And, really, who can blame him?
I mean, let's imagine. You're Bill Clinton¹. You've just spent a week at Camp David trying to revive the Peace Process so that your legacy as President will be more than a semen stain. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on one side and Israeli President Ehud Barak on the other. The intractable issue of control over the ancient city of Jerusalem on the table. And you get nowhere.
So now you're in the plane to Japan for a G8 meeting that you don't give a damn about, leaving Madeleine Albright in your place. If she somehow reaches a deal, she gets the glory but the failure if it happens will be yours. Damnit, Jimmy Carter could do this, how hard can it be?
Not to mention that security was so tight at the conference that your "member from Little Rock" didn't see any action either.
So what do you watch on Air Force One on the flight? Martha Stewart? C-SPAN? Hell, no.
"You boys wanna put Shaft on the tube for me? Thanks. And get me a Genny willya? Thanks."
1. Sorry, dannye, let me help you clean that up.