2 March 2009
Britain Worried about Relationship with Obama
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: World Affairs .
The following article is from the UK Telegraph and came out on Saturday. In a blog above this, I am posting an article from Sunday from Prime Minister Brown that seems to be written partially in response to this article. The British are growing more concerned about President Obama’s relationship with them. What disturbs me in addition to the points made in the article, is the subtle inferences that make our president sound like royalty. References to Obama’s table is reminiscent of King Arthur’s round table.
Will Barack Obama end Britain’s special relationship with America?
When Gordon Brown walks through the door of the Oval Office on Tuesday, he will be the first European leader welcomed by Barack Obama to the White House since he became president.
By Tim Shipman in Washington
In the marbled halls of the British ambassador’s residence in Washington, there is modest satisfaction that the prime minister has beaten his European counterparts – Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor – to Mr Obama’s door.
But there is no undiplomatic crowing, and champagne corks have certainly not been popping. Instead, a quiet fear is calcifying. Hints from the White House machine suggest that the Age of Obama means a dramatic makeover not just for America, but for that old symbol of Anglo-American fealty, the Special Relationship.
To adapt Mark Twain, reports of its death are common and usually exaggerated. But word is spreading through political Washington that the new president wants to shake up the way the US government relates to its allies, which will leave little space for the sentiment of old ties.
There was a concrete clue when the White House announcement of Mr Brown’s trip was made last Saturday. Mr Obama’s mouthpiece Robert Gibbs declared: “The United States and the United Kingdom share a special partnership.” Those familiar with the thinking of Mr Obama’s top team say that use of the word “partnership” rather than “relationship” is an important distinction – it illuminates Mr Obama’s belief in practical measures that work, not the old way of doing things.
A Washington official who is close to several members of Mr Obama’s inner circle said: “They craft every word for the stone tablets. Words are what they do. It is not a mistake.
“A partnership is a business arrangement based on what you can do for Obama, not a relationship like a marriage that thrives through thick and thin until death do us part. He’ll judge the specialness of a partnership with Britain on what he gets out of it.” In return for concrete support, Mr Obama is expected to offer to listen more closely to British advice than George W. Bush did. But insiders say he will be ruthless in cutting adrift countries who do not cooperate with his global agenda, whatever their historic relationships.
A British official said: “I don’t think Obama is steeped in the tradition of the special relationship going back to Churchill and Roosevelt. Of course someone of his generation is going to look at it differently. I think what he looks at are the assets that are brought to the table and the expertise you have. This is a definite change of emphasis.”…
Now even allies of Mr Obama believe he intends to extract a higher price for access to the corridors of his power.
Steve Clemons, of the New America Foundation think tank, who has links with the higher echelons of the Obama administration, said that Britain would be expected to make sacrifices in return for influence.
Mr Obama’s approach was “all about putting a price on access and a price on the relationship,” he said. “I think Obama does believe that this is a time of historical change. He wants to push reset on a lot of things. He thinks old patterns, old framings can get you into trouble, particularly when you’re trying to encourage different parts of the world.”…
For Mr Brown this is a big moment. He flies to Washington on Monday night and will have his audience with Mr Obama before lunch on Tuesday, but it promises to be a fairly brief affair with no White House dinner. It a far cry from the chummy golf cart romp around Camp David that George W. Bush laid on for Tony Blair.
The prime minister comes seeking substantive agreements on economic matters ahead of the G20 summit in London next month, and hopes also for a whiff of Mr Obama’s stardust to revive his poll prospects at home. His wife Sarah will have a separate audience with First Lady Michelle Obama later on Tuesday afternoon.
…” The conventional wisdom, which Mr Obama has done little to dispel, is that he is less anglophile than his predecessors. He hailed the resilience of America’s founding fathers against the British “enemy” in his inauguration speech and devoted 35 pages of his memoir, Dreams From My Father, to his grandfather’s torture under British colonial rule during Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion.This was seen by some as the motive force for his recent decision to return a loaned bust of Winston Churchill, prime minister during the insurgency, which George W. Bush had given pride of place in the Oval Office. Mr Obama has also admitted feeling “edgy, defensive and hesitant” when travelling in Europe….
If this charm offensive does not work, others counsel that Mr Obama will eventually learn that Britain is America’s only reliable military ally.In the meantime, British officials are committed to winning their place at his table – for the first time – on merit as well as history.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4885887/Will-Barack-Obama-end-Britains-special-relationship-with-America.html
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