A Return to Wooing America

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"We believe it is important to show the Italian people that we are meeting our responsibilities and working with our friends," Frattini said, adding that anti-Americanism has not sunk deep roots in Italy or the rest of Europe. And Berlusconi's return to power suggests that being a friend of Bush's is not a fatal political condition.

Sarkozy has made a similar judgment. In addition to the fresh help in Afghanistan, he is holding out the prospect of France rejoining the integrated military command of NATO. But in the spirit of continuity he will delay that action until next year -- at the beginning of a new American administration.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is closer to Washington than was Gerhard Schroeder. And British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, after an initial distance-taking with Bush, will want to forge a new special relationship with the next American leader before going to the polls himself.

Divisive new issues -- trade is the clearest candidate -- could emerge to upset post-Bush trans-Atlantic relations. But Americans and Europeans have developed the habit over six decades of settling or putting aside old quarrels in time to contain the new ones that arise. That seems to be happening again.

jimhoagland@washpost.com