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The Amman Summit finally took place. President George Bush met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq. The attending network anchors finally snared their photo-ops. For all the fanfare, the talks were brief, the policy changes were minimal and the news was negligible.

Once again, the three White House correspondents were assigned the lead-off spot. Each chose Bush's soundbite that he was opposed to a "graceful exit" from Iraq. Presumably it was the "exit" that he was resisting, not the "grace." No one interpreted his speech as preferring a "clumsy exit."

CBS' Jim Axelrod was not impressed with the depth of the diplomacy: the summit "turned out to be a breakfast followed by a 45-minute one-on-one meeting." ABC's Martha Raddatz found that "no bold new ideas were discussed…what the President basically presented was Stay the Course." NBC's David Gregory called the leaders' body language "cool, but they were determined to present a united front."

Andrew Tyndall 12/1/06 4:50:54 pm

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