The belated resignation of British PM Tony Blair

Reports are that Tony Blair will end the long vigil over his premiership later today by finally announcing his resignation. But this news will be greeted with as many cheers as tears. And that’s a damn shame. Because Blair began his tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom in 1997 with all of the promise that attended Bill Clinton’s inauguration as president of the United States in 1992.

Indeed, it stands as a historic juxtaposition that – by the time Blair was inaugurated – the tragic (personal) flaws that had beset Clinton’s entire career were about to consummate his fate as an impeached president. Whereas, at that time, Blair seemed to possess not only the political genius that made Clinton so promising but also the personal character that made Former President Jimmy Carter so trustworthy. And this combination of leadership traits made any notion that his career was fated to even greater ignominy than Clinton’s utterly unthinkable.

But then came Iraq. And the rest, as we say, is history….

Blair is facing a vote of no-confidence that could boot him out of office for the same reason that Bush is facing threats of impeachment: Iraq, Iraq, Iraq! [The iPINIONS Journal March 2006]

In fact, it has been evident for years that Blair’s enabling (and ultimately co-dependent) support for President Bush’s war in Iraq had caused his premiership to become irretrievably broken down. Therefore, the only wonder about today’s announcement is that he survived for so long as an essentially lame-duck prime minister.

After all, one would have expected disaffected Labourites to deploy the same Parliamentary machinations to oust him from office that disaffected Conservatives deployed to oust Margaret Thatcher in 1990. Especially since they booted her for such misdemeanor offenses (related to her policies on local taxation and EU integration) compared to Blair’s high crime of leading the country on a march of folly into a war that has proved as costly as it was contrived.

So, farewell Mr Blair…

(But don’t expect the liberal patrons who fund Clinton’s millionaire lifestyle as world leader emeritus to be as generous towards you.)