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British politicians should learn from the American primaries: authenticity wins votes

James Forsyth

Wednesday, 16th January 2008

James Forsyth on the key quality which may determine the result of both the US Presidential election and the next general election

In the British version of the 2008 US election, Gordon Brown is Hillary Clinton: the less talented half of a tempestuous political marriage who attempts to make up for shortcomings with a Stakhanovite work ethic. David Cameron is Barack Obama: the supremely confident speaker who has risen to the top in record time and who is, to his critics, all froth and no latte. Indeed, if successful, Obama’s ascent will have been even more meteoric than Cameron’s (Cameron took just over four and a half years from entering national politics to become party leader).

To some, this comparison with British politics is absurd, proof of our infatuation with all things American. After all, the four candidates who triumphed in Iowa and New Hampshire are all exceptionally American figures: Obama offers the country a chance to overcome its founding sin and salve its partisan wounds; Mike Huckabee represents a Christian populism that is entirely absent in British politics; the spouse of a former Prime Minister running for the top job is inconceivable here; and no current British politician can match John McCain’s tale of heroic wartime service.

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m. bassett

January 18th, 2008 1:21pm

James, totally agree with this - I think this could something which was puzzling me, why my pacifist left-wing friends admire McCain, while some of my Republican ones are smitten with Obama. Thank you for another very interesting article.

Julia Paul

January 18th, 2008 2:20pm

"..Demand for authenticity reflects the fact that voters now see through spin faster than ever before..." No they don't - they just choose between the frying pan or the fire. If they really wanted authenticity, truth without spin and were allowed full media access to his message, they'd be voting for Ron Paul (Rep.Tx) Our media decries the rigged election of Kibaki in Kenya, but we never get an in-depth investigation into what's really going on in America. Far fetched? Paranoid? Maybe - but the next President, whether frying pan or fire, has already been designated by the hidden powers that be and the masses will do as they are told. Sad.

jon livesey

January 19th, 2008 12:21am

I'm not sure I buy this. The "authenticity" thing is largely a question of definition. One claims that the voters - those oh-so virtuous folks - want authenticity, and then one concludes that the unsuccessful candidates lack it. In other words, we don't have an independent definition of authenticity. And even if we did, who would be authentic? Hilary? It is to laugh. Obama, he talks well, but is that authentic? Huckabee is an authentic Christian, as he never ceases to remind us, but is that the authenticity we mean here? I'm unconvinced that authenticity matters, because I am not sure the voters really want it, and that in turn is because I am not sure that the voters are as saintly as we like to think. I think the voters want someone who can pull the economy out of the tail spin it's in. Both engines have flamed out and the runway is fast approaching. The voters would take help from Jimmy Cagney, if they thought he could pull it off.