Orrin Judd expresses something that has startled me too:
You often read in profiles of George W. Bush's extraordinary loyalty to friends and allies, but we're unaware of any other time in great power history when a leader has been so deferential to the internal political needs of a fellow head of state, especially not one of the opposite political party (broadly speaking). The delay in beginning the war, the search for a UN resolution that explicitly authorizes war, and this announcement of plans for a Middle East road map are all of them gracious and unnecessary motions that George Bush has engaged in solely for the purpose of aiding Tony Blair's personal political fortunes. That's remarkable.
