Meeting the President

By Jason Moore DURING the run-up to the general election in Spain last year Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero won praise from the electorate for his anti-Bush stance. He even claimed during a keynote speech that he would be heading to the United States to help Senator John Kerry in his push for the U.S. Presidency. Zapatero said he was anti-Bush, the complete opposite of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. But ever since his election, Zapatero has spent much of his time shadowing Bush and attempting to shake his hand. On Wednesday, he was waiting in the shadows, and made his move when Bush was talking to Tony Blair. Bush, who I suspect didn't really know who Zapatero was said “hola amigo” and continued talking to Blair. Meanwhile, Zapatero walked off smiling away like a child with a new pair of shoes. The exchange was so brief Spanish newspapers had a nightmare trying to find a photograph of the “great meeting.” To make matters worse a Spanish government spokesperson said that Bush and Zapatero had a “cordial exchange.” (They forget to mention it lasted about two seconds.) Even more laughable was the “meeting” Spanish Foreign Secretary Moratinos had with U.S. Secretary of State Rice. He literally rushed over to her in a passageway and then later claimed he had a summit meeting. The behaviour by the Spanish government is just silly and proves that not only did Zapatero back the wrong horse in Senator Kerry he is incapable of mending fences with the Bush administration. It is just pathetic and clearly shows that Aznar's relationship with Bush did matter in Spain, because why does Zapatero go to such lengths to get a hand shake? Thankfully, his behaviour has not been missed in Spain with the Spanish version of Spitting Image having a field day with the Bush/Zapatero summit on Wednesday. If Zapatero got an invitation to the White House, he would probably frame the invitation card!