unthinkable for a British prime minister to appear in the White House Rose Garden without the president.
It’s not all bad news from the Middle East though. Israelis and Palestinians are united in one conviction: Blair was much better than Brown.
“I knew Mr. Tony Blair before, but Brown — I don’t know what he’s like,” said Palestinian taxi driver Saddam Musa, 55.
The newspaper [Haaretz] said there were other reasons for the little coverage given to Brown’s visit, saying he lacked the political clout of former British leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.