Will Brown lose the Obama PR war?
James Forsyth 11:56am
One could almost feel sorry for Gordon Brown on reading that Barack Obama will meet Tony Blair in London on Saturday morning. Blair excels at this kind of grip and grin occasion and one can easily imagine footage of Obama and Blair beaming at the cameras as Obama pays tribute to Blair’s work in the Middle East. Poor old Gordon won’t be able to compete on the star power front.
To make things worse, as Obama is doing a solo press conference outside Number Ten’s famous front door, Brown could end up on the cutting room floor before the evening news is broadcast in the States. If this happens, news of this humiliation will race back across the pond. It makes the Newsweek profile of Brown from 2005 in which his advisers explained how he was going to avoid being a John Major-style PM seem rather ironic:
"One of Brown's closest allies, a man who doesn't want his name publicly attached to a disparaging remark about the former prime minister, recalls being in the United States during the Major years: 'Everybody there thought Thatcher was still prime minister.'"The nightmare for Brown is that the front page photo for the British Sunday papers is Cameron and Obama together, while the American press run with the ones of Blair and Obama. As far as Gordon is concerned, now is the time for his PR men to earn their six figure salaries.
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Comments
Tiberius
July 23rd, 2008 1:45pmI could never feel sorry for Brown on a political level.
On a personal level, however, he is a tragic figure.
Bruce. UK
July 23rd, 2008 1:47pm"One could almost feel sorry for Gordon Brown".
Nah!
The Happy Carbon Footprint
July 23rd, 2008 1:49pmWhy is this dreadful creature being allowed to hold a press conference outside the door of No 10, as though he were a head of state. No matter what his dreams of glory, right now he is just a US Senator(with a disgraceful attendance record).
Marcus Cotswell
July 23rd, 2008 1:53pmI hadn't seen that Newsweek piece before. I wonder who the Brown ally is, and why he didn't want to be named.
My guess is that it was Gus O'Donnell who was, of course, Press Secretary to Major at No.10 before going on to be Perm Sec to the Treasury and now Cab Sec under Brown.
Oscar
July 23rd, 2008 1:57pmAnd the Blair grip and grin with Obama might come a day after a Labour defeat in Glasgow East. Nothing could be grimmer for Brown.
Verity
July 23rd, 2008 2:20pmI would say most Americans do think Tony Blair is still the Prime Minister. They will think the British Prime Minister is oozing approval of Obama.
I am surprised that Blair's going along with this, though (although, given his ego and where he registers on the stupidity scale, not really). The Bush family is very powerful and Blair's dependent on them for getting his after-dinner gigs.
Anthony Adams
July 23rd, 2008 2:26pmA solo Press conference in front of Number 10?
Why is a British public building being used as a backdrop by a candidate in a foreign election?
Surely the Government should wait for the American people to actually vote and decide who they want to lead them before these things happen?
Verity
July 23rd, 2008 2:52pmWho gave permission for Obama to get inside the gates of Downing St to give a press conference? Does anyone have the name of the person who had to approve this?
Can we get it stopped?
Surely the Prime Minister's official residence should not be used to enance the standing of electioneering foreigners?
Ian C
July 23rd, 2008 3:20pmI don't know about the Yanks thinking Blair is still PM, but what about the certainty that is attributed to Obama as President? It's as if he is already the way this sort of point is being discussed.
Careful everybody, I can see alot of egg being prepared for future face coverings..........
Verity
July 23rd, 2008 3:38pmIan C - I would bet money that around 30% of Americans think Blair is still the Prime Minister. (I would also bet that Obama was one of them up until about two weeks ago.) I would also bet money that around 50% don't have any idea who Gordon Brown is.
Who did they have to apply to for permission for Obama to use the private (gated off) space in front of No 10 for electioneering purposes? He isn't a head of government. He's just a US senator who has never expressed a flicker of interest in Britain in his life before.
Aidan
July 23rd, 2008 3:39pmSorry, remind me please exactly what Blair's achievements are in the Middle East? I must have missed that story.
ACT
July 23rd, 2008 3:53pmIt Does Not Matter (to you, to him, or to any of us) Who You Claim Americans Think is Prime Minister. The level of cultural cringe inherent in supposing that it does is pitiful. Seriously, hacks on the Guam Spectator probably have higher national self-esteem than this.
Verity
July 23rd, 2008 4:20pmACT - Your post is confused but you were clearly eager to use the phrase "cultural cringe", despite it not being tethered to an actual thought.
We are commenting here on two wide boys - Blair and Obama - who are going to use a well-known British taxpayer property as a TV prop. Obama because self-aggrandisement and entitlement are his style, and Tony Blair because it's one in the (good) eye for Gordon Brown.
I am also saying that posing with Brown is a waste of Obama's time because few potential voters at home will know who Brown is.
Do you understand that this is a sneer at Obama and Blair?
Come to think of it, though, why is expressing confidence in the ignorance of a large tranche of American voters "a cultural cringe"? Your post makes absolutely no sense.
Tiberius
July 23rd, 2008 4:26pmI'm sure the American public do know Brown is PM because that image of him being whizzed around in a golf buggy by Dubya will have been the most memorable laugh they've had since they realized the sublime nature of that kiss in public between Bill and Monica (or do Americans not do irony - I've often wondered).
Edward Rivers
July 23rd, 2008 4:36pmSince Gordon Brown was put on this earth "to remind us how good Tony Blair was", it is perphaps fitting that Obma reinforces this.
Verity
July 23rd, 2008 4:50pmTiberius, you can often wondering. Yes, Americans do irony and do it very well, but the British don't get it because they aren't familiar with the issues and the publications and TV shows where irony is a staple.
Trumpeter Lanfried
July 23rd, 2008 5:06pmI am afraid some Americans still think Margaret Thatcher is the Prime Minister of England, which they locate somewhere south of Spain.
Hysteria
July 23rd, 2008 6:32pmVerity - I thought it was just me - what on earth is ACT on about?
Anyway......
Watching the media coverage here (and listeneing to talk radio get increasingly in a lather) is amazing. (I live in Houston)
Interesting that success in Iraq was being touted a while back as McCain's big saviour but Obama seems to be turning even that to his advantage.
I reckon Obama has it in the bag - and the US public will have swallowed the same pack of change nonsense we did about New Labour.!
TGF UKIP
July 23rd, 2008 7:28pmI'm surprised there's been no mention of the BBC for whom no current newscast is complete without flattering feature of both Brown and Obama.
Clearly they are preparing the way for the same sort of venomous coverage they will give McCain, should he become President, as they have directed at Bush over the past nine years - and yes it started long before he beat Al Gore the same way it has now started against McCain.
Verity
July 23rd, 2008 8:32pmI have mentioned Bobby Jindal over on this blog's The Wall. He has said it is too soon for him, but they should ask him again next week. A week, as they say, is a long time in politics.
You can read my post about him over on The Wall. I would be interested in the opinions of others. Hysteria, you will know who Jindal is as you live next door to LA.
Mike, Brighton
July 24th, 2008 8:50pmJames - It has been said many, many times here about Brown and his PR men:
"No matter how highly paid and skilled the polishers are and how strong the industrial strength polish is. You cannot polish a turd"