The Chocolate Labradoodle

(Get it, it means a Brown poodle! Damn I'm good!)

I listened to this press conference from the new UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Bush this morning, and I didn't get this impression at all. Brown was cordial in agreeing with Bush on a number of issues, but a lot of those issues he assumed agreement were things like Darfur and global warming, where Brown wants to push Bush to his side. And as far as Iraq was concerned, Brown refused to go any further than discuss the four provinces over which the UK has specific authority. He didn't venture outside of Basra. And he said Afghanistan was "the central front in the war on terror," despite denying he said so within 10 minutes of that remark.

I think Brown's playing an interesting political game, playing to Bush's obvious vanity while forcing his hand on global issues other than Iraq. I came out of listening to him liking his approach.