NPR: President Bush Has Tough Day at OPEC ... er, APEC

President Bush Has Tough Day at OPEC ... er, APEC

As Mark Knopfler once sang, some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug.

President Bush, in Australia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, had one of those "bug" days today. First, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun sandbagged Bush at their joint press conference. Normally, these press events are about as exciting as watching paint dry. But Roh really pushed the president about when he would actually end the war with Korea. (A treaty officially ending the war has never been signed.) An obviously irritated Bush said only that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il had to get rid of "his (nuclear) weapons in a verifiable fashion" first.

And Bush's speech at the Sydney Opera House was held up for 10 minutes while workers moved people from the balcony to fill in the seats near the front. Then, Bush thanked Australian Prime Minister John Howard for being his host at the "OPEC," not APEC, conference. He also mentioned the service of the "Austrian troops" in Iraq. Which is nice, but it was supposed to be Australian. Easy to mix up ... except one likes edelweiss, the other, shrimp on the barbie.

When Bush finished, he was headed for a steep ledge at the edge of the stage before Howard and others caught him and guided him to the steps.

Just one of those days that won't make it into the autobiography.

But it ended on a positive note for U.S. officials. North Korea announced that it has "invited nuclear experts from the United States, China and Russia into the country to survey and recommend ways of disabling all of its atomic facilities by the end of the year," according to The Associated Press.

4:29 PM ET | 09- 7-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Bush makes "c" students look bad.

Sent by Jack Phillips | 5:06 PM ET | 09-07-2007

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