“This is a Waste of my Time”

The EU, it seems, is just a mashed potato circuit that ends up getting the rest of the world caught up in their internal bickering and excessive vacation calendars.

Obama's Madrid snub exposes 'excessive' EU summitry

It couldn’t be any clearer, and yet “excessive” is still in quotes.

"At this point, Obama told his aides: 'This is a waste of my time'," Missiroli said, adding that the potential for sequels is still there, coupled, most probably, with "possible confusion" surrounding the preparation of the summit.

”Possible”? How about absolute confusion, as in “this is a waste of my time”? I guess multilateralism means never having to pick up a phone when a fleet of airliners and a staff of thousands will do.

"The agenda of leaders is packed with summits. Maybe focusing on fewer summits with more substance and more continuity in foreign relations in-between summits is the way ahead," Missiroli suggested.

Gee, you know maybe that would be a good idea.

Bruce Jackson, an American political strategist, told an event in the European Parliament today (2 February). “There are currently six different EU presidents, the rotating EU presidency president [José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero], Mr Barroso, Mrs Ashton, plus Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who also aim to be EU presidents,” he added.

Better still, if the White House waits it out, the 6 month term of that complete loon will have passed without him infecting American policy any more than it already has been.