A German Creatively Pans Bush’s Climate Speech
By MIKE NIZZA
New York Times
April 17, 2008


So much for President Bush’s effort to repair his legacy on global warming — at least when it comes to one German official with a flair for sloganeering.

In a statement released today, Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel described Mr. Bush’s speech on Wednesday as “disappointing.” But the statement’s harshest words were put in the title of Mr. Gabriel’s critique, according to Reuters:

Gabriel Criticizes Bush’s Neanderthal Speech. Losership, Not Leadership

Comparing any unpopular leader to an ancestor of Man is hardly original, though far more expected from the likes of Kim Jong Il of North Korea rather than a government with warm ties to the U.S.

Mr. Gabriel’s kicker, however, seemed in a league of its own. “Losership, Not Leadership”? That’s a new one, according to Google. So unfamiliar was the phrase that the search engine guessed that The Lede may have meant “Lasership,” the name of a delivery service based in Washington, DC.

Mr. Bush’s speech was deemed too little, too late by several other nations who took a less confrontational tack. Speaking for South Africa, Environmental Affair Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk took solace in hoping that Mother Earth would soon find an American president to treat her right.

“We are looking forward to whoever succeeds the present administration,” he said according to Reuters. “We can probably only do better.”

Related: Dot Earth, our sibling blog, annotated a transcript of President Bush’s speech: dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008...eech/