The office itself doesn't need to be discredited, just kept down to size. Who holds the office for the first term will largely help define the post, and it is imperative that this first person be someone who is diplomatic, widely respected and has the proven ability to broker agreements among EU member states and the interest to engage in the boring bits of the job. Blair fails on all counts. He wants the job for self-aggrandizement, he would want to encroach on at least one of the other 4 top EU jobs (the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy), he is a divider and highly controversial, and he failed to mediate any important agreements among member states while the UK holds the rotating presidency.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma