No one wants to have dinner with George W. Bush

George Bush is no fan of state dinners. In the eight years of Bill Clinton's presidency, the White House hosted no fewer than 30 such events, whereas Dubya has hosted a mere four. So, it's something of a big deal that Bush invited Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, a close friend of the Bush family, to ...

George Bush is no fan of state dinners. In the eight years of Bill Clinton's presidency, the White House hosted no fewer than 30 such events, whereas Dubya has hosted a mere four. So, it's something of a big deal that Bush invited Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, a close friend of the Bush family, to be guest of honor at a state dinner in mid-April.

George Bush is no fan of state dinners. In the eight years of Bill Clinton's presidency, the White House hosted no fewer than 30 such events, whereas Dubya has hosted a mere four. So, it's something of a big deal that Bush invited Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, a close friend of the Bush family, to be guest of honor at a state dinner in mid-April.

But Abdullah declined, which is, shall we say, a tad embarrassing. Jim Hoagland managed to pull this quote out of an offended administration official:

'It is not convenient' was the way it was put," says one official.

More like all may not be well in the world of U.S.-Saudi relations. Hoagland speculates that Washington was less than thrilled that Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Saudi officials in Riyadh a few weeks ago, and that the Saudis don't want to get an ear full. They also didn't swallow the hints from Washington about Hamas, demonstrating that they are more willing to live with Hamas than confront them by encouraging a Palestinian coalition deal in Mecca last month. U.S.-Saudi differences over the coalition help explain why Condi is continuing to get nowhere in the Middle East.

And it's not just the Saudis that won't be coming to dinner. Jordan's king just said he can't make his scheduled trip to Washington in September. But before you start to worry about what Bush is going to do with his newly-free calendar, remember that the Senate just delivered another date around a year from now that he might want to pencil in.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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