What in the heck are they all planning now?
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"Britain's Brown looks past Bush presidency"
By Matt Spetalnick and Sumeet DesaiThu Apr 17, 2:01 PM ET
"British Prime Minister Gordon Brown held talks with U.S. presidential candidates on Thursday before seeing President George W. Bush, a stark reminder that world leaders are now looking to his successor.
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain came off the campaign trail to talk with Brown, who praised them afterwards for their commitment to a strong bond between the United States and Britain.
Only then did he go to the White House and sit down with Bush, who shares the British prime minister's plight -- low popularity and economic problems at home.
With Bush in the final year of his presidency, Brown was expected to walk a fine line, keeping some distance on issues like the unpopular war in Iraq while preserving Britain's long-standing "special relationship" with the United States.
Brown, on his second U.S. visit since taking office last year, has said he is seeking "coordinated action" to shore up the global economy, plagued by a credit crunch, record oil prices and market turmoil.
Determined to avoid being tagged as "Bush's poodle" like his predecessor Tony Blair, Brown seemed just as eager to lay the groundwork for closer relations with the next president as he was to maintain ties with the White House incumbent.
A series of 45-minute sessions at the British ambassador's residence may have yielded clues to how the winner of the November election might change policies that have at times rankled Britain and other European allies.
"I'm absolutely confident that having talked to the three candidates that the special relationship between our two countries is strong and secure and valued by all of them," Brown told reporters before arriving at the White House.
COOLER PERSONAL TIES
Brown, who has a cooler relationship with Bush than Blair, made clear earlier he hopes for an improved partnership between Europe and Washington under the next administration.
"It's partly because the divisions within Europe over Iraq will come to an end," Brown told ABC's "Good Morning America" program on Wednesday.
While Brown is closer on the political spectrum to the two Democrats than to McCain, Bush's fellow Republican, all three have taken stands that could win favor with the head of Britain's center-left Labour Party.
They have signaled, for example, they would all do more to fight global warming and revamp the Bush administration's internationally criticized treatment of terrorism suspects.
McCain's sharpest difference with Democratic rivals is on Iraq. He backs Bush's strategy of maintaining a heavy U.S. troop presence. Clinton and Obama, battling for the right to face McCain in the election, want a withdrawal timetable.
For his part, Brown has stirred unease in Washington over Britain's phased drawdown in Iraq, where Blair had bucked British public opinion in joining the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
After their meeting, Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, said he and Brown discussed issues they have in common such as Iraq and Afghanistan, the global economy and Africa.
Brown has insisted he has no plans to endorse any U.S. candidate, seeing that as a decision for American voters.
But even as his three-day U.S. tour has been eclipsed in the U.S. media by Pope Benedict's visit this week, the 57-year-old Scot has seemed eager to reach out to Americans.
"I love America, and I love watching American TV," he said.
That, however, may not help his poll ratings at home, which have been dropping faster than any British leader since before World War Two.
Brown, like Bush, has seen his economic stewardship come under fire, raising speculation that he could soon face a challenger for his party's leadership.
With less than 10 months left in office, Bush is struggling to stay relevant but is having a harder time swaying world leaders looking to whomever will succeed him in January 2009."
(Editing by Xavier Briand)
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