Terminating His Term

With one day left in office, Blair chats climate with Schwarzenegger

If you'd asked Tony Blair a decade ago which foreign official would be the last he met with while in office, chances are he wouldn't have put his pounds on Arnold Schwarzenegger. But that's exactly who filled the slot today. Blair, who steps down tomorrow, met with the Governator at 10 Downing Street to chat about -- wait for it -- global warming. The meeting followed a similar mind-meld between Schwarzenegger and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday. At a joint press conference this morning, Tony and Termy discussed the importance of getting the U.S., China, and India to sign on to an international post-Kyoto agreement. Blair was politely optimistic about the delayed climate response of Washington, D.C. ("It would have been better if we had acted sooner, that's the truth"), while Schwarzenegger pulled no punches: "The U.S. is states and counties and cities. Washington is just a little dot. Why should we wait for Washington?" And with that, the no-fly list got just a little longer.