Bush diplomatic show produces mixed political results
Fri Jun 11, 2:42
FROM:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1520&ncid=1520&e=17&u=/afp/20040611/pl_afp/g8_summit_bush_vote_040611064248SAVANNAH, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) took center stage at a world summit here hoping to polish his statesman's credentials, but left with mixed results and a re-election campaign that still looks vulnerable.
The White House had choreographed a lavish display of trans-Atlantic unity on Iraq (news - web sites) and other issues for the three-day Group of Eight summit, which wrapped up on a swanky island resort near here Thursday.
But any hopes of using the high-powered gathering as an election campaign set piece went out the window with the US public and media riveted by memorial services for the late president Ronald Reagan (news - web sites).
And if Bush insisted that he and his fellow summiteers had found "common spirit" on assisting Iraq, he got bogged down in now-familiar spats with France over NATO (news - web sites)'s role in the country and the question of Iraq's debt.
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