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Now the European Union is damned if it doesn't and damned if it does. If it doesn't appoint Tony Blair president of the European council, there will be a sense of anticlimax. If it does, there will be expectations he cannot satisfy.

In Washington earlier this month, I found a real frisson of excitement at the prospect of Blair speaking for Europe. From people inside and outside the Obama administration, I heard lines like "he'd get in to see the president", and "then we'd begin to believe that Europe was getting its act together". The same would be true in Beijing and Moscow. Love him or loathe him: for name recognition and international stature, there's no candidate to compare.

But now look at the problems. The Conservatives, likely to form Britain's next government,...