Summit doubleheader short on surprises

CHICAGO (AP) — A long weekend of economic and security summits was heavy on stagecraft and light on surprises.

The Group of Eight gathering in Camp David, Md., and the larger gathering of NATO leaders in Chicago yielded agreements worked out in advance and already made public. Lengthy statements summing up the summit to-do lists were largely written before the leaders arrived.

Although the gatherings occurred in the midst of a European financial crisis and looming threats in Syria, North Korea and Iran, any meaty discussions or disagreements took place out of earshot of the news media.

President Barack Obama, host for both events, came away with no unexpected accomplishments apart from concluding the gatherings without major mishap.

There were no private conversations inconveniently picked up by an open microphone or tales of drunken romps with prostitutes by Obama's Secret Service officers, as happened at the last two international gatherings Obama attended.