Independent UK: Is our relationship with the US about to become special again?

[marmar]

Steve Richards: Is our relationship with the US about to become special again?
In the field of foreign affairs, Obama has a chance to make waves almost immediately

Friday, 7 November 2008



The presidential contest is over but the race for the White House has only just begun. The new, nail-baiting, make or break battle is over which European leader will be the first to receive an invitation from President Obama. A joke along these lines is doing the rounds in Whitehall and no doubt in other similarly sized countries, too. The joke is deadly serious. What Gordon Brown would give to utter the words "I've been invited to Washington by President Obama..." before any other leader does so.

The joke is also significant because the competitive hunger for the invitation is a reflection of the global influence that Obama could exert in his opening months. As one British cabinet minister puts it, "Which leader will want to say 'no' to Obama if he makes a request for support?" There is such international goodwill and a desire from most leaders for a close association that Obama will be in a position to form potent alliances and make waves in foreign policy almost immediately.

Such is the sweeping euphoria in the US that he is doomed to disappoint on other fronts. How could he do otherwise when expectations are so great? On a more epic, global scale there are echoes in the reaction of recent days with the soaring optimism after Tony Blair's victory here in 1997. The heady excitement in Britain and beyond more than a decade ago was bound to end in disappointment. Few of those dancing in the streets had bothered to read the cautious, incremental manifesto on which the supposedly historic election victory had been based.

In 1997, the scale of Labour's win was mindblowing; the programme on which it was based was not. In the case of Obama, it is the enormity of the challenges that is so daunting, as he noted in his extraordinarily measured and calm victory speech on Tuesday night. Of these, the economic crisis will be an almost certain source of disillusionment. Voters in the US are unlikely to remain euphoric as a recession bites. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-is-our-relationship-with-the-us-about-to-become-special-again-997947.html

[FarCenter]

1. Why should there be a "special relationship" with the UK?

"Regarding this aspect of international relations, Lord Palmerston said: "Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."<3> This is often paraphrased as: "Nations have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. Only permanent interests.""