Analysis: Bush learning fast

By the end of the trip, Mr Bush is more at ease

The BBC's Washington Correspondent, Tom Carver, who accompanied George W Bush on his trip to London, Genoa, and Rome, examines the US president's performance in Europe.

In London, George Bush and his party exude a sense that there is America and then, floating somewhere out there in the galaxy, is a solid mass of foreignness called the rest of the world.

By the end of his term in office, he may even have developed a liking for foreign policy

It comes as something of a jolt after Clinton's urbane, easy cosmopolitanism.

When he first came into office, Mr Bush made a lot of noise about how he was going to base his foreign policy in his own hemisphere of the Americas. The Old World, he implied, didn't matter to him.

Genoa

At Genoa, it feels as if we are inside some strange bubble.

On the TV, we watched the riots happening down the street.

At one stage someone in the White House filing centre said, "Hey, I can smell tear gas in here". (He just happened to be on the phone to his desk in New York at the time.)

"Very special moments" with Mr Berlusconi

A few noses sniffed the air and nodded in auto-suggestion.

Unnamed administration officials continued to give briefings on arcane aspects of the G8 discussions, as if nothing unusual is happening, like Roman senators doing their best to ignore the vandals at the gates.

Rome

Once in Rome, Mr Bush visibly relaxes. Perhaps it is being reunited with his wife Laura that does it. While he was in Genoa, she had been sight-seeing with daughter Barbara in Florence.

The Bushes seem to have a genuinely happy and close relationship.

The press conference with Silvio Berlusconi produces an absurd piece of political theatre.

Though no one will admit it, rejecting the Kyoto protocol was a major diplomatic blunder

The Italian prime minister tells us that he and Mr Bush had spent some very special moments together in Genoa that he will always treasure, as if they had been on some romantic cruise instead in the centre of a rampage.

European praise

By the end of the trip, Mr Bush seems much more at ease. He has begun to relax in public and by all accounts, is less defensive and more flexible behind closed doors.

Instead of the anonymous remarks from aides about his ignorance, several European leaders praised his more flexible approach and even his knowledge.

As I watched him walking around Rome's ancient forum with Laura in the evening light, and sitting next to the Pope like an awed schoolboy, I could sense his Texan wariness at all things European slipping.

Though no one will admit it, rejecting the Kyoto protocol was a major diplomatic blunder. Mr Bush is totally isolated, never a good position to be in diplomatically if you want support for other ventures which he will undoubtedly do.

Foreign policy

By the end of his term in office, he may even have developed a liking for foreign policy. After all, his father did.

The way he is driving at a new strategic framework with Mr Putin suggests that he is keen to make an impact and not just withdraw behind fortress America.

Several times on this trip, he referred to Churchill as one of his greatest heroes.

Hard though it may be at the moment to imagine, Bush junior could turn into a straight talking multi-lateralist.

"His apprenticeship is moving along pretty fast," one French official said condescendingly. High praise indeed from Paris.