Tony Blair Steps Down

Tomorrow is the big day for Tony Blair.

The man who risked all and lost all with his support of the George W. Bush invasion of Iraq will stand down as British Prime Minister after over ten years of service.

In Britain Blair’s popularity plunged after he followed Bush’s lead and deployed British troops to Afghanistan and then Iraq. He never fully recovered from his “lapdog to Bush ” subservient image. He is leaving office a little sooner than he would like as a result of his unpopularity in Britain.

It is hard for a world leader to step off center stage. It has to be plenty cool flying around in private jet planes and helicopters, staying at five star hotels, drinking and eating the best in food and beverages, hanging out with Bono, and all of the other neat things that world leaders get to do at taxpayer expense.

No wonder there are so many candidates for the 2008 US race for President and why Gordon Brown was so keen in taking over as the British Prime Minister. The perks that come with top political jobs are incredible. 

Tony Blair is still a young man. And he clearly enjoys being in the spotlight. So with the support of his US friend, George Bush, he is being considered for a special envoy role as an emissary to promote peace in the Mid-East. Blair seems to be keen to be appointed to this plush job by the Quartet of Middle East mediators.

The European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the US - make up the Quartet and are meeting at the US consulate in Jerusalem in an effort to decide if Blair is the right man for the job.

There is a problem with Blair’s candidacy. The Palestinians do not trust him. They feel he is far to close to the US and to Israel and would not be a fair unbiased envoy.

Probably, the Quartet will appoint Blair to the position no matter what the Palestinians think.

And that’s at least partially why the Mid-East situation continues to deteriorate. Outside interests dominate the discussions. Those most effected by the decisions have the least input into the process.

Does Blair care? Oh probably a little. The man seems sincere enough in expressing his desire to in someway facilitate peace in the Mid-East.

However, I expect at least at the subconscious level Blair has a tremendous interest in further promoting Tony Blair. Once on the center stage it’s darn hard to step off.

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