If It Walks Like a Duck
Bush, the world, and the environment

It is discouraging when the most positive thing you can say about the leader of the free world is that he is irrelevant. See the WP editorial Quacking About Climate :

THERE'S BEEN talk of President Bush's lame-duck status, and much of it's been premature. But the recent global negotiations on climate change in Montreal left the Bush team quacking on the sidelines. The administration started out opposing the whole idea of the meeting, but the rest of the world went ahead anyway, inviting former president Bill Clinton to speak in Montreal as a sort of ersatz head of state. While the Bush representatives refused to agree to anything but vague discussions about voluntary measures, local government officials and business representatives made it clear that the Bush administration does not speak for them. "Even though the U.S. at the moment isn't being very constructive in the negotiations, this might change over time," Denmark's negotiator observed.

Let's hope he is right!