Summit do-over is really a blessing in disguise

It turns out that Russian President Vladimir Putin has checked “maybe” on his invitation to the White House. He hasn’t turned it down, but he hasn’t accepted either.

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That is awkward. But then, inviting new friends over is always awkward, isn’t it?

First, you have to decide what level of friend you want to be. Are you Level 1 lunch friends, Level 2 backyard barbecue friends, or Level 3 go-on-vacation-together friends?

I sense President Donald Trump wants to be level 3. Except Putin doesn’t play golf, and Trump is too fastidious to wrestle with tigers. So no one would have a good time.

But I think the real reason for Putin’s reluctance is that he knows why he’s being invited. Trump wants a do-over.

We all know how that goes too. At your first lunch with your new friend, he stole the show. He was funny and told great stories about his life as a spy. When the conversation turned to real estate, you talked about your golf courses while he talked about annexing large chunks of neighboring countries!

So your friend knows the reason you’re inviting him to your house: it’s to show off! And let’s face it, the tsar of Russia is not going to allow himself to be upstaged by some random American.

This may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Because the other problem with making new friends is what your old friends will think. NATO already feels snubbed. At this point, even if Trump showed up in Brussels with an apology and a nice bottle of wine, they’d slam the door and slap a tariff on the wine.

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