Who Will Lead Us Out of the Crisis?

Might we be seeing a tug of war over leadership in the financial crisis? In a take-charge move, President Bush has called a summit of the Group of 20 on the global economy for November 15 in Washington, but The Washington Post reports that China is assuming a leading role in resolving the crisis at the close of a two-day summit in Beijing. “We are very glad to see that many countries have taken measures that have initially proved effective. But this is not enough given the current situation, and more needs to be done,” said Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at the Asia-Europe Meeting. Meanwhile, the Post reports that the Beijing meeting is a victory for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, “who has taken the lead in representing his European Union colleagues in pushing for an overhaul of the world’s financial systems and the creation of a new ‘regulated capitalism.’”