Who's sorry now?

Tuesday, 10th February 2009

President Obama showed that it was possible to apologise with good grace over his appointment of Tom Daschle and now the masters of the financial universe are falling over themselves to follow his lead. Somehow he turned the fact that he "screwed up" to his advantage, though how many times he can get away with this ruse in future is open to question.

The sight of the men from RBS and HBOS making their excuses for "screwing up" the economy of an entire country was pretty hard to watch. The difference is that people like Obama.

At times like this you have to turn to the tabloids to fnd an expresssion of real fury. Sue Carroll put it rather well in her Mirror column today. I wonder if the bankers were reading her before they went before the Treasury Selct Committee today. "Instead of the waffling, buck-passing or the usual catalogue of excuses, Obama was man enough to admit he was at fault," she said. "That's more than our pathetic league of bankers have managed to do. Or one British politician." This is a little unfair on Alistair Darling, but we get the point.

Now word reaches The Bright Stuff that the man who has never knowingly apologised for anything is preparing his very own "mea culpa". I am told that Whitehall officials have been ordered to make a compilation DVD of Obama's various apologies to the American TV networks to be studied by the Prime Minister.

The idea of Gordon Brown practising a humble self-deprecating manner in front of the mirror based on what he has seen on his training DVD doesn't bear thinking about. But then again... maybe it does.

Filed under: Barack Obama (225 more articles) , Economy (883 more articles) , Gordon Brown (906 more articles)

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Disraeli's Ghost

February 11th, 2009 9:20am Report this comment

A full apology would take several hours to list all the things he's done wrong

Red Spec

February 11th, 2009 10:17am Report this comment

I suspect Brown's apology will be more like the bankers' than Obama's

BBC Brown Nose

February 11th, 2009 12:01pm Report this comment

Send for Andrew Marr!

Tom Pride

February 11th, 2009 1:04pm Report this comment

This blog and the gossip on the “sorry” DVD has just been quoted by Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics after PMQs. Impressive start.

Steve.W

February 11th, 2009 1:36pm Report this comment

I'll bet Brown will not apologise but explain, big difference, little man!

AngloWelshDragon

February 11th, 2009 2:07pm Report this comment

If he can bring himself to say sorry at all it won't be 'I'm sorry for the mess I've made' but 'I'm sorry about the mess we're in'.

Big difference. Many of us are very sorry about the mess we're in only we weren't instrumental in creating it!

Jane

February 11th, 2009 6:37pm Report this comment

Direct and personal insults and not about objective views anymore.
Mr Blair followed a President into war and failure losing billions for no purpose to UK what so ever. Brown STILL can not comprehend how to function alone and it beggars belief he is far too inadequate to learn from someone who obviously knows better both in approach and using common sense.
The moment a Prime Minister takes leader ship in this country to my knowledge, over the last few decades all rational and promises go out of the door, it is because of this all the ambitious and brilliant ideals of our NHS are also contaminated, our law has not improved it has now fallen by the way side!
This country is not only in depression due the financial mess the bankers have been allowed to get away with, but the fact that labour have not done anything to bolster manufacturing years ago have not helped.
Then we have the little deals in the lords selling out our people so a few can top up their yearly bank balance leaving our people destitute for employment losing their homes and feeling worthless what sort of government is this? It is more like treachery to me!

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