Let’s enjoy the photos but let’s not expect too much from the Anglo-American ‘essential relationship’

I hope our prime minister, David Cameron, doesn’t get too over-excited about his trip to the United States today especially as it must feel like all his Christmases have come at once. Not only is the American president putting on a big party for him at the White House but he also gets to have a ride in a special plane and, if he is very good, he’ll get taken to a baseball match too in somewhere called Ohio.

Of course David Cameron and Barrack Obama have done business together before – show business that is. When the President was in Britain on a state visit last May, he shone from every orifice and wooed an entire nation – he also gave our Dave a bit of a lift up too because there was no denying that the two of them showed the World that they could Bar B.Q. like really nice blokes. It was a special relationship, we all thought, seeing them there together just chillin’ and chattin’ for the cameras.

It’s great how a Bar B.Q., a fun trip in a plane and a baseball match can make such a difference – now that he has got to know just what a great guy David Cameron is, there is no more talk like that Wikileak that showed the President thought Dave was a ‘lightweight.’

So ‘The Special Relationship’ of the old days of Roosevelt and Churchill has now turned into ‘An Essential Relationship’ according to the article co-written by the two men in today’s Washington Post. Now that might not be what you would tell your beloved on a wedding anniversary but it is a lot more friendly that a divorce petition.

When you can’t be uniquely that special one then, especially when you are desperate for friends, being told you’re essential must feel all warm and cozy inside. David Cameron, after losing all his European friends and after going around Asia like a bad smell, must be delighted that the American President wants to make a show of their friendship.

We all know over here in the old UK, that is it election year in the States and it is fine by us if Barrack Obama wants to flash his international contacts if it means preventing any of those wacko Republican evangelist presidential candidates winning the White House. We all know that Dave is not going to tell him anything he doesn’t know already.

So wear David on your sleeve Mr President if you must but beware of the dead-hand of Cameron – everything he touches is doomed to failure. Remember it was only the other week that he decided to make friends with President Sarkozy of France again after their little spat. He was told that Sarkozy was going to win the French presidential election so it was all smiles again. Sarkozy’s popularity then plummeted even further in France.

Here in the UK, I am hoping that David Cameron might notice that America’s economic policies, directly opposite to the British government’s, seem to be turning round the nation’s fortunes with dropping unemployment statistics and favourable trade figures just when Britain’s economy is rock bottom and unemployment is rising. Cameron, like the thick boy in the exam room, should take a sneaky look at his clever friend’s exam paper and, with a bit of luck, he might come home with the right answers.

Having said this, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for Anglo-American friendship.

4 Comments

  1. Okay, I can deal with all the political snarky fun but must take issue with your 'someplace called Ohio', the Buckeye State (what?) and home of my childhood and most of my adulthood (40+ years), the last 10 years spent in Michigan and Canada.

    On a lesser note, Ohio is a bellwether State and you cannot win the U.S. Presidential election without winning it. Don't ask me why, it's a mystery like why a loving god would create hell. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Wolfie Wolf. (I think that may qualify as some sort of oblique pun.) ; )

  2. Hehe….I was hoping to ruffle some feathers with the Ohio line – I thought that was an American joke too or so a good friend told me once. Actually he lives in Ohio so I would never dare to be snarky about it in earnest.

    Yes, too, I have been following the Presidential campaign with real interest and can see perfectly clearly why Obama is taking our hapless PM there to look fraternal at the baseball.

    When you return to the States, Brian, are you returning to Ohio?

  3. No, Colin, I'll be moving to Missouri. Apparently I was born there but have no recollection of my brief sojourn in 'The Show Me State'.

    I'm thrilled to be returning to the U.S. in an election year. That always brings out the best in my people. Goodwill, common courtesy, Mom and apple pie are all celebrated at such times. Meanwhile, the birds tie ribbons in our hair as we wait for Jesus to come or send a tornado for considering gay marriage.

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